Remodeling
Success 101

Q: What is the role of a Project Manager?

A: A Project Manager is the person in charge of managing the day-to-day activity and progress on the job site during construction. Duties involve the ordering of materials, scheduling trade partners and serving as the homeowners’ one point of contact throughout the project.

Are you anxious to know all you can about the home remodeling process before embarking on your project?

The best place to start is with the remodeling contractor. Once you understand your remodeler's motivation and approach to the work, you'll gain a good measure of respect for the industry and will be better equipped to select a remodeler that best suits your personality and project.

What may seem to be a mysterious and complex undertaking is fundamentally simple: remodeling contractors are business people. They possess skills that lend themselves to home improvement just as you apply your expertise to your chosen profession. Many have come up through the ranks of various trades, often carpentry, to operate their own companies. Like many of us, they want to earn a living doing something they're good at and are passionate about, as well as leave some positive mark on the world.

As with any successful businessperson, making money and remaining profitable are certainly motivations for remodeling contractors. We believe this is as it should be as long as it is done honestly and provides an excellent product for a fair price. The Professional Remodeler accomplishes those goals by preparing business plans, understanding and adhering to their client's expectations, and establishing strong and reliable partnerships with materials suppliers, lenders, subcontractors, and their peers. We live in the communities in which we work, and therefore rely on our local reputations to sustain our business success.

As is the case in any business, some remodeling contractors lack adequate business and communications skills to be successful, at least in the long term. Those deficiencies, rather than some insidious con job, are the root of most horror stories about dissatisfied customers and damaged reputations. Only a very small percentage of remodelers act in deceit, and they are often (and increasingly) ferreted out and exposed by various regulatory and industry certification standards that continue to improve the reputation and professionalism of the industry.

Professional remodelers -- those with both the trade and the business management skills -- work hard to avoid misunderstandings and miscommunication with their clients and their partners. That effort is sometimes difficult, especially because construction work is so exposed and open as it progresses, in full view of the client. What may appear to be incomplete or a mistake might simply be an unfinished phase of the project.

As a homeowner and potential remodeling client, it is critical to remember that contractors live the remodeling process every day, year after year, developing a solid sense of daily progress and a vision for how the project will finish to their client's satisfaction ... a perspective few, if any, homeowners will ever develop.

Successful professional remodeling contractors recognize the difference between their experienced perspective and the untrained eyes of their clients, and bridge that gap by respecting a homeowner's questions and providing satisfactory answers. They understand the significant emotional investment and the financial risk undertaken by their clients, and work hard to assuage fears and debunk myths.

Informed homeowners, in turn, must understand that remodeling is all in a day's work for a contractor. When both you and your remodeler respect each other's role and approach to the project, it creates a greater opportunity to foster open communication, build trust, and achieve a successful and satisfying project.

Warm regards,

info@highcraft.net
www.highcraft.net

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