This is the Simply Home Podcast - Ladies Who Build, a podcast for women by women.

This is Ashley Wainscott and Michelle Mullins.

After spending the last 10 years revolutionizing the construction industry and raising the bar of the contracting world.

We are inviting you on our journey as we continuously learn how to be extraordinary and thrive in this industry.

Now, come hang with us.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (00:27)

Welcome to season three, episode 31 of Ladies Who Build.

This episode, we are talking about common mistakes people make when undergoing a remodel. And some specific points we're gonna be talking about today, one of them being what we've seen clients do in the past that they wished they did differently. We hear a lot about this in our client surveys and how you can make your remodel successful. Very important. And then what's the hardest part of the remodel process?

So we'll break it down in those three sections. And Michelle's gonna kick us off with a lot of what Michelle's heard directly from clients, which is what they would have done differently.

MICHELLE MULLINS (01:16)
Yes, so the caps to the background to that is that at the end of each project, we sit down with the homeowner in person and we go over their feedback. We get what they liked, what they didn't like, what was difficult. And I will say at that meeting, it's very telling like how we did as a whole and so sometimes like we think we did really good on our project and then we might get opposite feedback from a client or vice versa and so it's really, and that's like where we take all of our lessons learned from.

So it's a really great meeting, but kind of summarizing what I hear common things that people would say during the remodel process or maybe before we've kind of combined here. So I think the biggest, well, one of the biggest ones we talk about is clearing out your space. So sometimes clients think that because we're not working in a certain space of the house, that that would be okay to kind of not clear out. But let's say that that space is a high traffic area. You know, so if you've got like an entryway and you've got like a really big, beautiful table, a really expensive piece of art, and, but we're not working in that space, we're definitely traveling in that space.

And so I think the biggest thing to understand is like, no, you don't need to clear out your entire house, but definitely adjacent areas are really important because honestly, if it's left there where you have it normally, you are risking it getting damaged. You're risking it getting lost, hit, touched, moved, relocated, like you, there's just a lot of risk around that, especially if it's something really nice and expensive. So, the when in doubt, just clear out everything you don't want, you don't want the guys touching anything. Believe me, it just, it's gonna, it's not gonna be good if they do, or if they have to move it.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (03:12)

No, and if you think about your spouse or whomever you live with moving something that like normally has a place in a home, you know, like, and that's like someone who you live with and you already find that annoying. So imagine if a stranger in your home came in and moved something because it was in the way, or they were worried about damaging it, like you should just go ahead and do that so that you know where it is, because it is gonna annoy you if you come home and you see your stuff touched and moved, like, let's go ahead and go ahead and move that.

MICHELLE MULLINS (03:47)

Right, just get it out there, get a pod, get a storage unit, put it in a different room.

Yeah, just take care of it.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (03:53)

Yeah, you don't have to worry about it when it's that way. And usually at the project

manager meeting, they're gonna give you tips because, you know, earlier in the process, you're not thinking so much about how you're gonna be living through the remodel. Even if you are moving out, you're not thinking about how am I gonna move out? You're thinking about the budget, the vision, the design, you know, the plans, where am I gonna go, et cetera. So then when you get to that space and you are at the project manager meeting and you are two weeks out-ish from starting,

You know, you've just moved on to the next phase of, okay, well, now I actually do need to prep and the work is not over, right? Like, your work is still going as a homeowner to prep and a lot of companies like ours can help you, whether it's organizers or movers, get through that process. But yeah, you're gonna be preparing those weeks leading up. So clear your schedule. Your weekends will not be at like cute restaurants, most likely they're gonna be packing and, you know, putting your stuff away and moving things. And that's just like how it is leading up to the remodel.

MICHELLE MULLINS (05:11)

Yeah, it's part of the process.

Yeah, it's just part of the process. And you're gonna be so glad that you did it in the end because you don't want us doing it, I'm telling you. You don't want these guys doing it for you.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (05:21)

No, you really don't.

