Sometimes a cup of coffee goes a long way

By Francie Healey

Your renovator should be your friend. A good friend. A friend who takes care of the investment you are putting into your home.

This is the friend who will practically be living with you for weeks or months. A friend who brings workers into your home. And that’s why it’s a good idea to make sure your friend is a professional renovator.

Your professional RenoMark™ renovator has committed to the conditions of any good friendship: respect, honesty, dedication to your interests. RenoMark™ renovators follow a code of conduct and have a strict list of practices they follow with great care. (www.renomark.ca).

But friendship is a two-way street, and there are things you can do, too – your own homeowner’s code of conduct – to make it go well from the start.

Here are some suggestions:

  • Be patient. Take your time with the design process. Know what you want.
  • Be prepared. Remove furniture, dishes and any moveable obstacles from the room before work begins.
  • Be knowledgeable. Understand the importance of scheduling.
  • Be considerate and professional. It’s exactly as you expect to be treated.
  • Be thoughtful. Make your renovator a cup of coffee now and then.
  • Be engaged and committed. Try to be available during working hours.
  • Be empathetic. Understand that your renovator is human and, like anyone, can make mistakes.
  • Be agreeable, pleasant, and appreciative. When you’re pleased with the work, say so.
  • Be ready for frustrations for lots of reasons (bad weather, warehouse problems, illness, transportation strikes and unavailability of a product, for instance) that have nothing to do with your renovator.
  • Be open to adjustments to “the plan” when needed.
  • Be trusting and trustworthy, and pay on time

Professional renovators know renovations can be stressful and trying. But they want the same things you do: a great renovation and happy customers.

They also know how smooth and pleasant a renovation is when a client is polite and kind. It takes a dedicated team that includes you.

When the renovation is over, your professional renovators enjoy celebrating the success of the renovation – right along with you.