What should I expect when I’m remodeling my home?
Anyone who has completed a home improvement project can tell you that remodeling is not for the faint of heart. It is an emotional rollercoaster. A home remodel is an event in a person’s life that is equal parts exciting, joyful, overwhelming, and frustrating.
When a homeowner reaches out to a contractor to get their remodeling project started, they are generally very excited about the possibilities that lie before them. They look forward to the changes they will be making to their home and they eagerly await the changes in their life that will be made possible by this project! It is an exciting time indeed!
Their contractor is excited for them, but he also knows that the road they will traverse between today and the day their project is finished will be full of hardships, frustrations, and likely tears. He knows that the results of the project will thrill them and he knows their new life in the new space will make it all worthwhile. But, he also knows that getting there won’t be easy.
Unfortunately, most of us (contractors) aren’t as forthcoming as we should be in preparing our clients for the difficulties that lie ahead. This causes a regrettable situation where most homeowners get started on their project without a complete understanding of the emotional rollercoaster they are about to endure.
What emotions can I expect to experience during a remodeling project?
Well, for starters, excitement, lots of excitement! You will be thinking about what your new life will look like in the new space you are creating! You will be looking at all of the beautiful products and finishes that you will be able to enjoy every day of your life! You will be excited to get started on the build, and to make your vision become a reality!
Along with this excitement, there will be some disappointment. The tile you fall in love with will turn out to be discontinued, the range you really want will be on backorder indefinitely, or the tub you desire won’t fit in the space you have. As exciting as the design process is, you will have a few disappointments along the way. Don’t worry, though, you will find a solution that you will love, even though in the moment of disappointment it may feel like that’s impossible.
Once the design work is complete, you will likely feel impatient. At that point in the process, the plans and material selections are finalized, but your contractor will still have a lot of work to do before the workers can get started. He will need to pull permits, order materials, and schedule workers. With material lead times being what they are, this will generally take at least a few months (many contractors are currently booked out for a year, or longer).
At this point in the process, you will have spent your last few months living in your new space in your mind, as you planned the project. Now that you have completely planned the project, and you can clearly picture the finished space in your mind, you will need to spend many more months living in your existing space, with nothing to do but eagerly await the start date of your project.
Thankfully, the excitement will return when the dumpster arrives and your contractor pulls up to your home with the demo crew! They will begin to demolish the old space that hasn’t been meeting your needs, and the results will be exhilarating! In a matter of hours, you will be looking at a completely different home, and you will be thrilled to see your project getting underway!
And then the project will drag on… Demo day is an exciting, fast-paced day. All the noise, dust, and activity are stimulating, and the results of one day of work are incredible! Unfortunately, the work that follows isn’t nearly as fast-paced.
The framing, wiring, and plumbing seem to drag on forever. Days will go by and it will seem like nothing is getting done. The electrician will spend an entire day working, for example, and all the progress you will see at the end of the day will be some new wires in the wall.
Some days, no work will get done! The plumber will get called away for an emergency, a material delivery will be late, or the carpenter will need to wait for the overbooked city inspector to arrive for an inspection before he can continue with his work.
This can be frustrating! Here you are living in a messy, dirty, demolished home, and there is nobody on site working to get your home back together! Don’t worry, though, the workers will be back tomorrow, and the job will get done!
Then drywall day will come! That wonderful day where, after a week of tradesmen traipsing through your home, seemingly getting nothing done, after a day of work you will have walls again!
Drywall day is much like demo day, one day’s work feels like a week’s worth of progress! Your hope is renewed! You finally see the project coming together! You see the walls and you can picture them painted, with cabinets hanging on them, as you cook the first meal in your new kitchen! There is hope that your project will get finished soon!
The excitement of drywall day will likely keep you energized for a little while before the struggle of living in a construction zone catches up with you again.
As time goes by, you will get tired of seeing tradesmen every day, you will be frustrated that your home is constantly dusty, you will be bored of takeout food, and you will wonder why you ever decided to do this project!
On top of all this, there will be complications with the project! Materials will arrive late or damaged, unforeseen problems will need to be dealt with, certain parts of the project will take longer than expected, and/or some of the products or finishes won’t look the way you had expected. These problems can be frustrating, exhausting, and overwhelming!
At times, you will feel like you can’t handle it anymore, you just need the project to be over, so you can get back to normal!
This is normal. And, it will be okay.
Your project will get done, it will look amazing, you will be thrilled to death with it, and you won’t regret it one bit! In fact, you will wish you had done this project sooner!
What can I do to reduce stress during a remodel?
As we just described, remodeling is incredibly stressful! The more you can minimize this stress, the better your experience will be. Here are a few tips to help you keep your stress levels down:
Plan your project thoroughly before any work begins.
Plans are better made before you are living in an active construction site. Making product selections and design decisions while the project is already underway will add a huge amount of stress to your life. It is much better to make all of these decisions before work starts, while you still have a complete home and a good daily routine.
Create temporary facilities.
It is difficult to live in your home when the facitities are out of commission. To make this situation less stressful, create temporary facilities in a part of your home that isn’t under construction. For example, set up a makeshift kitchen in your dining room, or a temporary bedroom in the living room.
Stick with your routine.
Keep your current routine as much as you can. If you have coffee every morning or read a book every evening, try to maintain this routine, even if that means you do these things in a different location.
Get away when you need to.
If living in a construction zone gets to be too stressful, consider getting away for a weekend, or longer if you need to. Visit a relative, or just get a hotel room to give yourself a break from the stress of living in the chaos you now have at home.
Hire a very communicative contractor.
If you don’t know what to expect, you will be more stressed. A contractor that communicates well and creates clear expectations of what you can expect will be a huge help in keeping your stress levels down.
Consider breaking your projects up.
No one wants to live in an active work zone for longer than necessary. So, when a homeowner has more than one project, they often try to have all the work done at one time, so they don’t have to go through the remodeling process more than once.
While this approach is tempting, we have found that most homeowners (and contractors) can easily handle a project that spans 4 to 6 weeks. After that point, both the homeowner and the contractors start to suffer from burnout. The stress builds up, exhaustion sets in, tempers start to flare, and everyone just wants the project to be done, so they can move on with their lives.
To combat this, you might want to complete your project in stages. Instead of combining three 4-week projects into a single 12-week project, it might make more sense to tackle these projects separately, completing one project at a time, with long breaks between them, in order to make the experience less stressful.
In conclusion
Remodeling projects are exhilarating! Breathing new life into your space, and making it into exactly what you need, is an exciting experience!
This experience is also incredibly stressful. The safe space you retreat to in order to de-stress gets torn apart while the changes take place and you have to face the stress of the project in the absence of your retreat.
With the proper understanding of what is involved in a remodeling project, clear expectations of what will happen during it, and a plan to minimize the stresses involved, you will be able to navigate the challenges you are presented with throughout the remodeling process.
It will be a difficult process, but when the project is complete, you will be thrilled with the beautiful, functional space you have created, and you will be proud of what you have accomplished!
