Most people who undertake a home remodel project realize that the stress and strain on everyone involved is pretty high. One can only hope that the contractor is honest and competent and as many problems as possible are avoided. However, even with the most diligent contractor there will be situations that will cause friction between contractor and homeowner or contractor and architect. This is just part of remodeling a home. But recently, with the flood of cable television shows depicting "home makeovers," people are getting the impression that remodel is all fun and games and construction and demolition will be done by fabulous looking young women and men. (I"ve been in the remodel business for twenty years now and I've never once worked alongside a supermodel. I've never even seen one in the Home Depot.) These great looking people come in and miraculously remodel a house on time and on budget with almost no unforeseen issues. This,of course, is complete nonsense. These shows are probably more harmful than helpful because of the fanciful outcome of their projects.
Now, I like Norm from This Old House and The New Yankee Workshop but the disconnect between reality and those shows goes a little too far. I always love to see how remarkably calm,even a little giddy, homeowners are when Norm and his buddy Tom tell them that there house is in worse shape than they originally thought and it's going to take a lot more time and money to finish. In my experience, this is generally a pretty tense moment with the usual assumptions that the contractor should have foreseen the problems and he ought to cover the costs, and nobody wants to here that they are going to have to live in a construction site for any longer then they have to. I once had a family who used to eat breakfast basically dressed in ski gear over their pajamas because we had the back of their house off. If I had told them it was going to be a couple extra weeks to finish, they would have beat me on the spot and moved into my house.
The expression "everyone makes mistakes" apparently doesn't apply to Norm and his crew either. There's never a board cut too short, an incorrectly shipped sink, or a room that was painted with flat paint instead of semi-gloss. Never. This just isn't the way real renovations go. Mistakes are made, tensions can run high, but in general, everyone does the best they can to get through it. So next time you see Norm and his happy crew, this is probably a little closer to how the day actually went......
Norm wakes up with a blinding headache after too many cocktails celebrating the Red Sox victory in The World Series. Barely able to stumble out of bed, he has a few cups of coffee and reluctantly heads out to his workshop. Once there, he puts on his happy face and gets to work on a project that looks a lot easier than it actually is. About to put a piece of molding on for the finishing touch, Norm realizes he's cut the piece too short and, uncharacteristically, he begins cursing wildly and leaves to go buy another $65 piece of molding, but he's left the lights on all night on his truck so the battery is dead. After jump starting the truck he heads to the lumber yard for the molding only to find they don't have it and that detail has, in fact, been discontinued. Norm goes nuts and the clerk winces at the vulgarity of his cursing as well as his sour breath from the night before. He finally settles on a lesser piece of molding and storms out of the store. At the shop, Norm gets back to the project but the table saw binds up on him while he cuts and fires a chunk of wood at him like a missile, hitting him square in the gut, dropping him to the floor like a sack of potatoes. The sound guy puts the big fuzzy microphone down by Norm, but all you here are animal sounds coming from the master carpenter. Everyone decides to call it a day.
Cut to the next day when Norm is on site of one of his construction projects, feeling a little better than the day before. He and Tom have just discovered a lot of rot on the house and the budget just went sky high and the schedule went out the window. When Norm breaks the news to the homeowners they go absolutely ballistic. They start yelling at Norm that he should have seen this at the beginning and there is no way they are going to pay for the cost increases. Norm takes a few steps back thinking he may be about to catch another blow to the stomach and wonders how much longer the verbal abuse can last.
Now, I certainly wish no ill will on America's favorite carpenter, and I like the fact that home remodel is now a popular television item, but people, please, remodeling a home is a very serious endeavor and one needs to be prepared for several months of trying times. Surround yourself with competent people and hire a reputable contractor and your project should come out the way you hoped it would. There will be problems and mistakes will be made but if there is trust between homeowner and contractor you'll all get through it. And, unfortunately, although all the people on your project will probably be extremely hard working, I doubt any of them will be spectacularly beautiful. They are just real people helping you improve your house and trying to make an honest living. Good Luck.
