DIY Tips From a Pro

The web is littered with articles that promise to make your do-it-yourself remodeling project easy.  Many of the remodeling tips you find can make even a complex do-it-yourself project simple.  But remodeling is hard because, you live on the jobsite.

This might come as a surprise, but, most people don’t relish the thought of living in a jobsite.  I think that’s why many people rush to get their remodeling project finished and are ultimately dissatisfied with the results.  When I first started building, I was always in a rush to get finished.  I figured my clients wanted to see overnight results, so, I exerted a lot of time and energy trying to deliver them. As a result, I set schedules that were too aggressive and, unfortunately, overwhelmed some customers with a barrage of workers, subcontractors, deliveries and deadlines.  Do-it-yourselfers often do the same.  You figure that you have a weekend to finish the bathroom, so, you board up the door, send the kids outside or, to grandma’s, call up all your friends and neighbors to solicit help and commence tearing up flooring, ripping open walls, removing toilets and making a terrific mess.  By Sunday evening, everyone is exhausted, the bathroom isn’t usable and grandma has to make room for your wife too.  When was the last time you went through a mall that was being remodeled, or a retail store?  Was the work done in a sequential, orderly fashion, or did it seem like a free for all?  Were you able to tell when a project was well managed?  How about when it wasn’t?  Good contractors are able to manage a large-scale remodeling project by breaking up the work into manageable pieces.  Think about how to phase your project in a similar manner.  Also, construction is physically strenuous, take breaks and set a time limit for each day’s work.  At the end of the work period, clean up; don’t leave tools, cords and material lying around the jobsite.  10-15% of the time on a project is spent cleaning and setting up, so, don’t forget to account for this in your time estimates.  Pretend that you are a contractor and your family is the client, do the work in a professional, orderly manner and you will be pleased with the result. 

Are there any project management tips that you think can make a remodeling project run smoother?  Do you have any do-it-yourself horror stories, what happened? How did it end?