MICHELLE MULLINS (05:23)

Okay, another one that I hear a lot is, so it is one of our requirements when you start a project with us to have all material ordered ahead of time. So you can't really opt out of this. However, a lot of clients will say at the end, you know, it was interesting that you required this upfront because in my mind, I thought, why do I need a toilet when we're not installing the toilet till the very end of the process,

Right? And multiple times people would say, okay, now I understand going through this process why that is a requirement for y'all because it truly impacts, it can impact the whole project entirely in a big way.

So before we required that, it was, you don't even know what you're gonna run into if you don't have all materials ahead of time, especially like during COVID, that was all crazy, but not just delays. I mean, material not being ordered ahead of time is you could always get, you wanna, if you order it, you can still check it and open the boxes to confirm what you ordered is what you received because as we all know, we've ordered stuff and haven't gotten the right thing. And so that, and then you can have time to like return it and get the right thing. Also like it may no longer be in stock.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (06:40)

That buffer room, you know, like of when, I mean, it still happens all the time where they send the wrong light fixture or they send the color wrong, whether it's a bronze and it's supposed to be brushed nickel. And so like without that buffer time where we're all checking things in and then allowing it to be shipped back and then they process it and then they ship it and Michelle and I have been through this several times where they still ship the wrong thing, right? So you have to allow that buffer time for manufacturers to like make their mistakes.

MICHELLE MULLINS (07:14)

Yeah, I recently just dealt with it and they sent, I ordered a tub and they sent the wrong tub three different times. It was quite, I was kind of, I was impressed a little bit. I was like, how do you get it wrong this many times? It was really frustrating.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (07:28)

Yeah, because you would think the margin of error would get better every time. Like, surely this time it's gonna happen.

MICHELLE MULLINS (07:36)

Right, right. Not the third time.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (07:39)

That's when it's a, just a joke at that point.

MICHELLE MULLINS (07:43)

I know, then you just have to laugh. But yes, that is like a huge, listen to us when we say you need new material ahead of time. Just do it.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (07:52)

Yeah, and Michelle and I didn't make that a requirement because we wanted to make people's lives more difficult. It was quite the opposite. It was that we had the vision of a smooth running project that wouldn't be based on when materials are arriving. Because when we think back to the day when we had to keep track of materials while we were keeping track of the job. And it was like, oh yeah, did that light fixture arrive? Oh, the electrician scheduled for tomorrow. Like, is it there? Or, oh yeah, was the valve there? It was supposed to come in yesterday, right? It was just.

MICHELLE MULLINS (08:35)

It was a whirlwind.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (08:36)

It's awful.

MICHELLE MULLINS (08:38)

Yeah, it was really crazy. So learn from our mistakes and listen.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (08:43)

Yeah, and your project managers and your teams you're working with will be so much happier in general when you're working with them to follow the process and you have everything ready to go. Your team is gonna feel so much more confident in what they can accomplish.

MICHELLE MULLINS (09:01)

Yeah, right. It's like not even, it's just not even, it's just second nature. You just keep moving.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (09:06)

Yeah, it's great.

MICHELLE MULLINS (09:09)

I think on the line of ordering materials, this kind of falls into, I mean, so it kind of falls in the same category, but clients thinking that they don't need a designer for their remodel or that they themselves can be the designer. I will say there's a caveat to that. We have worked with some clients that are actually designers. So that is what they do for a living and it's not just in their own homes. So in those cases, it's different, right? Because they understand that process. I will say though, even if you're a designer, like I get it, you're saving on cost, but the reason I would probably maybe still hire out for that.

And if you're, especially if you're not a designer, 100% hire out for a designer is not, there's a lot of reasons to it, but I think honestly the biggest one is the decision-making throughout the remodel process. You still are doing all of your upfront planning ahead of time. You're still getting everything organized, your materials selected, your colors, all of that will be done ahead of time, but construction is fluid and it doesn't follow a perfect process in regards to when it gets done and how, blah, blah, blah. So there are moments throughout the project that your project manager will call your designer and maybe clarify whatever the reason is, whatever they're clarifying.

