Table of Contents
Just like at work or in your personal life, minimizing stress when remodeling your home is easier said than done. Having strangers tromping through your torn-apart home can be difficult, even if you keep telling yourself that the end result will be a new kitchen or the master bathroom of your dreams.
As the project continues, even the most patient homeowners sometimes fall victim to the building tension of living in the midst of a construction zone. Minimizing stress when remodeling your home is important, and these handy tips will help.
5 Keys to Minimizing Stress When Remodeling Your Home
1. Work With a Contractor
We know, it’s tempting to do it yourself. In this age of DIY television networks and YouTube tutorials, all home remodeling projects seem within reach of the layperson. While this may be the case with smaller, less-involved construction items, when it comes to a home remodel, you’re better off leaving it to the professionals. First of all, it’s a huge savings in time, meaning that you can focus on your work and life and leave the heavy lifting to someone else. Most importantly, when you hire a contractor, you’re ensuring that things get done right the first time around, preventing repairs and headaches down the road.
2. Understand Your Budget
Here’s another area where working with a contractor is a huge help in minimizing stress when remodeling your home. They’re experienced at knowing what will be required to complete a project and will be able to give you an idea of just how much the project will cost. This will help you avoid nasty financial surprises, and will also give you a figure to use while financing your remodel.
3. Be Flexible
With home remodeling, the unexpected always happens. The kitchen can’t be opened up in the way that you hoped because there’s a support beam in the middle of the wall. The bath fixture store is out of stock of the tub you wanted, so you need to choose a new one. Bad weather strikes and the entire project will be delayed by a week… at least. When these sort of things happen, keep in mind that your contractor is doing the best they can to do the highest-quality job and get it finished on time. If unavoidable changes or holdups happen, take a deep breath and work to maintain a realistic perspective on the situation in order to minimize your stress throughout the process.
4. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
No matter how small or large the project is, one of the best ways to minimize stress when remodeling your home is to communicate clearly and effectively with your contractor. Their goal is to provide you the end result you’re hoping for, so any tools you can use to communicate your wishes to them will be helpful. Clip photos out of magazines, send them links to websites, or snap photos of ideas you see while you’re out and about. It’s important that you not only tell them what you want out of the project, but also that you communicate what you expect in regards to budget, timeline, finishes, and so on. If your wishes aren’t reasonable, your contractor will let you know and you can work towards a compromise. It’s important to have all lines of communication open from the first day you begin discussing the project until the last speck of dust is swept away.
5. If You’re a Clean Freak, Relax a Bit
When you live in your home during a remodel, one thing you must learn to get used to is dust. No matter how careful or considerate your contractor and their staff are, there will be dust. Everywhere. On everything. You’ll only get everything completely cleaned up once the project is finished and the last truck has pulled out of your driveway. In the meantime, don’t sweat it. The building crew will work as fast as they can to get the project completed and get out of your hair (and your home).
Following these tips for minimizing stress while your home is being remodeled will help keep you sane throughout the process. Just keep looking towards the finished result as you draw smiley faces in the construction dust!
