Oh, the joys of home remodeling. Who knew it would be so fun! Now, I considering myself pretty savvy when it comes to home maintenance, remodeling, and real estate in general. I mean, I sell real estate for a living, have renovated four homes over the the last twenty years, and have an undergraduate degree in architecture. But I have to be honest; this little kitchen renovation is driving me crazy.
Although we're only remodeling the kitchen, we also want to refinish all the hardwood floors and the same time. So thinking it would be best if we moved out of the entire first floor, we packed up all our stuff, and either moved it to a off-site storage area, or to the basement. We've squeezed the lives of three people into a few rooms, with a small refrigerator, a microwave oven and a bar sink. Our clothes are stacked in plastic storage crates, and we navigate around cardboard boxes. I thought it would be kinda fun; a little adventure in our basement apartment. That lasted about 48 hours. I'm ready to hurt someone. Next time, we move out completely. (There will not be a 'next time.')
Oh, and the dust is out of control. Plastic sheeting be damned. Everything has a fine layer of dust on it. Its everywhere. On our clothes, in the carpet, and in my lungs. Yuck. I'm certainly glad we retreated to the basement like we did, or it would have been much worse.
Our costs have also been blown out of the water. I think I'm pretty good at managing a budget, but I've been presented with five changes orders so far. Admittedly, some of them are my doing: Upgrading details of the project and adding additional work. But some of them were the result of poor communication among the team (contractor, architect and client) that could have been prevented. I've learned a lot. Make a note. Even if you think you've been crystal clear, think again.
I want this renovation to be done. Now. According to our schedule, we're about four weeks from the completion date. Two months down, one to go. Of course, this is very different than the schedule I was originally presented. We're about four weeks behind already. Promises, promises.
Bottomline, I'm very happy with the work so far. But we've had a few bumps along the way. I would have moved out. I would have anticipated a 20% budget increase, and I would have expected it to take three months, not two.
Fun? Not right now.
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