Remodeling nightmares can be avoided with a little preparation and understanding
Remodeling Nightmares: Scary Problems You Might Face How To Deal With Them
We’ve all heard the remodeling nightmares. A friend or family member starts an eagerly-anticipated home remodel only to have it go horribly wrong. It can even lead to wishing they’d never started the project in the first place.
You might wonder… “Am I overeacting? Is this normal?” You used a contractor that was recommended on a local facebook group, they seemed like they know what they were doing. How could this have been prevented?
Read on for specific problems you might run into, how to avoid them, and what to do if you find yourself in a scary home remodel situation.
McManus Kitchen and Bath is a full service remodeling company with an in-house design team and showroom right here in Tallahassee, FL. Schedule an Estimate Here.
Key Takeaways
- Lack of planning is the one of the major causes of remodeling nightmares
- Avoid allowances – make all design decisions before the project starts
- Have all materials on site before starting
- Have a detailed project schedule
- Lack of clear communication and expectation setting is also a major cause.
- Be wary of a contractor who can not return call or messages quickly
- Request daily, written updates during construction
- Schedule regular walkthru’s to review progress.
- Cost Increases are one of the biggest remodeling nightmares
- Sign a fixed price contract
- Agree on a written change order process
- Have well defined payment schedule
Kitchen and Bathroom projects, even small ones, are more complicated than many realize.
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What Could Go Wrong?
Without proper design, planning and project management? Plenty.
A kitchen or bathroom remodeling project involves mutiple licensed trades, dozens of material selections and weeks of work in your home.
Too many contractors treat this as something they can ‘figure out on site” and leave key decisions until they are mid project. This is one of the most common mistakes.
Materials
Ideally choosing materials happens in the design process, guided by someone with expertise in all of the materials needed for your project. You don’t want you local handyman giving advice on the right shower fixture or flooring. They will likely recommend whatever is easiest for them.
We also do not recommend buying from local ‘big box’ stores. The majority of materials they carry are low quality so they can offer lower prices. Since a kitchen or bath remodel should last for 20 years or more it does not pay to install lower quality materails.
Order Materials Early and Inspect Them
If the contractor doesn’t order everything in advance, you may get stuck waiting for a vital piece to be delivered. Your contractor and his team must be on the ball, ordering everything that is necessary for the project so that when construction gets going, it doesn’t grind to a halt.
Avoid Allowances
Another materials-related issue is when a contractor uses allowances instead of selections. Allowances are an amount written into the estimate to cover costs that haven’t been decided or finalized yet.
The problem occurs when allowances are used instead of a good pre-construction planning process and a thorough budget.
In cases like that, you can expect to spend more than you originally planned as your selections may exceed your planned allowance. It’s a much better practice for your contractor to give you a solid budget upfront. More on that later.
A Selection sheet that details al the materials on the project can help avoid miscomunication. Order all materials in advance and don’t start the project until they have been received and inspected.
Communication
Miscommunication and lack of communication are probably one of the biggest cause of remodeling nightmares.
The truth is many contractors just don’t have the staff to handle the job well. This might be evident early in the process if your contractor struggles to return calls and messages quickly (within 24 hours at least) or takes a long time to perform tasks.
Get it in Writing
You want everyting in writing so you know everyone is on the same page.
This includes a detailed scope of work, thatn outlines all the labor being performed. A detailed materails list and a professional contract that outlines the responsibilites of all parties.
Change Order Process
You also want a written change order process that describes what happens when there are unexected costs or when extra work is requested by the homeowner or an inspector.
You may have verbally told discussed these things but if it’s not in the contract, you don’t have much recourse if they doesn’t do what they said.
Have Reliable Systems and Processes
A lot builders just don’t have good systems set up for easy communication. You don’t have a reliable way to get in touch with them, and you don’t know when they will contact you.
Will he show up to work today? What’s the plan? You don’t know and it’s hard to find out.
If there’s no project manager assigned to your remodel you may not have a primary contact person. No one is in charge of your project and there’s no one for you to talk to when you have concerns.
Many Parts to Coordinate
Another common issue…Traditional contractors hire out all parts of the job, using separate designers, contractors, and vendors.
Because you have so many different moving parts working on your project, there’s a greater chance for mistakes, miscommunication, and a lack of collaboration.
Design-build remodelers do things differently. All parts of the remodel, from design to the final walk-through, are handled in-house with a team that knows how to work together, to keep the project moving, to problem-solve creatively, and to communicate with each other and you.
All these communication issues can result in frustration, delays, mistakes, dissatisfaction with the final product, and overrunning the budget.
