Customer Information Sheet
Remodeling projects seem to have some common high and low points for many owners. If you are a seasoned remodeling veteran, you may already know what to expect and may not need to read this letter. If you have not lived through a remodeling project before, however, you are probably approaching your project with some degree of both anxiety and excitement. The purpose of this letter is not to cast a shadow of doubt on your project before it starts, but rather to simply point out some of these high and low points that naturally occur in the course of most remodeling projects. This way, you will a have a realistic idea of what to expect.
First, I will send an email FLASH REPORT weekly informing you of progress made throughout the previous week and letting you know what you may expect the following week. This is also an opportunity for me to receive feedback from you concerning your observations of the ongoing work or expressing any concerns or requests you may have.
Second, I am always available by phone and any of my crew are always available to you when they are on site should you have the need to discuss any issue with us. Please remember to contact only those designated individuals authorized to sign Change Orders should you have any requests for changes, though.
Every remodeling job creates some degree of disorder, dust, uncertainty, and inconvenience. People will be tearing apart your house and putting it back together again — many of them people you have never met. I understand that this can be an unsettling experience and, accordingly, I expect my crews and subcontractors to respect the fact that this is your home they are working in and not a vacant warehouse. I want to know immediately if you have any problems in this area so that I can take immediate steps to correct them.
Remodeling proceeds in stages. One of the most difficult stages is working through the plan and permit process. Hopefully, by the time you receive this letter, you are well into or even finished with this process and are starting to see your ideas turned into reality.
Unexpected conditions and situations occasionally occur. Despite all of our best efforts, things sometimes go wrong, mistakes happen, delays hold up progress, and unforeseen conditions may be found at the most inopportune time. Sometimes there is an additional cost associated with these issues; sometimes they are just a nuisance. Like it or not, they all have to be dealt with and I make every effort to minimize their occurrence and deal with them quickly when they do occur. I ask your understanding ahead of time as well as your prompt attention when your involvement is required.
Another difficult early stage is the demolition phase. You will see new faces in and around your home on a regular basis. The insides of your house will be exposed. Electrical, heating, or plumbing services may be intermittently interrupted during this time. Dust, dirt, debris piles, and dumpsters will be visible in and around the work area. All of this can be rather stressful. However, don’t worry — the demolition phase goes quickly, and will be cleaned up just as rapidly. Once the framing nears completion, people usually feel very optimistic and start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
After the framing is completed and the plumbing, electrical, and mechanical work is under way, the project can appear to slow down because the progress is not as dramatic and visible as in the framing phase. However, a lot of detail work is done at this time. For instance, there are many required inspections by building officials. It’s critical that the work be done thoroughly at this point prior to insulating and closing the walls with drywall.
Next comes the drywall stage which most people are excited about. When the walls are covered with drywall, suddenly the rooms take on their true proportions and people start to imagine what it will be like to move back in.
Unfortunately, the final phase of all the work, after the drywall, can seem to take a long time. The finish work — grading and exterior concrete flat work; interior and exterior painting; installation of all interior doors and finish woodwork; installation of cabinets, tile, and floor coverings; installation of finish plumbing and electrical fixtures; installation of shelving, closet poles, mirrors, glass shower doors, hardware, appliances, etc. — requires a fair amount of time and the efforts of many different subcontractors.
Nevertheless, thanks to a well-planned and coordinated scheduling effort during this phase, the day arrives when your project is completed. Finally, your house is once again your private residence, free of the constant construction activity that has transformed your ideas and plans into the new spaces that we hope you will enjoy.
Now, during construction, there are some reasonable and prudent precautions which I suggest you consider. While I trust my employees, there will, at times, be persons in and around your house whom I do not know. Accordingly, it is suggested that valuables such as jewelry, money and financial instruments, valuable artwork and small antiques, and other ‘easily removed’ items be secured in such a manner as to reduce or eliminate the possibility of theft. Consider off-site storage of larger items in which damage MAY occur due to the on-going construction.
