Even though winter has just started, if you are thinking about renovating this spring then now is the time to start looking around for a contractor to do the actual renovation.
When it comes to renovations your contractor will help you design and plan the renovations that you want to complete. With the design, planning and then the budgeting this can take up a month or more before you come to an agreement. Usually renovations have to go through 3 or 4 budgets with changes to materials and work to be completed until a deal can be reached between client and contractor.
Once you have designed, planned, budgeted and signed the contract with your contractor then you and your contractor are going to want to start ordering things for it. Certain things like specialty plumbing fixtures can take a month or more to receive, or a specialty wood flooring can take months to have made and shipped. It's best to have to find a spot to store the materials needed for the renovation then having to leave the renovation unfinished for that length of time that you are waiting on materials to be manufactured and delivered.
The more decisions that you get out of the way before the renovations start the less stress you will have to deal with when the renovations actually start. There will be plenty of decisions that you as the homeowner will have to make once the renovation starts. Changes and upgrades are always part of a renovation once it starts as walls are opened up and workers find things that require fixing or replacing. With everything planned and ordered in advance you can focus on the decisions that arise as the renovation proceeds.
With the 2017 residential construction season looking like its going to be extremely busy for all contractors in the area you should start to talk to them now before you end up at the end of a long list of people looking for renovations. If you wait to long your spring renovation might end up being a fall renovation because every contractor is to busy already in the spring working on people that called them in the winter.
Make that call or send that email to the contractor that you are interested in now, delaying till closer to the spring might find you at the end of that line that outs you into the fall renovation schedule.
Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.
Monday, December 26, 2016
Thursday, December 22, 2016
Village Builders Holiday Schedule
Village Builders will be open until December 23rd.
We will be closed from December 24th 2016 until January 8th, 2017.
The office will reopen on January 9th, 2017.
If you require assistance or you would like to book an appointment you can email info@villagebuilders.ca and someone will get back to you.
If you have an emergency and you require our help email info@villagebuilders.ca and someone will get back to you with 24 hrs.
Have a happy holidays.
Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.
We will be closed from December 24th 2016 until January 8th, 2017.
The office will reopen on January 9th, 2017.
If you require assistance or you would like to book an appointment you can email info@villagebuilders.ca and someone will get back to you.
If you have an emergency and you require our help email info@villagebuilders.ca and someone will get back to you with 24 hrs.
Have a happy holidays.
Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
Giving HomeOwners Choice When Renovating
I recently finished renovating a basement of a newer home, the basement was left unfinished after the homeowner had stopped the builder of the home before he could finish it even though he had built the rest of the home at a high standard.
When I asked why they hadn't had the builder of their custom home finish the basement the homeowner informed me that the contractor had never given them a change order or even asked them if it was ok to spend more money then what was originally planned in the budget. After the bills kept piling up and the entire project ended up over budget they put a stop to their contractors spending and any work that was left to completed.
With that in mind and a contract in hand I did what I always did when renovating and gave the homeowner as many choices as I could. Some of them did not cost anything but were personal choice and some were upgrades.
Some of the upgrades were rejected like switching the pot lights to LED from halogen, but there were other ones that were accepted. Upgrades like adding extra pot lights to the bathroom for more light in the shower area and staining a pair of pine doors that we had made for the rec room instead painting them.
These weren't a lot of money over the original budget but I could tell that the homeowner appreciated that I would take the time to ask their opinion.
My belief is that a custom home or a custom renovation is just that "custom", its not custom to the contractor doing the work but it is custom to the home its being done and should be a reflection of the homeowners personality.
The homeowner doesn't get to have everything they want, there are somethings that I will insist on because of best practice and prior experience but overall the place should feel like they were the designers and not the contractors.
The more choices you allow a homeowner the more they feel personally invested in the project, not just financially invested. This helps the homeowner fall in love with the renovation before it's ever finished and also makes for a positive experience between both parties.
So whether you are the contractor doing the renovation or the homeowner you should expect to have choices given so that there are no surprises along the way.
Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.
When I asked why they hadn't had the builder of their custom home finish the basement the homeowner informed me that the contractor had never given them a change order or even asked them if it was ok to spend more money then what was originally planned in the budget. After the bills kept piling up and the entire project ended up over budget they put a stop to their contractors spending and any work that was left to completed.
With that in mind and a contract in hand I did what I always did when renovating and gave the homeowner as many choices as I could. Some of them did not cost anything but were personal choice and some were upgrades.
Some of the upgrades were rejected like switching the pot lights to LED from halogen, but there were other ones that were accepted. Upgrades like adding extra pot lights to the bathroom for more light in the shower area and staining a pair of pine doors that we had made for the rec room instead painting them.
These weren't a lot of money over the original budget but I could tell that the homeowner appreciated that I would take the time to ask their opinion.
My belief is that a custom home or a custom renovation is just that "custom", its not custom to the contractor doing the work but it is custom to the home its being done and should be a reflection of the homeowners personality.
The homeowner doesn't get to have everything they want, there are somethings that I will insist on because of best practice and prior experience but overall the place should feel like they were the designers and not the contractors.
The more choices you allow a homeowner the more they feel personally invested in the project, not just financially invested. This helps the homeowner fall in love with the renovation before it's ever finished and also makes for a positive experience between both parties.
So whether you are the contractor doing the renovation or the homeowner you should expect to have choices given so that there are no surprises along the way.
Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.
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