MY THOUGHTS ON BITING OFF MORE THAN YOU (THINK) YOU CAN CHEW

My husband and I are no Chip and Joanna Gaines. We understand that - now. But I still blame the two HGTV stars for the craziness and stress that invaded our lives during our personal Extreme Home Remodeling Experience. Frankly, they just make it look too easy.

It is NOT easy. (Hint: We thought it would be).

My hubby and I are both creative folks who run our own creative businesses. We love DIY projects. We're handy. We can hold our own when it comes to design and color choices. But I'm still not sure why we were confident enough to tap into our life savings and go into debt to purchase a big, expensive, outdated house (albeit with great bones and killer views) sight-unseen (if you don't count the FaceTime call with our realtor) and jump headfirst into the vacation rental biz in Sedona, AZ. (check out VisitSedona.com - its gorgeous there.)

But, that's all water under the bridge now, because that's exactly what we did. The papers were signed and there was no going back. We closed on our monumental home purchase with a plan:

• We'd find ourselves some local contractors and tradesmen (the honest kind with solid skills, great pricing and who actually show up for work each day).
• We'd stay on budget and save dollars by being our own General Contractor and buying all of our own materials. So, we'd only pay for labor.
• We'd be able to do much of the work ourselves and/or manage it all from Dallas (our home base).
• We'd be done in two months (tops).

Presto! We've launched a new business!

Guess which of the four items above were actually achieved? Actually, surprisingly, it was the first. We'd heard real horror stories about finding good, dependable contractors in the area. And, it turns out, they weren't easy to find. But one referral led to another referral. After weeks of careful interviewing and schedule juggling, the team was mostly in place. Yes, the $100,000 remodeling budget went out the window almost immediately, but finding good help was actually very much worth it.

We've owned quite a few houses over the years and have tackled what we THOUGHT were some tricky remodeling projects. But we were so very wrong. We were DIY babies playing in a grown-up construction world. Our remodeling dreams were basically shattered in the first "episode" of our personal home remodeling show.

Here is what we learned (the hard way):

• People in small towns - especially tourist towns - move at a far more leisurely pace than we do in big places like Dallas. Get over it. It's a nice thing when you are visiting and on vacation, right? I'm not sure why it came as such a shock to us when we tried to actually do business there. They call it "Slodona" for a reason. But it is really tough to watch the clock ticking away, especially when our house was purchased to generate rental revenue.
• Getting local permits sucks. Cities and counties don't really concern themselves with the fact that they are holding you up. I'd suggest that you triple the amount of time you think it will take to get your permit and you might be pleasantly surprised. The good news is you can still make significant progress. You just can't cover up your work until you get your inspections. Which you can't do until you get your permit. Sigh. One tip: it pays to work with contractors who are personally and/or professionally acquainted with the local officials who issue the permits. It adds a trust factor. I'm convinced that we would still not have a new septic system if our "poop science" contractor (his professional joke, not mine) wasn't so well respected by the County's local wastewater treatment expert.
• Planning is everything. And to plan, you actually need the architectural drawings for your property! Especially one built in 1991. What's behind those walls, anyway? If you don't have your home's plans, you have to tear them down to find out. So, if you can secure the original architectural drawings to an older home, your remodeling will be much, much easier. We didn't think to ask for those before we signed the purchase contract. Turns out they couldn't be found by the previous owner or the city. So, among other issues, we didn't know where the plumbing and HVAC ducts lived in our foundation. After much time and expense, we had to abandon the idea of turning a laundry room into a bathroom. Special cameras revealed that the plumbing we needed to connect to ran through the middle of the living room. That would have meant tearing out existing wood floors. So, we had to rethink the whole thing and install a new bathroom on the other side of the house. Our foundation was torn up for weeks (there's really nothing like a mound of red rock and dirt INSIDE your house) and we ended up installing a pump to take waste to the new septic system. More dollars spent. We also didn't realize until the entire remodeling project was complete (or so we thought) that the two HVAC registers in the floor of our new bedroom were actually just return air vents. Oops. We had to do some major ventilation work very late in the game - after "make ready" and professional photos were done! Ugh. Not good.
• This level of remodeling and decorating is a full-time job. The problem is, we already had full time jobs! So, now, we were both working 2 jobs and spending more time in Sedona than Dallas. Yes, our existing businesses suffered. We took turns traveling and worked as a team to coordinate every detail of the remodeling plan. We somehow fit in relocating our entire Dallas office and showroom (we sell professional audio recording gear) and moving the belongings of an elderly relative who passed away (in yet a different state) during this period. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? Shockingly, our marriage survived. We spent our days working around the contractors, performing the tasks we were qualified to do. Our nights were consumed with picking out paint colors and flooring finishes, buying appliances and making at least 100 trips to the local DIY store (actually, not local - Sedona is a small town, remember? We had to drive 40 minutes each way!). And, because this is a full-time vacation rental property, it fell to me to select and coordinate delivery of every stick of furniture, all decor items, artwork, etc. for this 5-bed/3-bath house, in addition to outfitting an entire kitchen. We were creating our own little hotel, so it had to be nicely done (yet, within budget, and things were getting tight.). Vacation renters expect an up-to-date and well-appointed home, especially in a luxury market like Sedona.
• Setbacks are normal. Do not despair. I'll be honest though, it gets harder to be cheerful as the project drags on. Some days it felt like we were jinxed. Any step forward was followed by two steps back. Remodeling is a puzzle and the pieces don't always fit as expected. Sometimes you just have to force a piece into the puzzle with the palm of your hand and sheer will. I stopped being flexible with those contractors who continually wanted to reschedule our appointments and I started insisting (firmly, professionally, loudly) that we must be placed on the top of their "to do" list. Eventually, I just stopped taking "no" for an answer. Apparently, they respond to that.

In the end, after more than 4 months (yes, double the construction time we planned for.), we were "photo ready" on the (third) date we booked with the management company's photographer. Our original remodeling budget was blown, but we were both finally able to return to Dallas to "rest" (working one job seems like a luxury now). It was certainly an exercise in frustration at times, but thanks to some truly wonderful contractors, attention to project detail and countless hours of work on our part, that damn house is gorgeous - and ready for guests. The sad, choppy 90's-style home we purchased is gone and the transformation is complete. I'd personally LOVE to live there, and I'm pretty sure our guests will feel the same way. Perhaps the stress, long hours and new personal debt was all worth it. I hope so, anyway.

Here is the link to check out our new vacation home. We're proud parents, but we think you will love our "baby" as much as we do.

Bottom line: Please, learn from our mistakes. However, I also urge you to be fearless when it comes to new opportunities. You CAN achieve far more than you think. Sometimes, I think it may be better not to know what's in store for you, or you might just be tempted to quit before you even get started! There are moments in life when you have to just take a leap of faith and trust in your ability to manage a project of any kind. Go ahead - tackle that new task, even if you've never done it before. When its all said and done, you'll actually be qualified to do it again.

We're giving ourselves a few months to recover and we actually might do this again. Maybe.

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