Dream home remodeling may not always be a dream experience. Many people have waited years to start remodeling their dream home. They have labored over the designs, cabinets, and floor plans. Now the time has finally come to start building their home.
Handling the Stress
Once the building or remodel process begins the stress may at times be overwhelming. Remodeling a dream home takes a lot of people and making sure all those people are doing what you want them to do can be a difficult task. If you are not up to the challenge, we highly recommend hiring a general contractor.
Getting Help
The job of a general contractor is to oversee the daily operations of the project and act as the main of contact for all parties involved. They are the ones taking the lead of a construction project, hire specialists (subcontractors) to complete different tasks, and schedule the different project assignments.
To help manage the stress that comes with this time you can follow these simple steps.
1. Be Prepared
Don’t start dream home remodel until the design is finished and you even know what the design is going to be. Creating a home before the plans are finished is a sure-fire way to disaster and a whole lot of stress.
2. Budget
Have a budget and stick to it! One of the biggest mistakes people make in remodeling is not properly planning their budget. Find a contractor who will give you an exact cost based off of what you want. Also, make sure they have at least a 10% contingency in the cost. You don’t want to get halfway done and run out of money. Then you’ll have a half-finished project.
3. Get Help
As mentioned above, if you are not an experienced contractor then don’t try to act as your own general contractor. It will be worth your money to hire someone else that is trained. Plus the amount of stress a general contractor can relieve is worth its weight in gold!
4. Relax
At times this may seem impossible to do…but finding time to relax during your project is absolutely essential. During your creative home remodeling it may seem impossible to relax, so try to pre-schedule time for it. If it’s a very large project you might even consider moving out until it’s complete.
Braving the Elements
Weather can be another huge stressor when it comes to building and remodeling projects. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to control the weather or even predict it. Despite the weatherman’s best work, the weather is often still very unpredictable.
Even though you can’t predict the weather you can plan ahead for the possibility that bad weather may come. When designing your timeline make sure and leave plenty of cushion for rainy days and other weather-related issues that may arise.
Discuss the effects of weather on your building project with your contractors so you are well informed. Ask questions if you are unsure of anything. Discussing the subject openly with your contractors before the building begins will make it easier to develop your timeline. Most contractors are very good at predicting real timelines, but they choose to bid shorter ones to get your work.
Discuss your honest need for a firm timeline and your willingness to accept a longer time frame that is more accurate instead of an inflated timeline that is wishful thinking. Your contractor will likely give you a date that is several weeks later than their original bid, but this is much more realistic and will provide you better information for you planning.
If we can be of any service to you, please give us a call.
