Preparing for an Addition: Prep Your Neighbours

Preparing for an Addition:  Prep Your Neighbours


There is no getting around it...A large remodeling project, like a room addition, is intrusive and likely for an extended period of time. And while neighbors won't experience that intrusion as intimately as the homeowner, they still will be impacted by the project.

As professional remodeling contractors, we do everything possible to minimize the intrusion we make on our clients' daily life during the job. But we're also aware of the impact our work can have on neighbors and often advise or coach our clients on how to be respectful of their potential inconvenience.

Communication is key. Whenever possible, we encourage clients to communicate plans for a new addition to neighbors on either side and directly across the street from the project. Some homeowners find it useful to show their neighbors the plans and explain where the addition will be built. They can review the construction schedule and discuss their concerns and explore ideas to alleviate them. If questions surface that a client can't answer, we make ourselves available to provide ideas and insights to help preserve a neighborly atmosphere. For clients that have a closer relationship with neighbors, a casual barbeque or cocktail party is a fun way to share project plans and details.

Most often, neighbors' concerns center on increased traffic and lack of available street parking. When on-street parking is critical, we can almost always arrange for our work crews to park only in designated areas.
We'll also coordinate with our crew members, subcontractors, and suppliers to drive slowly at all times, clean up any debris they may drop while parked on the street, and avoid using neighbors' driveways to turn around.

Likewise, if a neighbor has a legitimate and reasonable concern about our daily schedule, namely when we'll start in the morning, we can usually accommodate a slightly later workday and, where possible, reserve noisy work and materials deliveries to later in the morning.

For almost any remodeling project, and certainly a room addition, we'll need to place a dumpster as close to the building site as possible -- though probably on the street. Dumpsters are not attractive and are potential hazards to curious kids.

Similarly, it is our practice to leave a clean jobsite at the end of each day. By removing debris, materials, tools, and trash, we leave a job site that is safe to walk through after work ... and allow clients to show off the project's progress to interested friends and neighbors.

Finally, at the end of the job, we encourage clients to host an open house for their neighbors to see the finished project and celebrate its completion.

For clients who have the means and the inclination, it's a nice gesture to offer a window cleaning service to their immediate neighbors to remove any construction dust that likely accumulated during the project. Some window companies may offer a volume discount for multiple houses.

The bottom line is that your room addition will impact both homeowner and neighbors. In our experience, it's best to get ahead of their potential concerns and curiosity by extending an olive branch or two and keeping them informed from start to finish.
Warm Regards,

Doug Abbott
Village Builders



 This is an exert from a newsletter that is distributed to all former, current and future clients of Village Builders Inc. It is written by the President Doug Abbott. If you would like to receive this newsletter feel free to email me at www.robabbott@villagebuilders.ca

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.

There's nothing to fear from your renovation contractor as long as you pick the right one!

Nothing to Fear

Do you know what most often hinders the success of a remodeling project? Fear. Fear of the unknown, of unscrupulous contractors, shoddy materials, of somehow getting caught in a money pit and ending up holding the bag.

This high level of concern is understandable. Home improvement, especially on a scale that requires significant structural and cosmetic work, is a complex undertaking. Most homeowners engage in this kind of project only once or twice in a lifetime. It requires a large financial commitment and there is a lot to learn.

Professional remodeling contractors understand and respect the uncertainty that can sneak up on clients and impact their enjoyment of the home improvement process. That understanding helps them support clients to identify and understand their concerns -- whatever they are -- and overcome them quickly and confidently.

In addition to being good listeners and problem-solvers, professional remodelers operate on solid business principles and practices that alleviate the majority of what clients often fear about the home improvement process, including:

Reliable partners. The best remodelers seek out, work with, and retain top-quality subcontractors and materials suppliers. These trade partners should possess similar philosophies and approaches to running a successful business and be committed to the same high level of construction quality and standards. This helps mitigate disputes, foster cooperation, and produce better results.
The best remodelers regularly review their trade relationships to ensure that their pool of subs and suppliers consistently delivers high-quality work at a fair price. That diligence protects your investment and helps remove the fear of poor workmanship and unreliable performance.

Record keeping. The best remodeling contractors are diligent (some say obsessive) about documenting their projects to make sure costs, schedules and progress align and meet their standards of quality and those of their clients.
For the same reason, those remodelers demand similar diligence and reporting from their trade partners -- not so much to keep them in line, but more to enable their own accounting processes to be complete, accurate and current.
As such, professional contractors can present completely transparent and reliable reports at any time to their clients to ease concerns about whether their home project is on track.

Protection. People remodeling their homes are often afraid that they'll somehow be on the hook for unpaid work or materials once the job is over and their contractor has moved on to the next project. It's a legitimate fear and an all-too-common reality.
Professional remodelers easily manage these concerns. As part of their standard business practices, they pay their bills on time and only from each project's budget. In addition, they routinely collect lien releases from their trade partners upon satisfactory completion of their work.
Collecting lien releases on a timely basis (as the project progresses, not just at the end) removes the chance that a subcontractor or materials supplier will make a claim for payment against the home or owners; in fact, the best builders provide copies of those lien releases so that owners can rest assured that the bills have all been paid.

Sophisticated remodeling contractors practice "fear management". They take a professional approach to their business and are sensitive to the concerns of their clients. They help clients manage any anxiety from project inception through final walk-through. The key, as always, is communication. Helping clients manage their fear goes a long way to keeping communication lines open and promote a satisfying experience for all.

Warm Regards,

Doug Abbott
Village Builders

 This is an exert from a newsletter that is distributed to all former, current and future clients of Village Builders Inc. It is written by the President Doug Abbott. If you would like to receive this newsletter feel free to email me at www.robabbott@villagebuilders.ca

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.