Even well-run renovation projects don't always look that way.
Renovation is like 'whitewater rafting'
October 24, 2009
Special to the Star
Recently I met with a woman who's in the middle of a very major renovation, and I could sense distress underneath her smile as we shook hands for the first time.
Her project was taking longer than she'd planned, it was costing more than she expected, and her head was spinning with zillions of decisions she had to make. And while we sat on the tailgate of a pickup truck working through the specifics of the current crisis, it occurred to me how often this sort of trouble happens in the building world. How often, and how unnecessarily.
This woman is smart and happens to have an honest contractor, but even still, she needed help figuring out technical issues while coming to a decision about a specific and visually obvious detail. In the end, I offered technical advice, but more than that, I gave her several ways of seeing the building adventure that left her smiling more calmly when I left. Perhaps these insights can help you sometime, too.
Even if you exercise due diligence in selecting a contractor, and you do get a good one, you still need to understand that building and renovating is like whitewater rafting. Construction projects can be (and often are) rough, unpredictable adventures. There are timelines involved, timelines with a mind of their own.
Sometimes the renovation river moves more quickly than you'd like, sometimes more slowly. The pace of decision-making required can be fast and scary, or boring and frustrating. There's a rhythm to every project, and as a homeowner, you're never in complete control of the tempo. Learning to bend a little is the first key to sanity.
Building and renovation also involves compromise. There's no avoiding it. This is the second bit of essential philosophy, and it's more of an issue for some people than others. The higher your expectations, the greater the need to wrestle with compromise during the building process. I know because it took me years to learn this the hard way.
The woman I met with last week, for instance, lives in Toronto but her reno property is a classic stone building in rural Ontario. Her vision included traditional, authentic materials throughout, and that's something I'm partial to as well. Very partial to. But sometimes, in specific situations, modern materials make so much more sense that it's really the only practical way to go. The trick is knowing how and when to use them.
"I didn't come all the way to the country to build MDF beadboard into my life," she explained – a sentiment that I understand completely. But when you want some things that only MDF trim can provide – low cost, excellent paintability and a wide range of available profiles – there may be a reason to look at things differently. The essence of the issue isn't always what something is made of, but how it affects the overall character of the space you're building.
Are you painting your trim? Then I'll grudgingly admit that MDF is wonderful stuff. Will that wood floor need to take a lot of abuse? Laminates may be the way to go, despite the philosophical problem that they only look like wood.
The third thing to keep in mind may be the easiest to forget: Even the best-run projects look and feel pretty much like disasters when you're in the middle of them. Building is ugly, loud and messy – even good building. Personalities are also bound to clash. Details you dreamed about may not be possible after all. The struggle boils down to the difference between theory and practice, the difference between the world we see in our heads and the world we're actually able to create with our hands.
Building and renovation takes longer than you imagine, costs more than you expect, and (if you care a great deal about the outcome) involves more mental anguish than seems reasonable. But if you've chosen your contractor well, braced yourself for a sometimes wild ride, and are willing to keep things flexible, then it's all going to work out just fine.
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Steve Maxwell, technical editor of Canadian Home Workshop, runs Saturdays in New in Homes & Condos.
Read more:
Editor's blog on renovation resources
DIY could mean don't injure yourself
Suburban homes worth renovating