If you are the homeowner acting in that regard, then you not only do you have the decision to make right then and there, you also have the emotional tie that goes with it as well, and what we've seen is when the clients are up to the left of these decisions in the moment, it slows down the process because you need to get it approved by your partner, you need to think about it, you wanna see how it flows, maybe you don't, maybe you can't think of another solution. So then you're in this whirlwind of, you're probably in the middle of a meeting that you don't have time to think about this option.

That is what a designer's job is for. It takes out the emotion and it focuses strictly on the design and the end goal. And so I think it's such a big deal to not hire a designer. I don't think people understand that.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (11:20)

And then the amount of research, when they're like, well, I don't even know what are all of my options when it comes to, okay, now I can't put in this window, so what are my options or what is best suited for this room, whether it's a bathroom and there's humidity or what is better suited for like this type of environment, maybe it's weather, right?

It's like there's so many factors that designers do this for a living and they already know, they don't really have to do a whole lot of research because they've lived the trial and error and you put yourself at risk when you are making those first time decisions that you don't make on a daily basis and you don't wanna regret, you know, like you know, I chose this one cause it looked the best but I didn't realize that I couldn't put it here, right? Like that's what you don't wanna have happen.

MICHELLE MULLINS (12:19)

Yeah, yeah, it's just, we can't stress enough and that's really why it's a requirement now because we are not designers and most people are not in their lives and so it is a requirement now to have one but that's another thing people say too, it's like, oh, thank goodness I hired that designer, like now I see the purpose and the importance of it.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (12:40)

Yeah, I mean, it's an investment, it's definitely not cheap by any means but it is an investment and they think of all of those tiny details and I mean, I know I talked about this last time but even doing my own bathroom, right? Like you have to think through sealers to use on tile, you're thinking through like how something's trimmed out, how the tile meets in all the different areas, you're thinking through all the options of like shower heads alone, right? Do you want a steam shower? Do you want that pressurized? Like, do you want it to always be on the same temperature? I mean, there's just so many options on the design side that you have to think through, even like electrical placement, you know?

MICHELLE MULLINS (13:32)

Yeah, that's a good one.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (13:34)

Vent fans, like do you want this vent fan? Do you want it to be a can light? Do you want it to just be a fan, right?

MICHELLE MULLINS (13:40)

Yeah.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (13:40)

I mean, my goodness.

MICHELLE MULLINS (13:41)

Yeah, it's endless, it can be endless.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (13:45)

Yeah, I mean, in paint, like paint colors alone, the sheen, so many decisions, y'all, and you just, windows, the type of window glass that you're putting in that you just, you need a designer and you need somebody that knows what they're doing.

MICHELLE MULLINS (14:01)

Yeah, yeah, it's so worth it in the end.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (14:04)

You don't want a Pinterest fail.

MICHELLE MULLINS (14:05)

No, no.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (14:06)

You want a Pinterest win.

MICHELLE MULLINS (14:07)

Yeah, yeah, I think that's actually a good point. And another one that we've heard a lot, well, kind of in the beginning, you know? Like, okay, you know how we'll meet with clients and they'll say, oh, I love remodeling shows. I love watching HGTV. Like, I know exactly what I want. And that's not bad to say, like, obviously, you know, everybody watches HGTV, but it makes us cringe because I think that's a common mistake is that you think that your project is gonna be like the one you saw on HGTV.

And caveat here, we're gonna do, like, there's a whole episode about this because we're really passionate about all the differences that can be between the two, but that is a big misunderstanding of how your project's gonna go. It's going to go nothing like what you see on TV because we can't just edit and poof and you have this, like, beautiful product. So just know that in real time, it's nothing like that.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (15:10)

Yeah, I mean, unless someone has some sort of magic wand that I'm not aware of and even after it's been 11 years, we've been doing this 11 years and we can, like, confidently say that is not how things go. It's not, I mean, even, I don't watch HGTV

because this is our life, we live this every day.

MICHELLE MULLINS (15:35)

It's kind of scarring.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (15:38)

It's triggering, I'm like, okay. But also I'm like, that's not real, I call BS.

Right, like, none of this is real.

MICHELLE MULLINS (15:46)

Even like the pricing that they say on TV, they'll be like, oh, that's $5,000 for a structural thing. I'm like, what? No, it's not. I'm like, where? Where do you get these numbers?

