4 top tips to consider when doing a renovation

1)     Safety During a Home Renovation

If you are not going to move out during the renovation, you must be acutely aware of the safety risks that come along with your home being a worksite while the renovations are happening. There will be people coming and going, vehicles moving about, power tools being used and potentially hazardous materials lying around. As much as the builders try to work around you, there will certainly be times when you will cross paths with them or something to do with the building work, so be prepared. A few tips below…

* Try to avoid entering the work area unless completely necessary. Yes it is super exciting to see construction happening, and it is hard to resist checking in all the time, but every time you or anyone in your family is near the work area, you are in a potential danger zone so keep your visits (unless you have to walk through it!) to a bare minimum

*If possible, cordon off the work area. A good renovation builder should do some kind of temporary barrier, but try and assist by making sure that people (and especially small kids) can’t cross in to the cordoned off area. As we all know kids are very inquisitive so it is best if they are physically unable to get into the work area if possible.

*Ask you builder about the potential hazards around the site. This way you give the builder a chance to help you understand the threats and can come up with a plan to minimise risk to you and your family. Examples of this are when power tools will be in use, materials deliver to site and or potentially harmful mixtures (i.e. waterproofing etc) will be used.

* Explain the need for safety to anyone in your home. This goes without saying, if the builder explains the safety hazards to you, make sure you communicate to anyone else who is living in, or visiting the home so they are aware as well. It’s amazing how nonchalant and seemingly clueless some people are when it comes to safety and worksites, so make it your duty to inform them.

2)     Communications with Your Builder

If you have ever been on a building site, you will know how many balls are in the air at one time, hence correct communication with your builder during the construction process are of utmost importance. They will be super busy and so can be forgiven for not interpreting (or even remembering) a passing comment to them on site, so follow these few simple steps when communicating to your builder.

*Don’t overdo it! The last thing your builder wants is to be bombarded with phone calls, texts and emails unless they are of vital importance and have to be done right now. Most good builders have a regular team meeting, so maybe work out with them if you can have a quick debrief once a day, and ask any questions then.

* If you mention something to them on site, make sure you email or txt them as well. Yes, it is really their responsibility to write everything down, but take a proactive approach to ensure communications are clear. You could lump everything on the builder but then delay your project due to a mis-communications, yes it may be their fault but you suffer the time delay.

*Make sure you and your partner are aligned – we mentioned this before but just make sure during the build that if you want to change something or are not sure what your partner said about something, make sure you communicate and give the builder one clear message – not two mixed ones!

3)     Assistance to Your Builder

This goes without saying, be a help, not a hinderance to your builder. If there is something you can do (without interfering) to make their day easier, why not do it? As we have discussed above, yes you are contracting a builder to do all of the work, but there are a few small things that you can do just to make things easier on them.

* Don’t stand there and watch them work! This is the number one most annoying thing that anyone can do, stand there and watch someone else work. It puts unessecary pressure on the person and is in general just not a nice thing to do. Plus, if you are that close, you are most likely in danger if they are using power tools etc.

* Parking – sometimes parking can be an issue so just make sure that you make space for their cars, and if you have to go to work or to school in the morning, move your cars early so you don’t have to bug the builder to move theirs.

* Tidiness – don’t leave stuff lying around everywhere that builders have to dodge – ie bikes, kid’s toys etc. Make sure access is easy for them and they don’t have to worry about tripping over or damaging things. Remember also that large deliveries may be coming in so they will need lots of room as well.

* Furniture – if there are internal renovations going on, do your best to cover all furniture etc so builders don’t have to worry about getting dust on everything, which is what will most likely happen! The less builders have to worry about your property, the more then can focus on building.

4)     Changes (Variations)

One of the most common phrases builders here is ‘while you are here…’ and these seemingly harmless words can end up costing everyone a lot of time and money! Of course, there may be some changes during the renovation, but you have to remember that a good builder has everything planned from the beginning, including all the labour and materials they need.

This means every time you change something, there is the chance that this will be more time in labour, and also more time sourcing new materials, which has the potential to put the job on hold. You will find that most builders charge some kind of administration fee on job changes (variations) are this charge is used to cover things like this. Also in the contract there will be an extra time allowance every time you add a variation.

Also resist the urge to talk to the trades (without seeing the builder first) and ask for extra work to be done, and this just causes confusion everywhere, and if you ask a tradesperson to do something without the builders consent and the tradesperson completes this task with out the builder knowing, this could cause warranty issues down the track as the work was not approved by the builder.