A detailed scope of work is another important tool to make sure the project runs as expected. It list all the labor for the project including quantities.
Budget
Remodeling a home is a financial investment and one of the main problems homeowners encounter is when the price that was originally given to them is raised significantly. If you’ve been saving and planning for a remodel, it’s likely important to you that the price you’re quoted is very close to the final actual cost.
Many contractors will give you a vague, general quote or estimate that includes a lot of wiggle room. It’s a ballpark figure they hope to hit, not a carefully designed line item budget where you can see exactly where your money is going and know what to expect. While change orders sometimes happen (say your contractor uncovers a serious electrical problem no one was expecting), they should be rare and handled professionally.
Cost surprises are common in remodeling, but they shouldn’t be. A carefully constructed budget that is based on a detailed scope of labor, line-by-line materials estimates, and a thorough scope of work should leave the homeowner feeling confident in the knowledge that what they’re being quoted is what they will pay. (We call this our good-better-best budget.)
Other Issues
Other significant problems can arise with your contractor and can have a big impact on your satisfaction with the remodeling process and your final outcome.
Schedule delays are unfortunately common. If your contractor has taken on more work than he has the staff for, you’ll have to wait until he can get to your project.
Maybe he didn’t apply for permits correctly or on time, and now you’re waiting for paperwork to come through. Or he neglected to order the materials you needed.
It could be that he doesn’t have enough vendors or subcontractors to keep his jobs moving. Delays like these could mean that your start date is pushed back, or worse, you could end up living in a partially completed construction zone for a while. Neither is a good option.
Another scary problem you might run into is that the work on your project is not done well.
From quality issues with the materials, to design issues that you don’t realize until after the project is complete, to poorly done construction, workmanship issues can be nightmares.
When you allow someone into your home to do remodeling or construction for you, you expect high-quality, excellent workmanship. So to find that there are problems with the work is a breach of trust between you and your contractor and a messy problem you now have to solve.
Design and planning before the project starts is one of the best ways to avoid remodeling nightmares. Just make sure your design team and the contractor building the project communicate well with each other and it’s clear who is responsible for what.
How Can I Avoid These Nightmares?
It’s important to thoroughly vet your potential contractor before you hire him. Ask a lot of questions, read reviews, and make observations. For a list of things to talk to him about, read this post.
We firmly believe (and the research supports this!) that design-build companies are the best option for you when you’re remodeling your home. A design-build company keeps all communication and collaboration about your project under one roof, ensuring a seamless, satisfying process and a great final outcome. With a design-build remodeling company,
- you can expect your project to move faster, as communication between the designers, builders, and project managers is excellent.
- problems are solved quickly, creatively, and efficiently within the team.
- you are always kept in the loop. You’ll be clear on the details of the design, have an accurate budget, understand the construction timeline, and be kept up-to-date on progress.
- you always know who to contact if you have questions, and you will be able to reach the people you need to talk to.
- you will be able to trust your whole team: the designers, project manager, contractor, and subcontractors.
- you will have help making design decisions and be able to feel confident in your choices.
- your satisfaction with the process and the result will be higher than if you went with a traditional company.
A detailed project schedule is also a great tool not only for planning a project but for setting expectations and keeping things on track.
What If I’m Already Having Issues?
If you’ve already hired a contractor and are having problems like the ones we’ve discussed above, you do have some options.
For starters, see if you can schedule a time to talk to your contractor about your concerns. Try to get things in writing: a clear scope of work, a solid estimate, and a schedule. Reset expectations and discuss what happens if they are not met.
What if the problems are so severe you don’t want to work with him anymore? You can request a partial refund from your contractor, which he may or may not give. You may want to leave bad reviews for him online.
It’s not easy to fire your current contractor and hire a new one to fix the problems and clean up the mess. It might end up being expensive.
But this is your home we’re talking about, and it’s worth it to work with someone you trust and to be confident that the work has been done well and is safe for you and your family.
There may be cases that are bad enough that you need to take legal action. Consider filing a report with your state’s consumer protection division. You can also hire an attorney and take the case to small claims court.
You do have recourse if your contractor turns out to be bad news, but it will almost always cost you time, money, and headaches. The best option is to keep yourself out of this nightmare in the first place.
Who Should I Hire?
If you’re in Tallahassee, Florida, we’d love to work for you. McManus Kitchen and Bath is a design-build company with over twenty years of experience serving Tallahassee neighborhoods like Killearn Lakes and Southwood.
We have our own showroom and expert designers ready to help you make selections, and our work is done with integrity and excellence.
You can be confident when you work with us that you and your home will be taken care of. All treats, no tricks. Contact us today to get started.