Remodeling Is Painless…When You’re an Informed Homeowner (Part II)

In my last blog post, I outlined the steps to begin your remodeling project. At this point, you have seen the proposal details and cost, and we have gone over the floor plans and layout with you. If you decide to go ahead, then the contract will be signed with 20 percent of the project cost paid. After that is done, there is still some work for you to do before construction begins. I call it homework because when you take the plans home, I want you to go through each cabinet and write down what you are going to store in each one. It’s a very detailed step, but an important one so that at the end of the project, you won’t be wishing you had one more lazy Susan or one more pull-out.

One of the fun parts for you as a homeowner is shopping for the exact counter top, light fixture, sink, or any one of the many other products. It’s also time consuming but with the preliminary discussions we had together, I can help keep you on track and within the price point you selected. You can always choose to go beyond the allowance, but I’m there to remind you of the bottom line and to help you make adjustments if you want to go beyond that.Within one week of the contract signing, we set up a walk through at your house with our crew – the project manager, the plumber, the electrician, and other job specific tradesmen to review the project specifics. We can get any questions or concerned answered at that point. This is also the time we’ll open the soffits to see if there are any mechanicals running through them. We can plan how they will be re-routed and address any issues before we order materials.You will be given a timeline so you will know what the start day is, what is being done each day, when the materials will be arriving, and the completion date.

At this point, my eyes and ears on the job is the project manager, who will also be in daily or weekly communication with you. As Sales Design Consultant, we cannot be on site all the time. We do pop in to see how things are going, and we are always available for you to contact us, but the project manager oversees the day-to-day work. The project manager has a weekly meeting with me, and other managers to go over the job progress so I am always involved with your project.When the job is completed, we’ll schedule a final walk through, usually a week later. That way you have time to live in the space and experience how things are working for you. At the final walk through, we make sure everything is working properly, and give you your product maintenance information, warranties, and your lifetime workmanship warranty.

Callen provides another finishing touch as a gift to you – after project completion Merry Maids will contact you for a convenient time to come to your home and clean the remodeled area and two adjacent rooms.All our attention to detail is to make your experience a good one with us because the majority of our business is built on referrals. That says a lot about how we treat our clients and their homes. Do it once and do it right!If you would like to learn more about any remodeling service Callen offers – exterior or interior – give us a call to speak with an interior Sales Design Consultant or exterior product specialist. We’re here to help.