We’ve already taken a look at some ideas for overcoming renovation decision fatigue, but the good news is there’s plenty more ideas on the list. You’ll be over the hump in no time!
Have the Conversation
Maybe you’re one of the ‘lucky’ ones who has an awesome bunch of tradespeople working with you on your renovation. They’re easy to get along with, helpful, respectful of both people and their surroundings… you know the ones I mean. And although I say ‘lucky’, chances are it’s more likely you’ve built up that team through time and experience.
But if you have a tradie who constantly pisses you off, then it’s time to have the conversation. You know, the one where you calmly discuss the situation and find a solution you can both live with. Such as they stop parking on the nature strip out the front of your house, because they’re chewing up your grass with their tyres. Or they tone down their language and stop offending your elderly neighbour. It could also be job related!
Let’s get real here – there are things you can deal with when you’re full of beans at the beginning of a renovation, but progressively drive you bonkers when you’re under stress, bottling things up, tired and more than a little bit fed up. That’s the point at which you’re likely to explode with frustration and wipe out every tradie within spitting distance.
So take a deep breath, and express yourself. Any issues, discuss them calmly and rationally and reach a resolution. Amazingly, clearing up those little, niggling annoyances is often the key to you rediscovering the joy of renovating.
Set Some Realistic Deadlines
It never ceases to amaze me how many people I talk to about their renovation project who think it’ll all be done and dusted in a couple of weeks. Ummm… no. Just no. You’ve been watching too many of those reno shows on television. The real world doesn’t involve having a site swarming with multiple trades at the same time. There’s a sequence that needs to occur, and tradies aren’t generally sitting around twiddling their thumbs waiting for you to call.
So no matter what point of the renovation you’re up to, sit down and set some realistic deadlines. Ask your tradies if you need to get clearer timeframes in your head. Once you understand the time realities you’re facing, you will find it easier to accept them and move on. If you’re still wallowing in fantasy land, getting frustrated because things really do take longer in real life than they do in TV land, then you’re going to remain stuck.
An experienced renovator I know puts it even more bluntly. Whatever timescale your builder gives you – double it. And if your budget’s tight, then triple it. If you’re working on a much older house with the potential for discovering new problems every time you uncover something – quadruple it. His scale doesn’t mention COVID, but given all the extra issues around getting tradies on site thanks to lockdowns, you probably want to add a pretty heft time contingency in – or throw out your expectations altogether!
Now that you’ve cleared up some of those irritating issues and have a much more realistic idea of your deadlines, you can relax, knowing you don’t need to decide six impossible things before breakfast every day, along with fixing your chewed up grass.