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When going through home renovations, your life can feel chaotic. In this chaos, you can struggle to deal with the work, having workers in your home, and even trying to keep up with your own daily needs. If you have children or pets, that only makes the whole thing more difficult.
But you can enjoy smooth renovations with a little preparation. Preparation does not just include things you should do before the contractors start. It also means mentally preparing for ways to make things go easier throughout the process.
Below, we look at three big things you can do during your renovation to make it go better.
Pay Attention to How You Work with Contractors
Dealing with contractors is not necessarily easy. After all, you are just meeting these people and they are inside your home.
But no matter how much noise their work makes or how tired you get; you should still treat them as you want to be treated. Follow these guidelines for maintaining a positive work and living environment:
Check-in with Them Regularly
To work well with contractors, you need to strike a certain balance. You need to give them room to do the work they are hired to do.
But you also need to stay present and keep up with daily progress. It is your home, so you should never feel uncomfortable asking questions to stay in the loop.
Not staying on top of the home renovation project can enable aspects of the work to fall behind schedule and increase your budget.
Missed deadlines cost you money and keep you from living comfortably in your home for even longer. Of course, you should not smother the contractors or get overly involved.
Simply stay up to date as your gut tells you to and ask questions when you need answers. Communicate clearly and kindly.
Prepare for Some Change Orders
Almost every home renovation involves change orders. Inevitably, the workers will find a damaged pipe, wiring problem, foundation issue, or other concern that must be addressed.
Remember that, while often costly, change orders are generally not the contractor’s fault. They probably do not want to deliver the bad news, if it means additions to your costs.
Remember to expect some of the unexpected and weather each hurdle as calmly as possible.
Expect Delays
Has a remodeling project ever completed on time? Unfortunately, these timelines evolve throughout the home renovation project.
Be ready for delays and accept them as positively as you can, especially considering issues like weather or supply chain delays are outside of your contractor’s control.
Keep Up with Your Receipts
For a multitude of reasons, you should keep up with your budget and receipts. You will need them for tax purposes, making payments, keeping within your financial limits, and in case something goes wrong.
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Protect Your Home and Belongings
You will have many new faces going in and out of your property during your renovations. For this reason and because of the risk of a break-in by opportunists who prey upon construction sites, you need to step up your home security. Tips include:
Daily Cleanup
Talk to your contractor about cleaning up the site every day as they finish work, ensuring all power tools and equipment are secured before leaving the worksite. Also, remind them to lock all entrances to your home.
Store Your Belongings
Move your valuables and sentimental items to a storage unit before renovation begins. This will protect these items from loss or damage that can occur as part of any work site.
Invest in Security
Add a security system to your home, such as a simple video doorbell. The camera will capture images and audio of people coming and going from your property.
It can also serve as an intercom system for deliveries, from wherever you are with your smartphone or other devices.
Provide a Positive Review When Warranted
Because of the emotional nature of home renovations, many contractors only receive online reviews when things go awry. Unfortunately, every remodeling project has its ups and downs.
Quite often, minor problems one can expect illicit very passionate negative reviews. If you appreciate the work your contractor has done, say so in writing where others can see it.
This is important for building their business. It also puts you in the position of being an appreciated client for future projects.