If you have a security system, we will need access during scheduled work hours. This may be accomplished by means of an auxiliary access code, isolation of a single point of entry from the main system, or ensuring that someone is available to provide access for our crews at all scheduled times. Any work to security lines or components will be coordinated with you and your security provider. It is also helpful to know who your provider is and to inform them of work that will be performed. An auxiliary code will enable us to verify to the provider that we have disrupted your service unintentionally, should that occur.
If you have a caged or confined pet, I strongly urge you to place them away from the work area for safety reasons and to reduce the possibility of the pet becoming stressed due the presence of strangers. Free-roaming pets are of particular concern as they may be curious and jeopardize their safety or the safety of our crews, or they may also become stressed and take the opportunity of an open door to escape.
During work hours, we will ensure that your doors are closed and locked should we have to leave your property for any reason as well as at the end of the day. I hope you will check all doors and windows in the evening in the unlikely event we forget to secure everything.
Occasionally we may have to disrupt power, water, gas, or communication lines. We also may need to suspend heating and A/C operations periodically. You will be notified should any of these services need to remain disconnected overnight or for any extended period of time. Any disruptions may cause the re-booting of computers, timing out of digital clocks (including alarm clocks), sputtering of water faucets, re-setting of thermostats, or lack of hot water. We will do our best to let you know when these disruptions have occurred.
If you have visitors, or there are children of any age, the elderly, or those with physical or mental difficulties living in your home, they should remain clear of the work area at all times. While we will take every reasonable precaution to secure the worksite daily, there is no safer way to reduce the possibility of injury than to stay out of the area.
Finally, I have no problem with you checking up on our work; in fact, I encourage it. We are proud of what we do and want to hear from you should you have any questions, changes, or problems with what we are doing. Obviously, you should exercise reasonable precautions around the worksite.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this process or any suggestions about how we can minimize the disruption to your daily routine.
Send us an email: Homestead Renovations
or call,
Phone: 703-966-6092
Ups And Downs Of Remodeling
Customer Information Sheet
Remodeling projects seem to have some common high and low points for many owners. If you are a seasoned remodeling veteran, you may already know what to expect and may not need to read this letter. If you have not lived through a remodeling project before, however, you are probably approaching your project with some degree of both anxiety and excitement. The purpose of this letter is not to cast a shadow of doubt on your project before it starts, but rather to simply point out some of these high and low points that naturally occur in the course of most remodeling projects. This way, you will a have a realistic idea of what to expect.
First, I will send an email FLASH REPORT weekly informing you of progress made throughout the previous week and letting you know what you may expect the following week. This is also an opportunity for me to receive feedback from you concerning your observations of the ongoing work or expressing any concerns or requests you may have.
Second, I am always available by phone and any of my crew are always available to you when they are on site should you have the need to discuss any issue with us. Please remember to contact only those designated individuals authorized to sign Change Orders should you have any requests for changes, though.
Every remodeling job creates some degree of disorder, dust, uncertainty, and inconvenience. People will be tearing apart your house and putting it back together again — many of them people you have never met. I understand that this can be an unsettling experience and, accordingly, I expect my crews and subcontractors to respect the fact that this is your home they are working in and not a vacant warehouse. I want to know immediately if you have any problems in this area so that I can take immediate steps to correct them.
Remodeling proceeds in stages. One of the most difficult stages is working through the plan and permit process. Hopefully, by the time you receive this letter, you are well into or even finished with this process and are starting to see your ideas turned into reality.
Unexpected conditions and situations occasionally occur. Despite all of our best efforts, things sometimes go wrong, mistakes happen, delays hold up progress, and unforeseen conditions may be found at the most inopportune time. Sometimes there is an additional cost associated with these issues; sometimes they are just a nuisance. Like it or not, they all have to be dealt with and I make every effort to minimize their occurrence and deal with them quickly when they do occur. I ask your understanding ahead of time as well as your prompt attention when your involvement is required.
