It’s your property that’s being renovated or built so you should be able to turn up unannounced, right? Not necessarily
That hackneyed phrase ‘the customer is always right’ is a bit outdated and isn’t always welcome in the renovation and building sector. Consultants and tradies alike are finally putting boundaries in place so consider this a renovation etiquette guide.
Set realistic expectations
It’s okay to be nervous about the process and upset when things don’t go to plan given your life savings and biggest asset are on the line. The thing is though, renovations don’t go to plan. If you’re working with a project manager, then a lot of the risks will be identified and allowed for in your budget and timeline upfront, but if you’re not and they aren’t, you’ll need to deal with these things as they come up.
It’ll be a lot easier to do so if you go into the process expecting things to go wrong – that’s why contingency sums exist because there are too many uncertainties.
It’s important to be realistic about how your project will pan out and you’ll need to be open-minded when things don’t go to plan. Most tradies and consultants will come to you with a problem and a solution, not just a problem. Hear them out, be understanding and reasonable, and know that they will do their best to minimise impact to your reno budget and time frame.
Trust the process
Similar to the above, sometimes it might feel like things aren’t going to plan or progressing as expected and a good builder, designer or project manager will take the time to explain things to you. Try to remember they are experts in their field.
A primary example of this is when homeowners turn up to the site frequently and feel like no progress has been made. There are certain parts of a project timeline where things look like they’re full steam ahead and it’s all coming together; but there are also parts of a project timeline where there’s a lot of seemingly invisible work taking place and it feels like things aren’t moving forward. I promise you that in most cases they are, and if you visited the site fortnightly rather than every two days it would be more noticeable.
Make an appointment
A lot of homeowners feel it’s okay to turn up to the site any time they want because it’s their property. Please don’t. It’s not because tradies are worried about being caught on an extra-long smoko, but because it can impact productivity as well as being a health and safety risk.
It’s inevitable that if you turn up to the site for a wander around, you’ll also stop and chat to the tradies. They’ll oblige but stopping them mid-work kills their productivity and the more you do this, the longer it’ll take them to get the job done.
Tradies are also used to manoeuvring around site, and they do so in appropriate footwear. Turning up in your Vans or worse, Havaianas, and trying to circumnavigate materials and tools to take stock of progress on site is a health and safety incident waiting to happen.
However, if you schedule a fortnightly site visit with your builder and architect or project manager, and everyone knows when to expect you, the team on site can make sure they’ve wrapped up their current tasks, the site is clean and tidy, and there aren’t any big deliveries of roof trusses or steel beams arriving that will interrupt your catch-up.
Respect work hours
Most people don’t like working after hours and your builder, architect, interior designer and project manager are no different. Please respect their work hours. Emails, text messages, phone calls and site visits should be limited to 9am-5pm Monday to Friday. Maybe make it 3pm on a Friday.
Consolidate comms
Try to consolidate emails, texts and phone calls. In most cases, the questions and answers won’t be urgent, so write them down and take them to your next site meeting or consolidate them into
a weekly summary email so they can come back to you on everything at once. It’s much more efficient.
Pay on time
This one feels a bit obvious, but it needs to be said. When you sign up your builder, their contract (a contract is required for work over $30,000) should include payment details, deposit required, frequency of invoices, payment terms and so on. If you have an issue with the frequency, then raise it at contract phase, not when you’re a few invoices overdue.
Familiarise yourself with the Construction Contracts Act (CCA) 2002, specifically the Payment Claims process. Your builder should be sending you an information sheet with their claim and invoice anyway, but the main thing to be aware of is that if you don’t object to their claim within a certain number of days after its issue, then legally you are bound to pay it because it’s deemed to have been accepted. If you have an issue with an invoice, communicate it with your builder the day you receive it. Otherwise, schedule an automated payment for the invoice due date – or better yet, pay early.
Words by: Jen Jones
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