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (15:57)

Yeah, where do you live that it's $5,000? Where is that coming from? I mean, and also caveat, it's different in every city. So Austin, Texas is not the cheapest city. It's one of the more expensive ones to remodel. So also be aware of that. Don't watch HGTV, don't read an article and then come to a general contractor and think that, or a designer or an architect and think that that's the pricing model that they're using because it's all across the board. You know, I mean, you could find a GC that's, everybody has different pricing. It's just not the same. And there's a reason why.

MICHELLE MULLINS (16:44)

Yeah, I mean, and that's honestly, we've talked about this too in the past, but regarding pricing is a mistake that people make is going for the lowest bid.

I think there are things in life that make sense to go to the lowest bid, but not

remodeling and not things with your home because you really want to have people who know what they're doing. And you don't wanna be the one that's overseeing it because even if you think you know how to do it correctly, you probably don't know code. You probably don't know the standard of that city. So it's, you really don't wanna cheap out on this.

I'm not saying go full custom, you know, blow your whole budget on the highest end, but you wanna be really careful of someone saying like, I can do it for X amount. I would rather hire the guy that walks, like if I was a client and I'm hiring someone and he says, I wish you the best of luck, but we're not gonna be able to meet that pricing because we offer XYZ instead of someone saying like, oh yeah, I'll match it, I'll match it, I'll match it. You know what I mean? Like I would rather have someone stand by their services than just like try to beat the pricing.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (17:49)

Yeah, cause that doesn't feel good if someone, we already know if they're just winging their pricing, that means there's no thought or consideration into the materials they need. I'm like, okay, well, did you really think through how long this will take? Because now that you're just trying to match it, it doesn't, it makes me feel like you just made that number up and that you're not considering everything.

MICHELLE MULLINS (18:12)

Right.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (018:13)

That doesn't feel good either. But yeah, I think it's something to think about

because Michelle, we've had clients reach out to us after they did the remodel, they

chose to go with the cheaper option and then they told us that they spent the amount that we initially quoted them, if not more, because their contractor didn't include everything.

MICHELLE MULLINS (18:36)

Yeah, that's the worst, I hate that.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (18:39)

You know, so it was kind of like, they were like, I honestly wish I would have just used you guys because then I could have had a good experience, I could have really enjoyed my remodel and I wanted to go with you guys. It was a little more expensive. So it's just something to think about. People don't, people might throw out a number and be like $10,000, but they don't consider everything they need to include and then it's just gonna go up.

MICHELLE MULLINS (19:04)

Yeah, yeah, totally.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (19:06)

That's our soapbox.

MICHELLE MULLINS (19:07)

Yeah. Okay, and then the kind of the last, I wouldn't say the last, but one of the ones we're talking about here is what clients would have done differently is renovate early enough so that you can enjoy your space. And I don't think this is necessarily like a mistake that people make, but a lot of people will do a big remodel and then they'll list their home because obviously, you know, you'll get a higher price for it, but we'll get done with the remodel and they're like, man, I really wish we did this years ago because we love our kitchen now, we love our bathroom, whatever it is, and we really wish we could utilize it, but we're moving.

And so if you can, obviously circumstances are different for everybody, but you really wanna enjoy your space. It's gonna be so incredible and beautiful. It's going to feel like you're in a brand new home. And so if you can, try to enjoy it.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (19:56)

Yeah, don't put it off.

MICHELLE MULLINS (19:57)

Yeah.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (19:58)

I mean, I secretly don't want you to put it off because then we get to remodel, but you go into your space every day and you don't really love it, how much that weighs on you, you know? You know, Michelle?

MICHELLE MULLINS (20:14)

Yeah.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (20:17)

Especially when you're in your kitchen that you don't like, or I mean, even if it's the tiniest of remodel and you're putting, you're DIYing it or maybe you're remodeling your fireplace. We've done a lot of fireplaces.

