Starting Your Project The Story Of 2 Projects
Mrs. Jones was dying to remodel her kitchen. She was worried that the project would take too long and stress her out, so she worked with her contractor and the contractor’s designer to pick out all of her selections before any of the work started.
The designer took her to showrooms, like plumbing and tile showrooms, to make final decisions and purchase on all the pieces and parts needed to put her new kitchen together. They even picked out appliances together.
She worked with her contractor to “stage” the project so that all the materials that were needed at the very start were on-site before the job started. Once work began, the project went very smoothly and there were no interruptions for materials to be picked out or delivered.
The project finished a little bit early and she told all of her friends what a wonderful experience she had. Most of them were shocked because they had not had such a great experience with their kitchen remodels!
Mrs. Smith was a very busy lady. Her contractor advised her that the project would go smoothly if all the selections were made in advance. However, there were so many things to do at work that it was impossible for her to take off during the week to purchase the materials. She didn’t want to take advantage of the contractor’s designer so the task became even more daunting. She dreaded walking into the tile store and seeing 40 thousand samples on the walls and not knowing where to start. As a result she just postponed making any decisions.
She was excited about the project and anxious to start, though, so she asked the contractor to start with what she had picked out so far. After the initial tear-out of the kitchen, she met with the cabinet sub-contractor to plan out the kitchen cabinets. Unfortunately, the job had to stop because she had not finalized selection of her appliances. The cabinet vendor explained that the appliance sizes were needed in advance so that the cabinets could be built around them.
She then rushed out to buy her appliances and her plumbing fixtures (sink, faucet, etc.), but was stressed out because she felt that she was having to make quick decisions under pressure.
Before the cabinets were built, she was able to pick out the granite that she liked from one of the contractor’s discount programs. She was very happy with her granite selection and was given a piece of the stone to carry with her to make her backsplash tile selection. Things got busy again and she didn’t have time to finalize her choice of tile.
After the countertop went in, the very next step was installation of the backsplash tile. So, she had to run out to go pick out her tile. Unfortunately, she picked a tile that had a 4 week order time and had to be shipped from a distant city, and couldn’t be shipped right away, because it was backordered. The contractor shrugged and explained that the job would have to shut down until the tile came in. The contractor did everything he could do, but the job sat with nothing going on for 3 weeks. And all this time Mrs. Smith had no kitchen!
I think that you get the picture. Remodeling is a very linear process. “Step B” happens right after “Step A” and Step “C” happens right after that. If any of these have missing parts, or can’t be undertaken, the job shuts down and it takes forever to finish.
In recent months we have had such a demand for our services that we are streamlining our processes. In order to get your project done a quickly as possible, we are asking that you have all your selections made and purchased (except for tile and cabinet which we provide), and on site. This means appliances, plumbing fixtures, decorative hardware, (towel bars, cabinet knobs, faucets, etc.).
This will require some extra effort on your part, up front to have these items purchased and on the job, but it will pay off in spades. We can finish your project sooner and you can enjoy your beautiful new space sooner as well!
Some items will need to be ordered and it may take a week or two to be delivered. We understand that. If these are ordered in a timely way at the beginning of the project they will be on site before the time that they are needed and work can continue seamlessly. That is our goal, but we need you to be a committed partner in this process.
Below is a list of typical work flow items for a kitchen or a bathroom remodel. This will help you to look down the road at what steps are coming up once work starts on your job.
- Initial meeting at your home. Getting to know and trust each other.
- Design Phase. This can mean drawing of architectural plans under a design agreement, if you are moving walls or any other structural renovations. Otherwise, it means writing the specifications and description of your project and pricing it out.
- Estimate and contract phase. During this phase, we will review your initial estimate and make any revisions to customize it even more for you before we even sign it. These discussions are important. The more details we can pin down and agree on early the smoother and faster it will go, with no change orders.
- Next you will select and purchase the things on the Furnished by Owner (“FBO”) list. These are the things that you will want to pick out yourself according to your own taste. I will provide you with customized selection sheets that will organize your shopping trips. I encourage you to work with Sahra Ward @ 713-553-3902 to help you make your decisions quickly and efficiently. She will save you a lot of time and stress. You will be confident that all the materials that you chose will work beautifully together and you will end up with a spectacular new space that you will be proud to show your friends.
- Once you have picked out your tile, you will meet with our tile expert and do a tile layout with sketches of the decorative tile in the main field and orientation of your tile walls, floors, backsplashes, etc.
