Communication: a contractor’s most important tool

The most overlooked aspect of a renovation is that you have to live through the construction of your project.

We do a lot of main floor kitchen renovations. These generally involve removing load-bearing walls, rebuilding structure, relocating plumbing, changing lighting, changing flooring, new cabinets, etc.

The kitchen is the centre of your home. And people are always excited at the beginning of the project because they are imagining what their new space will look like when it’s done.

But at that point we are 6-8 weeks from their house being a whole again because we are about to rip out the soul of their home before we transform it back into the centre of their family life again.

By the end of week three, the novelty of barbecuing in the driveway and doing dishes in the bathtub has worn off. Add in the stress of the decisions to pick flooring, paint colours, cabinet configurations and lighting options, and project fatigue begins to set in.

Communication is the key to overcoming the test of any renovation’s morale.

Every week, we update the client on what progress was made the week before, if any issues have presented to date along with recommended solutions and costs as well as a schedule of what is to happen in the next week and how that fits into our overall schedule.

The goal of regular communication is to keep the momentum of the project going forward no matter the stage of the project. Information is power and a sense of collaboration between a client and a contractor is key to a successful renovation experience for everyone.

Living through renovations is a battle of attrition. Most of our clients do not have a lot of experience dealing with renovations. It’s our job to give our clients the benefit of our renovation experience and help them navigate the process and regular communication is the tool that gets the job done.