Tony
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GETTING THE MOST OUT OF YOUR TIME & MONEYIf your like most people, you don't have alot of time to spend on large projects around the house. If your like I use to be, if it didn't get done on the weekend, it wasn't getting done at all! However, there are some tips you can follow that will help you plan out and get your project going. Putting together a "scope of work" or outline, a plan for the job and a budget are a few ways to get the most out of your projects.
Lets start with the "scope of work". Put down on paper all your ideas for the project. You really need to know what your objective is and what you expect the final outcome to be. It is very easy for a small project to grow into a large problem. Make sure you can do what you have planned to do. Let me give you an example. I wanted to add two can lights over the shower in our master bath. Easy enough. Right? Wrong. It turned into a complete bathroom remodel. New sheetrock. Crown moulding. Paint. New shower glass. Guess what? Those $22 can lights ended up costing over $1000 in materials. Don't get me wrong. It turned out great but it wasn't what I set out to do. I broke the #1 rule in preparing a project - make an outline of what you plan on doing. However, lucky for my wife, this is what I do for a living and it only took a couple of days. But for someone what doesn't do this everyday, their bathroom could be out of comission for weeks. (not good)
Second thing we need to look at is planning. Planning out a project is the best way to save time and money. It can be from a scratch of paper to full blue prints, depending on the job. That way everyone knows what is expected. If you have to bring in sub-contractors, electricians, plumbers, etc. everyone will be on the same page, so to speak. A material list falls into the planning aspect of a project and will help with your budget. Knowing what materials you need will save you unnecessary trips to the Home centers. You also need to know if a project needs to be permitted. A quick call to the Inspectors office will let you know (you can find this number in the phone book). Later, we will break down larger jobs.
Finally there is your budget. Putting a plan together is a crucial part of your budget. Knowing what you want to spend will help you put a scope of work and a plan together. Expect to spend more the further you deviate from your plan. Sub-contractors will charge for changes. They call them "change orders". We will cover hiring and the use of contractors later. Keep in mind that late changes will also drag out a project, costing you time and money that you had not planned for.
So, if you know what you want to accomplish and know what you want to spend, you can efficiently complete a project, get the expected outcome and move on to the next project. GOOD LUCK!!
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