"I didn’t grow up planning to be
in the residential construction business."
In fact, I only got into it in the first place because I needed a job and a friend of mine needed some help. That was in 1987. Over the next 15+ years, not only did I eventually buy the company, but I also began to realize that something was wrong with the way most home renovations were done.
The typical home renovation takes twice as much money and three times as much time to complete than anticipated.
By the end - regardless of how satisfied they are with the final product, the vast majority of home owners use words like “nightmare” and “miserable” to describe the process itself. Here they are, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to make their homes more livable, more enjoyable, and more beautiful, and yet to realize this dream, it’s a generally accepted truth that bad and expensive surprises are inevitable.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
My belief is that most surprises occur because residential construction projects -- whether new build or renovation - necessarily bring together two very different types of people to work on a single project: home builders and home owners. When it comes to construction projects, these two groups tend to have completely different sets of life experiences.
Home builders (not surprisingly) are well
acquainted with the building process.
We understand lead times; we know which materials cost more and
why; we’re intimately familiar with building code; etc. etc.
We live and breathe construction, and the tradeoffs, terminology
and practical restrictions inherent in renovating a home are second
nature to us.
The typical home owners on the other hand, will live through one, maybe two major home renovations in an entire lifetime.
As a result, they come to the project knowing little about what to expect:
- They don’t know that kitchen cabinets take 6 weeks to arrive,
and when they fail to order them in time the project comes to
a screeching halt.
- They don’t understand the implications of an open concept
great
room design that calls for the removal of a load bearing wall.
- They don’t have enough experience to make all the important
decisions that
need to be made, and as a result they change their minds often
(and end up
paying for the cost of these changes).
The list goes on and on.
What happens when these two groups come together? Confusion, disappointment, delays, cost overruns, finger pointing, and bad surprises.
I knew there had to be a better way, and in the spring of 2000, after spending hundreds of hours reviewing a storage room full of boxes packed tight with files of every project that we every built , it all came together.
In the years since, we’ve formatted, tested and perfected a set of procedures that consistently and efficiently produces exactly what we were looking for - a well-informed client that feels comfortable and confident with the decisions that they are making.
One of our clients suggested the name Plansmart
- and it stuck. Click
here to learn more.
Using Plansmart over the past five years, we have virtually eliminated the surprises and gotchas so common to renovation projects. As a rule, our work finishes on time and on budget, and comments such as this from a recent client are the rule, not the exception:
“I
would do it over again. It was a lot of work, but if I ever wanted
a
bigger house, I would renovate all over again, with Walden.”
Lorie Downey, Toronto
Whether you’re planning to build new or renovate, the Plansmart approach provides you with a sense of clarity so that you can avoid the mistakes that nearly all home owners make; mistakes that cost thousands and very often tens of thousands in unnecessary expenses.
Click here to learn more about Plansmart
The more you understand about your renovation in the planning stages, the better the chances your project will come out the way you want it, the fewer surprises there will be as the job progresses, and the closer it will come to costing what you expect.
I hope that the materials we’ve put together for you on this website have been helpful. I’d certainly appreciate any comments or feedback that you have. You can email me directly at bruce@waldendesignbuild.com.
Best regards,
Bruce Borden
Walden Design Build Inc.
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