Should You Manage Your Own Remodeling Project?

Should You Manage Your Own Remodeling Project?

You want to remodel (a room of) your home so you'll inevitably be pondering this question. This option can work if and only if you meet the criteria below:

1. You have a lot of time to dedicate to the project
2. The scope of work is simple and you’re not doing major changes to the layout, plumbing location, or structural work.
3. You are highly experienced with remodeling and know how to manage subcontractors, how to spot construction defects, deal with invoices and payments towards contractors.

You may be tempted to do it this way and it may seem like it would be cheaper. But, unless you meet all three of the criteria above, DO NOT even think about it! This also applies to DIY. We get at least fifteen clients per year who start off this way and end up battling through disaster until they decide to let the pros step in.
 

Let me tell you a story about a project of ours (and this did not happen just once). I went to a client’s home for an estimate. She had tears in her eyes when we spoke. In a nutshell, she wanted her brand new bathroom remodeled. Months prior, she fell victim to a classic remodeling nightmare. It was a pretty standard project: a 5’x7’ bathroom, where she wanted to convert an old tub into a walk-in shower, replace the floor, vanity, and toilet, and paint the room. Simple enough, right?

The homeowner as project manager - a cautionary tale

She did her homework. Interviewed several contractors including plumbers, electricians, painters, etc. Had her materials picked out. Checked licenses and called for references. She and her husband ended up hiring a plumber and a Jack-of-all trades type for the work. They put the entire project on paper, and the total cost, including labor, construction materials, and finish materials come out to $12,500, which was exactly within their budget. The project was anticipated to take 12-15 days.   So far so good, but then the nightmare began. Here is a summary of what happened.
Day Zero – The night before work was scheduled to start, the client emptied her bathroom to prepare for the remodel.  
Day One – Monday: The plumber came and disconnected all the plumbing fixtures, cut water supply lines, and put on caps. As far as he was concerned, his job was to replace old lead pipes and run new plumbing lines, but he'd never factored into his cost any demolition work, which included demoing the floor to remove 4” of tile work and concrete and clearing out the 400lb cast iron tub. He left that day and said he would only be able to continue once all of the demo was complete. At this point, the client called the jack-of-all trades. Apparently he never included any demolition work in his price either, assuming that the plumber would be taking care of it. He agreed to do the demo for $800, but was not able to do it until Thursday. So the new cost of the project was now $13,300.  
Day Four – Thursday: Demo starts and is completed late in the day Friday. A surprise additional fee of $320 was charged for disposal of 2,000lbs of debris. The project was now at $13,620. At this point, the project was ready for the plumber to complete his work. Of course, more delays ensued. The plumber wasn’t able to come until Wednesday the following week.  
Day 10 – Thursday: Rough plumbing work completed. Ready for inspection.  
Day 14 – Monday: Inspector came to the site, found the plumbing work in order, only to realize that no electrical permits were issued. Even minor work (adding an outlet, a new exhaust fan) requires a licensed electrician and electrical permit. Turns out the Jack-of-all trades did not have an electrician license, so the client had to hire a third party for the electrical work and permits. The jack-of-all trades gave a $500 credit for the missed electric work, but the cost from the third party was $1,105 including labor, underwriter inspection, and permit cost. The cost of the project was now $14,125.  
Day 18 – Friday: All electric work completed and inspections passed. At the 15-day mark when the work was supposed to be completed, the project was not even halfway done. Needless to say, major tensions had meanwhile arisen between then clients and the subcontractors. Each party was playing the blame game and getting frustrated as they had other jobs scheduled. The plumber left the job (or was fired) while the Jack-of-all trades resumed the work a few days later. About a week later, he completed the worked which was supposed to be done by the plumber, including the wet bed for the shower and the rubber liner.
Week Six – The Jack-of-all trades tried to balance out coming to this project with his other commitments and work was barely getting done. He became sloppy and brought in another person as “some sort of helper” to finish faster. At his point, tiles were installed crooked, bad cuts were made, but by now, the client just wanted it to be finished. On top of that, shower trim that was ordered did not fit the rough in valve which was installed by the plumber, there were not enough bullnose tiles ordered, but two extra boxes of floor tiles arrived, and to cap it off, the shower door did not fit the rough opening that was created. None of these products were returnable because they ordered them online and it had been more than eight weeks since purchase. So with reordering new materials ($1,100 cost + shipping) the project price tag was now at $15,225.  
Week 10 – the job was completed at about 30% more than the original estimated cost, five times the projected amount of time, and with major frustration, both professional between the subcontractors and personal between the wife and husband.  

Believe it or not, the worst of it hadn't even happened yet. About six months later, brown spots appeared on the ceiling below. They thought it was a minor issue, either because the shower door was open or someone overflowed to toilet, but unfortunately this was not the case. The ceiling stain got bigger and about nine months after the job, water started to drip when showers were taken. They made some calls to the original jack-of-al trades and to the plumber, but of course, nobody was being responsive or taking fault. This is when we got the call. The client wanted us to fix the leak as she did not trust the original subcontractors anymore. Well, we are not a handyman or repair company, we are the highest rated remodeler in the Philadelphia area and a design-build company. There was no way to fix the leak. Everything was already moldy and starting to rot. The subfloor, plaster, insulation in the shower wall were all soaked in water. This was a complete gut job and at this point, lawyers and insurance companies were involved. We redesigned the bathroom, provided all new materials, obtained new permits, and worked longer hours on the job. We were there 6 days per week and completed it within 15 days. It cost about $18,000, including materials and labor, and turned out beautiful (it actually made it to our online portfolio) and our clients were very happy. They did manage to recoup most of the money from the insurance and had to go to court with the plumber and jack-of-all trades.  

So what went wrong?

What mistakes did this young couple make?

1. They did not check to see what exactly was included in the cost of each trade (and assumed that demo/complete gut was included)
2. They were not experienced enough with remodeling projects to know that an electric permit was needed for this project, which caused them major delays.
3. They purchased items online and they did not purchase the right type/amount of items (or there was a miscommunication between them and the plumber).
4. They did not have drawings and/or a contractor did not check the size of the shower door that was purchased.
5. They used different companies for the work and when an issue arose, none of them took the responsibility and were blaming each other.

  So if you decide to act as the project manager on all your trades... 

1. Make sure you are buying locally (avoid buying online as much as possible
2. Make sure you have enough time to invest in managing the project
3. Check with your township what permits you need
4. Have your subcontractors check all your materials to make sure you purchased enough or you did not over purchase and to make sure everything is matching and technically compatible.
5. Make sure each of the subcontractors are licensed and insured
6. Make sure you are clear about your expectations and have a written scope of work for each. Avoid situations where it's not clear what is included in the work.