MICHELLE MULLINS (20:32)

Okay, so the next topic we were gonna discuss is how you can make your remodel successful. So again, kind of going around lessons learned from previous clients and also things that we've seen from afar and kind of some like mistakes to prevent in this. But I will say in the beginning when you're talking with us or your architect or your engineer or your designer, we've said this before, but seriously, no question is, is dumb to ask. We really don't, no one expects you to understand the remodel process fully or construction fully. You're just not going to because you're obviously not in it.

And so we don't want you to feel confused or not being able to like read your drawings or understand what you're getting because if you don't ask the question, it'll probably make you frustrated down the road. And so we want you to feel really comfortable having that conversation with us. So like we really don't think. Any question is too dumb. We really welcome it.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (21:34)

And on that note, definitely ask questions about your scope of work and your contract.

MICHELLE MULLINS (21:40)

For sure.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (21:41)

I think it's a good thing when clients engage in scope of work to understand like, okay, and what does this mean? And is this waterproofing? What does that mean? And on your contract, okay, you know, what is the punch list walkthrough look like? You know, like really understand it so that you're not confused later down the line and therefore frustrated.

MICHELLE MULLINS (22:06)

Yeah right, it's part of the process. So I think that's big to kind of help regulate the emotions throughout. I will say as in addition to as you're kicking off and what you're expecting as you go in, do not expect everything to go according to plan. The plan is the guide. It's what we're all following because there's many hands in the process, but it's not gonna go perfect and that is A -okay. Not one of our projects has gone perfectly and that was A -okay and they still turned out to be phenomenal. So it's really why you hire us, right? It's like it's to mitigate when those problems arise that we're gonna have solutions to figure it out.

There has not been in the 10 years that we've been doing projects, not one issue that we couldn't resolve. Maybe it takes a little bit more time, maybe it costs additional funds somewhere, maybe we needed to pull in some additional resources, but when problems come up we don't freak out. Like we know how to handle those and who to go to. So it's just not going to go perfectly and it's not going to go according to plan and just know that it's okay. It's not that's not wrong or bad.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (23:15)

It reminds me of the shoots and ladders board game. You know, where you think you're going on the path and then you hit a shoot that sends you, you know, six steps back or you'll hit a ladder that you're like, this went really smoothly. We can, we moved much quicker through this part of the process. Now we're ahead of schedule.

MICHELLE MULLINS (23:33)

Yeah.

MICHELLE (23:44)

Right.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (03:21.678)

So it's kind of the visual that I get of the remodel process. But we're used to the shoots and ladders, whereas...

MICHELLE MULLINS (23:51)

Yeah.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (23:53)

Climbs aren't used to the chutes and ladders.

MICHELLE MULLINS (23:57)

It's a good analogy. It definitely, yeah, that's a very good analogy because it can speed us up, it can slow us down, but it's just part of the process.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (24:06)

Yeah, really. I mean, it is. It's like the game of life too, where you just because you have the CAD plans, the path or the journey in which we get there outside of, you know, following the order of operations for construction is not one that we can control. We have, you know, we don't have control. The higher ups have control. Nobody, they don't tell you what the plan is. Okay.

MICHELLE MULLINS (24:30)

Yeah.

MICHELLE MULLINS (24:34)

No, no. I think to going into it. It's like prepared that it's going to be emotional for you. And again, I don't necessarily mean this in a negative context, but it is going to be an emotional roller coaster and how you how people handle that is different. So I will definitely say that we've we've experienced what I think to be all the ranges of emotions. Like I feel like we've there are different people that express differently. And so we've we've had a wide array of those types of people. But, you know, It's not, there is a lot of money going into this. There's a lot of time, there's a lot of energy, there's a lot of investment overall with everybody involved and especially the homeowner, right?

So we understand that money is emotional, but you're just gonna have to expect that you're gonna feel frustrated sometimes. You're going to feel confused, you're going to feel whatever. And all of that is okay because our project managers know that that's to come and they can handle it and they're gonna ask you those questions to get you thinking. So like, it is okay to come to them when you're feeling that way.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (25:44)

And you know what else I just realized when you were saying this? I had an epiphany and I think it's that a lot of people don't like that they don't have control.

