Anyone Recommend Tradespeople For Home Renovation And Home Improvement
Renovating and extending your home is one of the most challenging and stressful endeavours you can embark on, sometimes it’s almost as bad as divorce and moving home. There is the upheaval, having strange builders traipsing all over your house and garden and don’t even mention the mess, it’s hard enough to get the kids to wipe their feet!
But it doesn’t have to be like that. A properly managed home extension project can be run with the minimum disruption to family life, at HSLC we provide a project manager for the life of your renovation project and we work with you to ensure family life continues as normally as is possible during the extension phase. There are a few key things you can do yourself before and during extensions and renovation projects to make the build go as smoothly as possible.
PLANNING
Discuss all aspects of the extension project with your building team in advance of any work taking place. Make sure you have a timetable of work so you know what days and at what times workmen will be arriving. Discuss with your project manager the possibility of organising deliveries when the house is quiet, kids in school, dog out for a walk. Things will run much smoother if the cement truck arrives after the school run as opposed to when you are trying to reverse out of the driveway.
There is nothing more inviting to kids then a big bag of builders tools, unfortunately there is nothing more dangerous! It’s difficult at the best of times to keep the kids amused but when their playroom has become a store room and their garden is filled with cement mixers, it’s a challenge for even the most imaginative parent. There is no denying extending your home with kids in tow is no joke.
However, you need to keep the goal of the home renovation and home improvement in focus throughout the project. Why are you doing this extension? To give more space, light and energy to your family home and ultimately your loved ones. So, chin up, get your creative hat on, you can do this! Get your children involved with the planning, “your new room will be THIS BIG!” Arrange play dates on days when big sections of work will take place.
If you are undertaking a large renovation project, consider packing up all personal belongings and moving out while the really messy work is taking place. There will be an additional cost involved in renting alternative accommodation but on the other hand, if the crew are not working around your domestic schedule, they may be able to complete the job sooner.
Bear in mind that for some large renovation projects, there will be no choice but for the home owner to move out. It simply isn’t safe to have a family living in a house that may have an open external wall, in the case of a major extension, or no kitchen/bathroom facilities. In cases like these, you will need to build the cost of renting alternative accommodation into your budget.
PETS
Animals thrive on routine and can be easily upset if their living quarters are suddenly turned upside down with a renovation project. You need to consider your pets existing routine and adjust accordingly for the life of the extension. If you 4 legged friend is an outside pet, you need to make a new secure area for them. Side gates will be left open, walls may be taken down and the last thing you want is for your companion pet to stray. If your pet is more of an inside creature, consider moving your dog or cat to alternative accommodation for the bulk of the job.
DISTRUPTION MANAGEMENT
There is no way of escaping it, getting an extension completed on your home will create mess and dirt. There is no point in being upset or surprised by this; it’s a fact of life. Instead of getting weepy at the new layer of dust on your TV screen, be proactive and prepare in a sensible way before the renovation project even starts. Treat the preparation for a build like moving house and pack up precious items and put them into storage. Look on the bright side, you have a genuine excuse to declutter, so attack that ‘press of doom’ in the kitchen once and for all and donate any unwanted or unused items to your local charity shop.
Having your home extended is a marvellous way to reinvent your living space matching your home to your lifestyle. Hopefully, with good disruption management, the inconvenience of the build, will be forgotten once your new home is revealed.
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