Preparing Your Home and Yourself for Major Renovations

By McDaniels Kitchens and Bath|Bathroom Design

As home remodeling experts, our team at McDaniels Kitchen and Bath know what a major project a kitchen or bathroom redesign or upgrade can be. The planning, designing and execution of the remodel are beyond the do-it-yourself skills of most homeowners, which is why it’s wise to hire a good contractor to handle it for you. That being said, there are still some things to consider in preparation for such a project.

Should You Stay at Home?

Depending on how extensive a home remodel you’re having done, you may have to make a decision about temporarily staying with nearby friends or family. Then again, even if you’re having a lot of work done, you may not wish to impose on friends or family. In this case, you can have it done in stages, so the entire home is not disrupted at any one time. If it’s just your kitchen being redone, for instance, handling the situation may be as simple as eating out for a few weeks until the dust settles.

A related question has to do with traveling. If a renovation is supposed to take four weeks and you have a four-week vacation to an exotic locale on your bucket list, you may think now is a perfect time. You’d be wrong. You want to be around to make sure everything goes as planned because you’ll have to live with that redone kitchen for many years to come.

Getting Any Needed Approvals

If you have a single-family detached house, you’re probably set in terms of not needing to get anyone’s approval for an interior home remodeling project except, of course, that of your significant other. If you’re in a condominium, however, certain projects may need Condo board approval, and you’ll want to let your neighbors know about any upcoming noisy renovations.

Preparing Your Home

Opinions will differ as to how much you should do in preparing your home for a remodeling project, but there are three things you definitely should do:

  • Get any fragile, rare or precious belongings out of any rooms where work will be done.

  • Either clear rooms where work will be done of large belongings such as sofas or recliners or if you’re not able to handle it yourself, make arrangements with the contractor for them to do it for a little extra money.

  • Make sure to secure anything with a significant dollar value.

Dealing With the Contractor

Communication is key when working with your contractor. They should return your calls or texts within the same day unless you called fairly late in the day.

Permitting is another issue you may face in your remodel. This is where it’s nice to have a contractor since they will typically handle this for you. This is more likely to be an issue if it’s a kitchen remodel that involves taking out walls, or adding or moving electrical, mechanical or plumbing elements. If you’re just changing out your cabinets or countertops, permitting probably won’t be an issue.  Your kitchen remodeling expert is the best person to advise on when you need permits

There’s also the possibility of price changes and project delays when undergoing any fairly involved home remodel. On price changes, these typically occur when you decide to make changes along the way. As far as project delays, these can be a result of change orders you submit during the renovation, so you should minimize changes as much as possible. It’s possible the contractor may have some scheduling issues come up as well, so always allow for a little more time than what a contractor tells you the project will take.

Keep Your Eye on the Prize

At McDaniels Kitchen and Bath, we recommend you keep the end result in mind to get you through any temporary frustrations in your home remodeling project. Having been in business for 60 years in the Lansing, Michigan area, we know a thing or two about kitchen and bath remodeling. Our kitchen and bath showroom will get your creative juices flowing and our experienced designers can maximize your budget to get you the kitchen, bathroom or any other room that you desire.