MICHELLE MULLINS (25:55)

Yeah, I think so too.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (26:00)

I mean, we want to talk about maybe getting into some therapy stuff, but some people are better at relinquishing control than others. And the truth of the matter is there's just not a whole lot of control you can have in this process. And that is why you hire us.

MICHELLE MULLINS (26:19)

Yeah. Right.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (26:21)

Because we take as much control as we can over the project and then the rest we have to go with the flow.

MICHELLE MULLINS (26:26)

Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. And we want, and we don't want you to feel like helpless in this situation, but I mean, a lot of construction is out of control. It's just out of, there's so many hands involved.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (26:40)

Yeah, yeah, and you're not in there doing the plumbing work and you're not, you're, you have no control over how your slab was done. You have no control over the termites that crawled through your walls, right? Like you don't have control. It's just.

MICHELLE MULLINS (26:45)

Right.

MICHELLE MULLINS (26:55)

Yeah, you gotta release it.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (26:56)

Yeah, it's just what it is. It is what it is.

MICHELLE MULLINS (26:59)

I think in talking about communication is another one that we've seen during the process with homeowners is maybe not communicating back to us or to the vendor. And what I mean is like, let's say you're living in the home and we give you an update that we're gonna be at the house at 9 a to start something, but maybe you left for the morning, for the day, you haven't left a key or you took the key out of the lock box or you left the alarm on, whatever it is, you know, things happens life, but not communicating to us or not being available. We're not saying be available every second of the day, but if we're at your house and your alarm's going off or trying to get a hold of you, you know, like those are just kind of things you need to be aware of is your normal day to day isn't going to look the same in the time that we're working in your house.

So there are other factors you have to consider and think about. So I think that's a big mistake is like be available because things just happen.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (27:57)

I didn't, I haven't ever thought of it like that, but it is, it's not, you're not going to be living your same life that you were because you do have this extra project going on. So what that looks like of making yourself more available. I mean, it's different. It's, although we don't want inconvenience to our goals to not cause any more stress in your life or, you know, weight, put that weight on you in any way. It is happening in your life and it is a part of your life. And so being available and communicating and being at your weekly meetings and being engaged or present, asking the questions you need to, it all contributes to a successful project.

MICHELLE MULLINS (28:45)

Uh-huh, 100%. Yeah, on that note though, in regards to communicating. Another mistake people make is talking a lot to the vendors that are working in your house or hovering over them while they work. That is like the biggest no -no. If you want to see your project slow down tremendously, hover over a vendor while they're working. Like I don't even do that because it makes them incredibly nervous. They get frustrated. And I'm telling you right now, they're going to walk out of your house that day because they're not going to want to work under being watched over them and so then you just lost a whole day of work because you wanted to ask them a billion questions and stand over them while they worked. Like, I can't stress it enough. Don't do that.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (29:27)

Yeah.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (29:30)

Yeah. Outside of, “Hey, how are you?” Like five to 10 minute catch up thing, because we get people fall in love with our vendors as we are in love with them. But outside of that, like that's like you talking to me, Michelle. Well, I'm trying to email, you know, and you're, I'm like trying to get something done. I'm like, you know,

MICHELLE MULLINS (29:48)

Yeah.

MICHELLE MULLINS (29:52)

Right, like we wouldn't do that to you. Yeah, it's just like think about that in reverse. And I think people are trying to be nice and I get it, like no one's maliciously doing that, but go do something. Get out of the house if you feel like you're gonna be tempted to do it.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (30:07)

Yeah, so true. Go to a coffee shop. If you are an extroverted person too, that likes talking, get out of them. Get on out of there. I mean, especially because not all of our vendors, some of them love talking, but not all of our vendors love talking, right? And then they're kind of like, I have to talk to you, but I really need to focus on this. So I don't mess this up. You know,

MICHELLE MULLINS (30:32)

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (30:34)

Not the greatest. But honestly, also Michelle is going to say adding to that is what makes it successful is you can add things onto your project. You can add additions for scope of work, but being confident in the decisions you've made with your designs early on and not changing your mind. Don't change a design, when construction is started or even right before, don't change it. It's going to throw everything off.

