Kitchen Remodeling: The Stress Factor
One of the unmentionable subjects of kitchen remodeling is the stress factor. Making a lot of expensive choices, having your house torn up for months, contractor problems and things that go over budget are just a few of the stress-inducing aspects of creating a new kitchen. At the risk of venturing into self-help territory, we’d like to suggest a few ways to avoid divorce or self-destruction before you even get to enjoy your new kitchen!
Communication and planning are the keys to anticipating and dealing with potentially stressful situations during your kitchen building process. Establishing open communication between family members, spouse and spouse, contractor and client, and suppliers and contractors is vital to having your project go smoothly. By making sure you plan on the possibility of problems and anticipate places where they may occur you can work them out without those scary surprises that stress people out.
First, understand that the most carefully planned project can and will run into roadblocks. Your contractor gets sick, the plumbing turns out to be ancient and unusable, your dream range requires a new gas line, those little changes you kept making turned out to add up to big bucks…you get the idea. Two of the big stress areas are money and time (just like in everything else, right?). Let’s look at time first. Say you plan on your project taking two months to be completed. You plan events to take advantage of your new kitchen, you decide you can live on microwaved food in the dining room and a lot of take-out, you’re prepared to deal with a houseful of contractors wandering around everywhere. Then you run into problems and the project begins to stretch, timewise. An extra month goes by and everyone is frazzled. Joe the carpenter is just as tired of your face as you are of his. You haven’t had a home-cooked meal in months. The whole house is dusty and noisy all the time.
Before your marriage hits the skids, in fact before you embark on this whole thing, sit down with your designer and contractor and create a timelime. Ask what happens if there are delays and create alternative plans for dealing with them. Be realistic in planning how much time things take. Ask about availability when you make purchases- backordered or out of stock items can wreak havoc with schedules. Have alternative choices so your contractors don’t have to leave the job because a critical item is overdue.
When faced with a road block, sit down and have a realistic conversation with everyone involved. Ask about alternatives and do your research so you’re not stuck doing things the way the contractor wants. Understand that if a contractor leaves a job, they won’t necessarily be back the day your replacement widget comes in- they have to keep their people busy and plan on time for other projects they’re doing. Ask them about their schedules and work with them. Ask if there is another activity that can take place while they’re on hold.
There’s another time factor: Don’t let relatives and friends schedule visits or events that require you to have a normal lifestyle. Richard was in the midst of a major demolition project when overseas family members of his clients suddenly appeared for a week-long stay. Instead of one family to feed and entertain, there were now two in a house that was half torn apart. Bad! If you have upcoming events or visitors change your plans. Put them in a hotel, reschedule, hold them elsewhere.
Money and Stress. This is a big one. Expensive projects like kitchens can easily spiral over budget without careful planning and discipline. It is easy, in the heat of the moment, to want upgrades that you did not plan on. You’re in the show room and you see a granite counter material you just can’t live without, even though you budgeted for laminate. Stop and look at your budget. This one decision could add thousands to your costs. If you really must have that upgrade, look for less important places to cut corners. And remember that small changes add up quickly. Say you go from $3 drawer and door pulls to $12 pulls. If you’re an average kitchen these days you’ve got around 40 of these things. That upgrade added $360 to your budget.
Budget stress also comes from unexpected cost overruns. The only way around this is to ask about areas that may be problems when you’re planning. Build in some contingencies for these unexpected expenditures.
Planning can help avoid serious stress- and it can be serious. We’ve seen a few marriages that didn’t survive a long remodel. We don’t think you can blame these entirely on the new kitchen but it can be a trigger if things aren’t hunky-dory. When you get stressed, sit down and talk it out with your family, your contractor and your designer. Be flexible and have a back-up choice for things that don’t work out or become unavailable. There’s no reason to be tired of your new kitchen before you even get a chance to enjoy it!