The Hidden Traps of Kitchen and Bathroom Remodeling: How to Avoid These 5 Costly Mistakes

There’s no secret that remodeling projects are an investment in your future. The last thing you want is costly mistakes that with thoughtful planning could easily be avoided. 

In fact, almost all unwanted cost overruns can be eliminated by avoiding these (5) Costly Mistakes during your design and planning phase.

Don’t fall into the trap of contacting a remodeling contractor for an estimate before you have flushed out your design details.  Signing a contract based on Material Allowances puts all the stress on you to stay within their predetermined costs, costs that are often based on nothing more than guesswork and their own agendas.  Accepting any Contract created from Material Allowances is a sure way to end up regretting all your decisions.  

The best remodeler’s understand that the happiest homeowners take the time to design and plan before they sign a contract to build.

When it comes time to sign a Remodeling Contract make sure to reference and include all the documents as part of your agreement. That includes cabinet plans, drawings and renderings of all materials to be installed. Visual representation of the work to be completed is often the only thing you have that communicates what you expect.  Nothing adds more unexpected costs than having to redo work that ends up not looking like you thought.  Visual communication is meant to confirm what your detailed Scope of Work describes.  

A detailed set of plans and renderings is critically important to getting what you want.

Certainly one of the most epidemic problems in the home improvement industry is poorly written work scopes.  Vague scopes of work are at the center of almost all homeowner contractor disputes.  A properly written scope of work should state who, what, when and how the tasks of your project will be completed.  It provides you, as the homeowner, the opportunity to ask questions and clarify that the best practices within the current residential construction guidelines are being followed. 

Don’t be caught off guard with unexpected change orders for things you thought were included in the cost.

Hiring for your Home Remodel is time consuming and frustrating but doing it well is critical to protecting your financial investment.  It takes researching, verifying, and being aware of the proper contract attachments with terms and conditions that are recommended by your State or Local Government.  All too often this comes to light once problems start popping up, leading to uncomfortable conversations. The projects we hear about that are associated with abandoned or poorly constructed work have one thing in common; the warning signs were in plain sight. A hiring system illuminates the blind spots that we as homeowners would naturally miss.  

Following a system for hiring makes sure you don’t miss red flags, all while saving your time and frustration.

Smart homeowners realize that by completing their design and planning first, before hiring, everything becomes easier. By following a system, guided by experienced professionals,  that walks you through each step you can design and plan your project so that it  impacts your life emotionally and financially for many years to come.

That’s why we make our project development services available to you in 1-1 In Person and Virtual, plus Small Group Collectives.  If you want to learn more about how we can help you check out our design and planning services here.