MICHELLE MULLINS (31:11)

That is such a big one and I think people think because it's small, like, I don't know, whatever, whatever it is, even if you think it's small, there are 50 different eyes looking at those plans. And you might not realize the impact that change has on the next vendor walking in there. And he might have already bought materials for the previous thing that you already have chosen, right? So you just don't know the ripple effect of that. And you could say, okay, we'll just change the plans and communicate to everyone.

Well, we do, but there is still massive room for error in that because maybe they're operating off the old plans. Maybe they sent their guy that hasn't looked at the new plans yet. Like if there’s, It is a trickle effect of delays once that happens.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (31:58)

Yeah, we know, we've known this. Just believe Michelle and I when we say stick to the plan. And if you want to add things, great. Like, Oh, I want to add painting this other room. I want to add Wayne's coding over here, right? But like stick to the design in your space that you already designed and let's focus on executing that unless you absolutely…

MICHELLE MULLINS (32:00)

I'm like having PTSD now thinking about it.

MICHELLE MULLINS (32:07)

Stick to the plan.

Michelle (32:25)

Focus.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (32:23)

Cannot live with it or you absolutely are repulsed by it in some way, but just know we're gonna, the project's gonna stop. There will be delay fees. There's gonna be change orders and things, you know, it's really not gonna be ideal for you. Okay, anything else?

MICHELLE MULLINS (32:47)

I don’t know, I think I covered everything. What’s the hardest part of the remodel? Probably... if I'm thinking of like timeline, I think it's like when you're like two -thirds of the way in and you see the progress, you're ready to get back in, you're tired of living in wherever you're living, tired of eating out every day, you're just like ready to get in. I think maybe it is the...

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (33:12)

Yeah.

MICHELLE MULLINS (33:17)

Because you could say after demo maybe because it's like some change orders could pop up then because that's like after we see what's behind the walls. But I still think you're excited at that point. You're still ready.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (33:26)

Yeah. I mean, the other, the second hardest part, I think if we're talking about timeline is the, when you're past demo, cause it's like all exciting, like, my gosh, they demo huge things are happening, but then you're kind of in between waiting for electrical plumbing HVAC. And that stuff is so small, even with framing, getting ready for waterproofing or insulation. And once drywall goes up, it starts to get real. But it's a good amount of time depending on the project where you think nothing's happening, but maybe we were trenching all week, right? And it's not, that's not overly exciting.

So that's the other part. There are probably two parts. It's the beginning and then the end when you're like, okay, can we just, can I just have my house back? Can we just be done? Can we just be over this? And of course I'd imagine separating with the money is probably also hard.

MICHELLE MULLINS (34:25)

At the beginning, like when you give your down payment.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (34:27)

But you have to pay. Yeah, when you have to like pay on your invoices, I'd imagine that part is also difficult.

MICHELLE MULLINS (34:32)

Yeah, I could see it.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (34:34)

You know, it's such a huge investment. that that part's probably also hard, but the rest of it, you should be working with somebody that makes it easy, breezy.

MICHELLE MULLINS (34:44)

Totally, which is us. We're easy breezy.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (34:48)

Surely. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's all we have for y 'all today.

MICHELLE MULLINS (34:52)

Okay, those were our top hits. Obviously, you can contact us if you needed to find out more or if you have questions about this. I'm sure you'll have a lot of them. It's part of the process.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (35:02)

Yeah, and Michelle, we are gonna tell everyone to reference episode 10 and 21.

MICHELLE MULLINS (35:10)

Yeah. Okay. Episode 10 and 21, we also talk about very similar topics that go further into details about if you are deciding to move or not move during a remodel. We lay out some really important considerations with that. And then episode 21 is why remodels can be tense or emotional. So we talked a lot about emotions today. That one also reflects a lot of what could happen during a remodel.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (35:35)

Yeah, yeah, we dive into these and get really in depth. So everyone go listen to those if this is of interest to you.

MICHELLE MULLINS (35:43)

Yeah.

ASHLEY WAINSCOTT (35:45)

All right, ciao for now.

MICHELLE MULLINS (35:47)

Until next time.