Another difficult early stage is the demolition phase. You will see new faces in and around your home on a regular basis. The insides of your house will be exposed. Electrical, heating, or plumbing services may be intermittently interrupted during this time. Dust, dirt, debris piles, and dumpsters will be visible in and around the work area. All of this can be rather stressful. However, don’t worry — the demolition phase goes quickly, and will be cleaned up just as rapidly. Once the framing nears completion, people usually feel very optimistic and start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
After the framing is completed and the plumbing, electrical, and mechanical work is under way, the project can appear to slow down because the progress is not as dramatic and visible as in the framing phase. However, a lot of detail work is done at this time. For instance, there are many required inspections by building officials. It’s critical that the work be done thoroughly at this point prior to insulating and closing the walls with drywall.
Next comes the drywall stage which most people are excited about. When the walls are covered with drywall, suddenly the rooms take on their true proportions and people start to imagine what it will be like to move back in.
Unfortunately, the final phase of all the work, after the drywall, can seem to take a long time. The finish work — grading and exterior concrete flat work; interior and exterior painting; installation of all interior doors and finish woodwork; installation of cabinets, tile, and floor coverings; installation of finish plumbing and electrical fixtures; installation of shelving, closet poles, mirrors, glass shower doors, hardware, appliances, etc. — requires a fair amount of time and the efforts of many different subcontractors.
Nevertheless, thanks to a well-planned and coordinated scheduling effort during this phase, the day arrives when your project is completed. Finally, your house is once again your private residence, free of the constant construction activity that has transformed your ideas and plans into the new spaces that we hope you will enjoy.
Now, during construction, there are some reasonable and prudent precautions which I suggest you consider. While I trust my employees, there will, at times, be persons in and around your house whom I do not know. Accordingly, it is suggested that valuables such as jewelry, money and financial instruments, valuable artwork and small antiques, and other ‘easily removed’ items be secured in such a manner as to reduce or eliminate the possibility of theft. Consider off-site storage of larger items in which damage MAY occur due to the on-going construction.
If you have a security system, we will need access during scheduled work hours. This may be accomplished by means of an auxiliary access code, isolation of a single point of entry from the main system, or ensuring that someone is available to provide access for our crews at all scheduled times. Any work to security lines or components will be coordinated with you and your security provider. It is also helpful to know who your provider is and to inform them of work that will be performed. An auxiliary code will enable us to verify to the provider that we have disrupted your service unintentionally, should that occur.
If you have a caged or confined pet, I strongly urge you to place them away from the work area for safety reasons and to reduce the possibility of the pet becoming stressed due the presence of strangers. Free-roaming pets are of particular concern as they may be curious and jeopardize their safety or the safety of our crews, or they may also become stressed and take the opportunity of an open door to escape.
During work hours, we will ensure that your doors are closed and locked should we have to leave your property for any reason as well as at the end of the day. I hope you will check all doors and windows in the evening in the unlikely event we forget to secure everything.
Occasionally we may have to disrupt power, water, gas, or communication lines. We also may need to suspend heating and A/C operations periodically. You will be notified should any of these services need to remain disconnected overnight or for any extended period of time. Any disruptions may cause the re-booting of computers, timing out of digital clocks (including alarm clocks), sputtering of water faucets, re-setting of thermostats, or lack of hot water. We will do our best to let you know when these disruptions have occurred.
If you have visitors, or there are children of any age, the elderly, or those with physical or mental difficulties living in your home, they should remain clear of the work area at all times. While we will take every reasonable precaution to secure the worksite daily, there is no safer way to reduce the possibility of injury than to stay out of the area.
Finally, I have no problem with you checking up on our work; in fact, I encourage it. We are proud of what we do and want to hear from you should you have any questions, changes, or problems with what we are doing. Obviously, you should exercise reasonable precautions around the worksite.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this process or any suggestions about how we can minimize the disruption to your daily routine.
Send us an email: Homestead Renovations
or call,
Phone: 703-966-6092