What to Ask Your Contractor Midway Through a Renovation

You know what to ask when you’re looking for a contractor to hire (or, if you don’t, check out our resources here and here). You know what to ask your contractor while you’re planning your renovation to create the home of your dreams. But what do you ask during the process? How do you work with your contractor to make sure both of you are on the same page midway through your renovation, and what kind of questions should you ask? Well, here is a guide to some of these questions.

Communication

First, consider how you will communicate with your contractor throughout your project. This may be helpful to plan out ahead of time. If you have several points where you touch base with your contractor and make sure you understand each other and you understand how far along the project is, it will make the process flow more smoothly. If you never check in, you may miss opportunities to make little changes. However, micromanaging will not necessarily lead to the results that you want! So planning to be in communication, without looking over the workers’ shoulders every minute, is the best strategy.

Another helpful tip is to make a list of all your questions as they arise in your mind, rather than emailing or texting your contractor at all hours of the day. A list will help you remember them all, and group relevant questions together, and bring them up to your contractor when you talk to them next.

Questions to ask

Okay, so what should you look for? Well, in the video above, we walk through a project that has had the drywall installed, but has not been “finished” yet. In other words, this is the last chance to move anything before the drywall joints are taped, before everything is painted, before it becomes a much bigger process to make changes.

Here’s a few things you might want to check:

• Electrical: are the light switches where you wanted them to be? What about the plugins?
• Lighting: if you want lighting options such as pot lights or other recessed lights, are the holes for these in the right place?
• Other details: did you plan to have brackets for features such as benches or shelving installed? If so, are they in the right location and at the right height? What about backing for your TV?

After this stage of your renovation, your home will go through its finishing touches. It will be exciting to see the paint colours fill your rooms with the atmosphere you dreamed of, to see wall finishes such as wood paneling or tile be applied, and to see baseboards and lights go in to create a finished look in your space. However, keep in mind that the more “finished” a space gets, the harder it is to make changes! That is why this stage of your renovation is a great time to go in and do a final check on all the little details that you thought through so carefully when you planned your project out.

You can bring the home of your dreams into reality. The little details of your dream home matter—so talk with your contractor about your vision, and take the opportunity midway through your renovation to check in on the progress of your home and ask questions.