By Kristen Schwartz, Design Consultant
I’ll admit it. I love watching home remodeling shows on HGTV. They’re entertaining, offer great inspiration for our projects & most of the time make me groan out loud at what they portray as an actual homeowner experience. Come on! As much as I enjoy these shows, they’re giving homeowners unrealistic expectations of their contractor & the remodeling experience. Let’s talk reality vs reality TV…
It’s a dirty, dusty construction site.
On TV the home is always shown completely clean, organized & in pristine condition, even while work is being performed. The family has moved out of the home, put all their stuff in storage & take part in some of the demo. They only stop by occasionally, usually by invitation, to see & comment on the progress. This glamorized view is great for TV, but it can lead homeowners to the conclusion that the work zone is always a safe place for their families to roam around. The reality? Homeowners never move out; most of their stuff is pushed to a corner of the work zone & it is a liability for them to take part in any of the demo or construction.
They are living in the home & are seeing the progress on a daily basis; parents, children & even pets are roaming around a construction zone. Builders can lock their work site to discourage owners from roaming through unless accompanied by the project manager for their safety; we remodelers don’t have that luxury. While broom swept at the end of each workday, it is likely that there will be wood shavings, nails, pieces of wire, etc. on the floor that can injure someone & all of these things are easily transferred to the main living area where they can scratch hardwood flooring or worse, be ingested by small children or pets.
Another reality that you won’t see on TV is how dusty & dirty the rest of the home gets. It is a reality that your contractor can’t prevent no matter how much plastic sheeting is hung or how many rolls of floor protector are put down. We’re often asked to block HVAC vents & cold air returns to prevent the system from sucking dust into the ducts. Not a good idea because blocking these air paths can cause costly problems. On Built by Design projects when the really dusty work is being performed, the main HVAC unit is shut off until work is completed for the day & the dust has had a chance to settle to the floor. This trick significantly cuts down on the amount of airborne dust being sucked into the system. We also suggest that furnace filters are changed a couple of times in the early stages of the project. Helpful Hint: if you have storage tubs or boxes that will remain in the work zone, remove the lid, place a layer of plastic wrap over the opening, replace the lid & seal the edges with duct tape. This will prevent you from needing to wipe down every single one of your holiday decorations the next time your open the boxes!
Mistakes will happen; issues will come up.
The Property Brothers & The Gaines would have viewers believe that every one of their jobs runs smoothly from start to finish. Sure, they may come across one “Well, we weren’t expecting to find that” moment, but overall, the project always runs like clockwork & everyone involved is all smiles all the time. Yeah right!
Your contractor is human, something Reality TV has practically made impossible for some homeowners to fathom. On the flip side, there are some shows out there that focus on contractor mistakes (I’m pointing to you Mike Holmes) that give us a bad rap. These shows can lead homeowners to the conclusion that contractors shouldn’t be trusted & that mistakes will be hidden from them. While I’ll admit there are contractors out there that deserve this reputation, Built by Design isn’t one of them. We’re in this business because we love what we do; we always strive for perfection. Let’s be real though; perfection isn’t a realistic expectation.
So, what can be done to manage homeowner expectations & work through those inevitable mistakes? My first piece of advice is simple: read your contract & scope of work. Built by Design carefully creates each of these documents for every project & they describe in detail the work we’ve bid to do & how much it will cost. If something is not specifically listed in these documents, it won’t be considered part of the job we’ve agreed to do. By the time you receive these final documents you will have had several meetings with our company & many things will have been discussed. This is where being human comes in – we might overlook something you wanted included, or we may have talked about removing something due to your budget & you’ve forgotten. There is room for misunderstanding on both sides: read these documents carefully before signing them & speak up if you think something isn’t right.
Second piece of advice: once the project has started if you see something that doesn’t look quite right, just ask. Most project managers are not on site every day, all day & this is standard across the industry. The project managers at Built by Design typically manage 3-4 projects at the same time so our time is split between these projects & other job duties. Nothing will drive a wedge between a homeowner & their PM faster than a nasty text or phone call from the homeowner about a (possible) issue & demanding it be addressed immediately.
Is that how you’d address a similar issue with a boss, coworker or friend? Not likely, especially if you value that relationship & want it to continue. That’s something Reality TV remodeling shows never address but I can guarantee happens. The better approach? Calmly bring up your concerns to your project manager then give them the time needed to see the issue him/herself & come up with a plan to address it. It could be that what your untrained eye sees is part of the process & your PM just needs to educate you. If something does need to be fixed, understand that it may not be possible to schedule that immediately. Rest assured your Built by Design PM will make it right before moving on.
The Parable of the Sausage Factory
If there is one thing that every Reality TV show has in common, it’s that you rarely see the ugly parts. Whether it be a plastic surgery show that leaves out the footage of the unpleasant recovery images, or the survival show that glosses over the risky reality of going to the bathroom outdoors (biting ants, no thank you!), on TV you only see the “pretty” parts. In the real world, getting to the beautiful finish line goes through some not so beautiful trails along the way. In other words, the sausage factory.
Most of us love sausage – it’s savory, smells delicious & is a great breakfast side dish. But I’d bet that most of us don’t want to see it being made, the trail it takes from its snorting beginning to our table. We’d rather not know all the ugly parts that go into that glorious piece of pork on our plate. Remodeling can be a lot like sausage – sometimes it would be better not to know the ugly parts of the journey before getting to the long-awaited reveal.
This is where HGTV has once again done homeowners a disservice by only portraying the pretty parts of a remodel. When the homeowner is living the project in real time, they get all the ugly parts: the mess, the dust that feels like it permeates everything, the noise, the delays, the bad days, the mistakes. It would be better for everyone if the homeowner had the luxury of living somewhere else, but that’s not reality. When my clients start to get overwhelmed, I’ve been known to tell them the parable of the sausage factory to show them that there will be a beautiful ending. They only need to realize that a remodeling project is a lot like sausage: much easier to digest once you forget about what goes into making it.
Remodeling Reality
I’ll say it again: I love watching HGTV & know that our clients do too. These shows are a great source of inspiration when contemplating a kitchen or bathroom remodel or finishing your basement. My hope is that after reading this blog you’ll continue watching but with a more realistic sense of what these shows aren’t showing you. I hope that you read your contract & scope of work documents carefully, that you find a contractor you trust & show him/her that you trust & respect them throughout the project.
What I hope most of all is that you remember that your contractor is human & humans aren’t perfect. That’s the reality of any remodeling project.
Built by Design is the metro’s top rated custom home remodeling company. We would love to be a part of your remodeling reality in 2023 – request your bid now! Request a Bid