Timing and Expectations
Avoiding disappointment with your project
Ottawa Citizen. October 15th, 2009.
By Hugh Trueman
If there are two words that fall close to the heart of any dispute between homeowners and the renovation contractors, suppliers and tradesmen doing the work, they are timing and expectations. Simply put, most people tend to back themselves into a renovation situation that is destined to be disappointing. The simple fact is that they do not plan far enough ahead to allow for things to fall into place smoothly.
From my perspective the most common mistake is waiting too late to order the materials or products for your project. As much as any retailer or supplier will give you the best case scenario on delivery times, stuff happens, and it is often out of their control when it does. I am not making excuses for poor customer service or inept work habits, but trains come off the tracks, factories burn down, and ships sink in the middle of the ocean. When renovating, if you don’t allow for the unexpected, you are not being realistic.
My advise is to check with your suppliers on delivery expectations, and allow an extra few weeks for things to go wrong, because they often do. Order, and even stockpile, all of your finishing materials ahead of time. Allow for products delayed or damaged in shipping to be repaired or replaced, It may change your schedule, but in the long run you will avoid a lot of problems and disappointments. If you have all of your fixtures, taps, accessories, tiles and trim work on site before you start you can begin your project with a realistic hope of finishing on time.
This approach also works when communicating with your contractor. Communicate closely with them to keep them in the loop. This will allow him or her to coordinate their crew and sub-trades to start and complete your project as scheduled, and hopefully, delay free. Make sure you have a bit of flex time built in to your schedule so that they can address things that ‘come up’ during the project, like unexpected repair work, or things they find when they tear open those 40 year-old walls. And remember, that they fastest and most expensive way to delay a project is from these five words – ‘While we are at it…’ -- avoid them at all costs.
Keep your project goals on track. If you want to do extra things do them as a separate project. You will control costs, avoid spontaneous decisions that you may regret later, and stay within realistic timelines. Don’t expect to add more work to the project and still expect your contractor to finish on the same schedule. In fact, they may not even be able to fit the extra work into the time slot they have allocated to your job. The result is usually that your job gets partially completed until they can reschedule the additions.
Just as a closing thought, it is always a good idea to make sure you have another bathroom or facilities available to you while renovating. And maybe, just maybe, you should think twice before you invite Aunt Phyllis to come for a visit the day after the project is scheduled for completion.
Return to main page |
