What Should I Expect?
Ah! The age-old question: What to expect when you’re expecting a major home project?
The answer, in the simplest terms is: it will cost more than you expected, it will take longer than you expected, you will hate the process, you will love the process; and hopefully, at the end of it, you get so much joy from the results that you’d say it was all worth it. It’s just like having kids.
First Things First: Buffer Your Budget
The general rule of thumb for any project is to have at least 10-15% of the budget reserved for contingencies (unexpected expenses). This isn’t only for projects that involve demolition. We’ve all seen the shows on tv where the designer has to call the clients and tell them their contractor found leaky pipes and they’ll need to spend $4,000 to replace them. I think we all know that big renovations involve unplanned expenses. But, even in simple decorating projects, there are things you didn’t plan for that suddenly become too important to skip.
For instance, when you’re shopping for a sofa, are you remembering to account for the delivery fee? You bought a new tv, but forgot to account for the cost of the swivel wall mount you want to use…. and also the labor to have it mounted…? …and the extra labor to have the cords hidden in the wall…? All of that adds up to another $300+ on the low end. You have this great plan to fill a bay window with faux plants, but are you remembering that you’ll need to buy floral foam and maybe tiny decorative rocks to top off the pots? Did you assume you’d spend something like $20-30 per potted plant, but then later learn that the good ones- the real looking fakes- are more like $70-120 per plant? And that that doesn’t include the pottery, which can add another $45 EASY– for a pot the size of your head. Forget about the larger ones- those guys break the bank!
Basically, unless you’re an expert in doing the thing you want to do, it’s almost guaranteed there will be costs you forgot to budget for, or that you expected to be lower than they actually were. One way to reduce your exposure here is to work with pros, so that their experience will help create a more accurate budget that includes the little things that once upon a time they, too, forgot about.
So, always give yourself a 10-15% buffer, and consult the pros, so that when those unplanned things come up, you don’t fight with your partner about them buying name brand cream cheese instead of store brand because you’re so focused on the dollar bills that are leaving your wallet.
Next up: Manage Your Schedule
Once again, this comes down to experience.
If you’ve never built a spice rack, you might think it’s a quick, 2-hour weekend hobby project you can finish while passively watching a hockey game. Then, when you’re on day 4, and you’ve had at least 3 trips to Home Depot, you realize why most people buy their spice racks already made.
Look, there is nothing wrong with spending 4 days and $136 on a homemade spice rack! I’m sure the immense pride you get when you see it in your kitchen is worth that. My only caution is that it’s a smoother journey if you were prepared for that investment, and if you are in it for the process, and not just the outcome. …and if you didn’t have plans to host a cooking event at your home the day after you started creating your spice rack.
So, what’s a reasonable time frame for a home project? That’s an equation which depends on work scope, budget, the experience of the people doing the work, and also on how decisive and how particular you are.
Whatever estimate you come up with, though, do yourself a favor and don’t plan anything important right after that deadline. Guaranteed, your project will take longer than you expected.
Work scope: the amount of things you’re trying to do. I think it’s safe to assume that the correlation between work scope and timeline is clear. Hopefully no one needs to be told that you can finish a project faster if the task list is short. (If that was news to you, I kindly wish you the best in your endeavors with a designer who is not me.) Don’t forget, though, that it’s not only about the task list. If you’ll be hiring labor for the project, you’ll be beholden to their availability, which may not be as soon as you’d hoped. So, generally, the smaller the project, the fewer people involved, the quicker it is to complete.
Why does the budget impact the time frame? Because if you don’t need to watch every penny, you’re not spending as much time looking for the lowest cost option and you’re free to move along to the next decision after finding something you like.
Imagine hosting a big party and deciding to use a certain restaurant that you like for the catering. You pick the menu, based on what you like and want to have at the party. And then you just cross that off the list. You don’t need to hyper-analyze this decision because your budget allows for a reasonable cost for the food you’re choosing, so when they tell you the price, you say “okay, that’ll work”, and not “are you serious??!” If you have a healthy and realistic budget, you aren’t trying to arrange steak skewers for the price of Cheetos, which means you don’t have to waste any time obsessively searching for Cheeto-priced steak options with good reviews.
Who is doing the work? I like to dabble with carpentry. I’m one of those hobbyists with a bunch of tools I’ve used a few times and piles of leftover wood in my garage. I can build things. I can even build lots of things! But am I quick with it? Yeah… no. I’m the gal who has to read the instruction manual for a refresher on how to change saw blades in my circular saw. I know some things, and I have some experience, but if I don’t want it to take 8 years and look homemade, I should hire a carpenter with more experience.
