Remodeling is exciting. It’s fun to make design choices. It’s creative and absorbing. It’s rewarding to make a dream a reality, but it’s also chaotic, messy, and challenging.
Lone Star Construction never lets a homeowner operate under the illusion that a remodeling project is a “walk in the park”.
It’s a major disruption in clients’ lives, strangers are going to be in your home for weeks or months at a time. That is why we take precautions to minimize our clients’ stress.
On the remodeler’s side, cleaning up every single day makes an enormous impact. We set aside time at the end of the day to allow time to clean the site.
Communication between the homeowner and remodeler is also critical to a smooth, less stressful experience. Lone Star Construction uses a number of communication methods including personal meetings, telecommunications and electronic messages between the construction managers, lead carpenters, and the homeowners.
Home remodeling taxes homeowners’ emotions. Here are a few of Lone Star Construction’s favorite tips for reducing stress levels.
- During a remodel, your home, your nest, is disturbed. Gone is the refuge at the end of a long day. Instead, you have a disorder. It’s stressful to go for long periods of time without a respite of peace and quiet. We suggest “getting away” for a bit. Go for a walk, go to the gym, take a class. Go on a long weekend or a vacation during a remodel.
- Schedules can break down during a remodeling project. The cabinets you fell in love with are back-ordered due to a strike in South Carolina. The plumber’s wife just gave birth to triplets and he took the afternoon off to be with her, setting back the hook-up of kitchen sink and garbage disposal. The snowstorm in Minnesota delayed the delivery of the countertops… It can go on and on sometimes. So the feeling that you’ve lost control sneaks up on you. Intellectually, you understand. (After all, if you were in the hospital with triplets, your husband had better show up!) But emotionally, it’s tough to stay calm.What to do? Lone Star Construction’s way is to take positive, decisive actions. At the start of the project, communicate your needs openly and honestly with our team. You have the right to question or challenge any decision made. Establish a two-way method of communication that is reliable such as email, faxes, and handwritten notes at an established place in the home. Don’t rely merely on voice messages at either end as they can be forgotten, or erased from systems, etc.
- Dreams versus reality is a great stress inducer. Don’t romanticize the project. It’s not a fantasy. The more you expect a certain outcome, the more you may be disappointed. Maybe there isn’t room for a trash compactor; French doors cost more than you anticipated; your budget can’t be stretched to cover the 8-person hot tub. Try to set realistic expectations within your budget. Be sure you are extremely candid with your contractor about spending limits so that the first set of designs doesn’t have to be scaled back after you’ve fallen in love with those French doors.Remodeling doesn’t have to be an emotional rollercoaster. With a good contractor who’s sensitive to your expectations and needs, and is adept at communicating before and during the process, remodeling can be exciting, fun and rewarding.
