When we were looking for a home we knew, for certain, that we wanted a fixer upper. We both had very specific design ideas + I didn’t want to pay for someone else’s upgrades that I would ultimately redo. “Turnkey” homes were expensive, so finding the worst house in our dream neighborhood was the best decision for us. As I’ve mentioned before, we placed an offer on this home, site unseen (other than the Redfin photos….), mainly because we knew that every inch of it needed to be redone + we saw the potential….
Once we closed on the house, we were eager beavers to get moving on the renovation. It was 9/11 (to be exact) + I wanted to be in our home for the holidays. I didn’t want to miss hosting Christmas Eve, so I had a tight timeline…..
Which almost resulted in us choosing a very wrong contractor (more on that later… because the one we ended up going with turned sour as well…) + moving forward without any real plans other than what I’d seen on Pinterest (which, is a fantastic starting point, but it’s not blueprints…..).
I don’t think our experience was anything abnormal (unfortunately) but I do think sharing might help anyone else who might be considering renovating, or starting a renovation, in the near future. I’ve thought a lot about our experience and think that there are several lessons I learned worth sharing…..
1. It Will Take Longer + Will Cost More: Ok, I’m not going to put a blanket statement on this and say that everyone’s experience will be the same. Yet, I thought for sure we would be different. That we had covered everything we wanted in the beginning stages + that the contractor we were working with would be good on his word regarding his timeframe. Our job ended up costing us significantly more than we originally thought + it took seven weeks longer (but 6 months longer for our master bedroom/bath). Advice that my friend, who is an interior designer, gave me was to think of everything or a contractor will add it in later because nothing is included unless it’s specifically stated in the contract. An example? We assumed that since they were knocking out walls + completely renovating our kitchen, etc… that painting the interior would be included. Nope. Or that because we bought new doors (through our contractor) that the knobs + painting of the doors would be included. Nope. Call us green that we didn’t think of that, but I hope that it helps someone. We literally felt as if there was an extra several hundred dollars sprung on us every-week… and that adds up. Big time.
Of course there were the extra expenses that we knew would happen if we opted to upgrade something. And while you might not think you’ll do any upgrading, while you’re in it + see everything coming together, you end up making last minute changes. We were going to go with a basic subway tile backsplash, but as the kitchen came closer to being completed we both knew that the herringbone would pull it all together (oh, and we were charged extra for going over our stove hood and window in the kitchen…..to not go over looked completely unfinished).
As on top of the contractor as we tried to be, there was no working around the timeframe. He worked as fast as he said he could with the crew he had.
In the end, my advice here would be to take the quote the contractor gives you and then add 10-30% on top of it…. then decide if you want to move forward. Then, when you sign at the quoted rate, in your head you know you’re comfortable with whatever percentage above you might incur.
2. For Some Things, Wait: Whenever I start something, I like to completely finish it. That goes for our house renovation as well. But, let’s be real, that wasn’t going to happen. We still have some loose ends around the house that we are now getting around to. Yet, when it comes to decorating I opted to wait on some of it. My main reasoning for this was that I wanted to live in the house for a while, get a feel for it, before certain decorating decisions were made.
When we moved in, we didn’t have window coverings (so we had makeshift curtains up for several months)… we had plain white walls (which, I actually love), and neither of the girl’s rooms were anything special. After moving in, and living in the home for a little bit, we were able to decide on window coverings that were right for the home/design/lifestyle. I just recently added a mural wall to Harper’s room, which I think really fits her personality + adds something to her bedroom. I still haven’t finished Camille’s room, but I know what I want to do now… oh, and our guest room/office is next on the list… but I can say we know what would be functional for our family now (and I probably would have made a more impractical decision had I opted to design the room before we moved in). There are also things I sort of want to redo already (very minor). Like our bar area in the kitchen. I want to tear out the cabinets, continue our tile up a little higher, + put in floating cabinets to make the space a little different than the rest of the kitchen. I also wish we had some storage between our master shower + toilet area (again, something we only realized would be great after we moved into the space). We are just now figuring out what we want to do with the walls in our living room area (paneling) but never would have thought of that before we moved in….
So, I guess I write all of this just to say that it’s ok if everything isn’t finished all at once. It happens for a reason + take the time to get to know the space.
(Harper’s Bed | Bedding | Rug | Net | Basket | Pouf)
3. Do What You Want: There will be contractors + designers along the way who might try to persuade you against what you want. Listen to them (there might be good logic there that would warrant a change), but then make the decision that is right for you. We knew what we wanted, but there were certain things we weren’t willing to give up on… but they were things that maybe our contractor didn’t agreed with. Both TJ + I talk about a few of those “things” and say how happy we are that we didn’t listen to him…..
4. You Have The Rights: (not giving any legal advice here!) We found this out after another disagreement with our contractor. He wanted to put in a quartz countertop that we were very much against (the type I wanted was a non-negotiable) because that’s what he initially quoted us with (we assumed it was for the quartz we requested, our fault for not pushing further before signing). We were more than willing to pay the difference, but he wasn’t happy (more on that later). When we went to the tile shop to pick out our countertops, the guy working there was super chill, but very knowledgeable. We explained our situation + he said that, unfortunately, he hears it all the time. He did say to us that because the construction field has such poor regulations if you take him to small claims court the judge sides with consumers around 90% of the time. He told us because he knew the challenges we were having + wanted to give us something in our back pocket (aka, his license). It eventually came in handy when it came to our master bedroom/bath. We wouldn’t sue, it wouldn’t be worth the time/money, but there are some individuals who have situations far worse than ours was and it’s helpful to know your rights as a consumer.
OUR EXPERIENCE
I know I’ve mentioned before that our situation went sour, but I thought I’d briefly share here what was ultimately happening. We were “happy” with our contractor with the first portion of our renovation. I use the term “happy” loosely… there were the typical bumps along the road, but overall, we would recommend him because he did sound work + was knowledgeable about what needed to be done construction wise…. He was able to look at plans, modify them, and made some really great suggestions…
Yet, as we waited for our master permits to be approved, his other job he was working on came to a stand still as well. Which spelled no money coming in for him. Our permits were approved at the end of February + construction wasn’t completed on our small bedroom/bathroom until October. He blamed us for his lack of money, constantly asking for more, saying he couldn’t pay his workers + that we hadn’t picked out our vanity/fixtures yet so they couldn’t resume work. Once we picked out those items, work still didn’t resume (we picked them out in March + May….). At that point we pushed him further to finish the job + he came up with more excuses. TJ had several run ins with him, where he (the contractor) said he was talking to his lawyer about us (to which TJ countered that as the consumers we had the rights… and that was the end of that conversation….). What it ultimately came down to was that all the money we had already paid him for the job had been floated to complete other jobs he had (essentially stealing from us…. which he didn’t deny when we confronted him with this issue) + he was “broke” for our job. Meaning, if we wanted it finished we needed to repay what we already paid him + then what we still owed him.
I am so aware that this could have turned out worse. But at the time it was pretty bad for us. I think in hindsight we would have wanted to work out a different payment plan with him…. something that made more sense than what he had in place. Yet, he was experienced, so we assumed he knew what he was doing.
All that to say, I hope our experience can help someone somewhere….
All of that aside, the process is fun… it’s amazing to see a space go from something you would never consider living in to your dream home. There are enjoyable + fun moments in the process as well… you just have to ride the wave…..
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