If you’re concerned with the timeline and quality, hiring pros with experience will get you the results you want. Yes, you’ll probably pay for things you could do yourself for free, but it’s an investment in quality and keeping the project moving.
Which one do you like best? This seems simple, but OMG it is not. Decisions are hard to make sometimes, especially when the stakes are high (how expensive is this choice? how permanent is it?). But, unfortunately, zero progress can be made if decisions are not made.
Luckily, if you hire a designer, you have help with decision-making. You can relax, trusting that all of the choices they’re showing you are good ones, and you can relax knowing that their job is to continuously adjust the plan to accommodate each new decision or update as they go along, so there won’t be any risk of getting to the end and having a space that isn’t cohesive.
If you’re indecisive, it’s best to spend a lot of time communicating transparently with your designer about your needs and wants for your space– lay it all out on the table, even the conflicting wishes– and then let them work with those notes to make judgment calls and specific choices on your behalf. If you’re pretty decent at making decisions and not looking back, your designer will be able to ask for your input more often throughout the process without concern for holding up the show.
Likewise, if you’re very particular (i.e. picky) about your design, it will take longer to develop a design plan. Keep in mind that there are limitless different ways to decorate a room, and the plan you would create on your own is not the same as the one your designer will come up with. But there’s a reason you hired them. It’s within your rights to ask for revisions to the design plan, but the more times you do it, the more time it takes, and in the end, you may have loved the room just the same with the original ceiling fan they picked.
Just remember that the more times your design team has to stop and change the plan or wait for a decision, that is adding time to your project. If you want to get the job done quickly, trust your designer’s intuition and let them roll, making interruptions as infrequent as possible.
Finally: Expect Stress
Change is stressful. Doing things you aren’t used to doing is stressful. Sharing access to your home is stressful. Sharing control over decisions is stressful. And paying for all of it is stressful. So, make no mistake; home renovations and decorating projects are going to be stressful. Expect stress.
If you can mentally prepare for some things in advance, you can minimize the stress you’ll feel, and you’ll be so glad you did.
Here are some things you can do to set yourself up for less stress:
As we went over above, start with buffers for your budget and your schedule– this will prevent you from losing your mind when things don’t go to plan
Read your contract thoroughly before signing. This gives you a clearer picture of the processes in place for handling different situations that may arise, such as product returns or subcontractor failures. Knowing what to expect drops your stress. Knowledge is power. Be empowered.
Expect that your house will be a mess for a while during the process. Even for decorating jobs without construction, the change doesn’t happen in an instant. If you’re the type who needs to have things put away and clean all the time in order to sleep well, discuss this with your designer early on, so you can strategize an installation process that works best for you.
Almost any project can be broken into stages to minimize disruptions. Fair warning, though: this comes at a cost. If your project needs to be handled in phases, it will extend the time for the project to be finished, increase labor costs to bring people back to the house multiple times, and increase storage and delivery fees, as you’ll be storing items for longer and making deliveries less efficient. BUT, just because it costs more doesn’t mean it isn’t of value. Protecting your sanity shouldn’t be overlooked in the project plan.
Expect that you’ll feel overwhelmed at times. Try to trust that your designer is managing things, and if you’re worried they aren’t, tell them you need more frequent updates.
Expect mistakes. Embrace them and turn them into happy little trees, or lemonade, or a gimlet, or whatever it is you need to keep going. Mistakes are going to happen. If you want less stress, try not to get stuck on “whose fault is this?!” (that’s your designer’s problem to handle); instead, shift as quickly as you can to “how do we correct this?” (Or better yet, “I’m going to pour myself some wine and watch tv while you guys figure out the solution.”)
Remember that there are no emergencies in interior design. Okay, I’m lying. A fire or a plumbing leak counts as an emergency. A finger being cut off by the carpenter working on the stairs is an emergency (#truestory). There are emergencies sometimes. BUT RARELY.
The chip in the top of your desk that happened when the delivery guy tripped over your rug and smashed it into the door frame sucks. It does. And I hate that we now have to deal with repairing or replacing this desk and the door frame. I was as excited as you were to get this part of your project checked off the list, and I’m not excited about this setback.
But if there is no imminent threat to someone’s life, let’s not panic like there is. And for the sake of our sanity, please don’t yell at anyone.
Trust your designer and their team to handle the mistakes (remember that you read the contract and it outlines the process for these events), and then compassionately ask your delivery guy if he’s okay. That accident just ruined his day, too, and might cost him financially, so try to be forgiving.
So there you have it. A framework for expectations: unplanned expenses, unplanned delays, and stress that will require intentional behavior modifications to control. I bet you just can’t wait to get a new project started after reading all that! (Sorry!)
For more tips on reducing your stress through a home update project, check out: How to love the process more than you hate it.
