Remodeling: Great Teamwork Makes It Fun

Remodeling can get complicated, especially when multiple teams are involved. One condo renovation on a very aggressive schedule, required close coordination of  calendars so everyone knew exactly what they needed to complete, week-by-week.

With our interior decorator making most purchases on behalf of the client, this was especially challenging. We got very creative in how we reviewed recommendations with the customer. Sometimes we took photos of products at the condo and posted them online for the customer, who traveled extensively, to review and make the final decision. Once we met at the customer's office. He approved the counter top and faucet, which then went to the job site for installation the same day.

Here are the steps we followed to get the job done quickly, and efficiently:

Decorator Ideas via eMail, Web or In-Person >> Client Approval >> Decorator Purchased (Returned) >>

Products Delivered >> Handyman Installed

An Aggressive Schedule

Our goal was to renovate 2 bathrooms, replace carpeting on 2 floors (3 bedrooms) plus the stairs with engineered wood floors and another week of miscellaneous repairs. We completed everything except the stairs in 7 weeks, with another 2 weeks required to get the new stair treads made to order plus installation. While we didn't meet our original deadline, without the aggressive scheduling this project could have gone on for several months.

• Week 1 – completed exterior punchlist, basement shelving and demo of 2nd floor bathroom.
• Week 2 – tiled 2nd floor bathroom floor, replaced toilet, vanity, ceiling fan, installed wainscotting and painted.

Learn about our painting emergency with this bathroom … too funny (not at the time).

• Week 3 – finished 2nd floor bath, demo of 3rd floor bathroom and removed baseboards in prep for wood flooring.
• Week 4 – installed new flooring (2nd floor), moved window/removed wall in master bath and started tile.
• Week 5 – installed neo-angle shower and finished tile in 3rd floor bathroom; installed wood flooring on 3rd floor with one oops, where did we hide that air vent for ventilation.
• Week 6 – grout and painting to finish master bath, replaced baseboards, door trim, etc.
• Week 7 – replaced ceiling light fixtures with white high hats, basic decorating and final punchlist.
• … 2 weeks later, installed custom stair treads, stained and polyurethane finish.

Biggest Challenges

You might make all your decisions quickly but you don't control what's in-stock or shipping schedules. While our decorator got lots of ideas online, many of the products, especially for the first bathroom, were ones we could purchase locally and even then it often required calling around to several stores to find out what was in stock.

Everyone helped get the 2nd floor bathroom done on schedule, which was a real accomplishment from design to completion in 3 weeks.

• Jennifer of Jennifer Myers Interiors researched vanities online.
• Tina jumped in to locate the vanity for the 2nd floor bathroom, and had a technician pick it up the next morning.
• Jennifer purchased the counter top, sink and faucet but couldn't find online photos to email client for approval so …
• Jennifer brought the fixtures to Tina in Portsmouth, NH, who went to the client's business to get approval and drove everything down to the condo in Newburyport, MA.

A busy week but satisfying for everyone!

What did we learn? Allow 2 to 4 weeks between design decisions and installation to locate products!