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Successful Home Improvement Project
by Hank Jaworowski,CR
Unless you live in a closet and don't come out often or you have
been out of the country for many years there is a good chance you
have heard or read about a home improvement scam or project gone
wrong. It seems to be a fact in this country that when you go about
doing a home improvement project there is a good chance that you
will have a lot of difficulty completing one. You will have a good
chance of encountering countless problems, delays and shoddy work.
The home improvement experience leaves most people stressed out and
vowing never to do another project again! So it is not surprising to
hear that home improvement complaints rank at the top of consumer
complaints year after year.
I was a home improvement contractor for almost 30 years, including
winning some of the industry's highest awards, and it never ceased
to amaze me the poor home improvement decisions that people would
make. I've always wondered why homeowners would blindly hire people
to work on their homes because the person was a friend, or a friend
of a friend. To me this reasoning makes no sense. Friendship and
craftsmanship are not related. For some reason some people refuse to
see this.
Not only will people make poor hiring decisions but some will have a
project done without ever putting in writing what is to be done
(contract). A very similar mistake would be for a homeowner to
blindly accept an estimate on the back of a business card that has
nothing on it except a price? Wouldn't you think a homeowner would
want to know specifically what their project entails for the
proposed amount? I would think so but obviously some people don't.
Let's look at the other side of the coin. Let's not forget the
people looking to work on your home. Over the years I have seen some
of my competitors commit heinous business practices. (Oh what a
surprise!!) I have seen contractors switch materials to lesser
quality without customer approval, use unqualified labor, overcharge
homeowners for "unforeseen problems", try to up sell the customer
once the project starts, etc.,etc.,etc…….Can anyone be trusted?
Where does the blame fall for so many home improvement complaints
and problems year after year? I guess it would be easy to blame the
homeowner for not educating themselves on what and what not to do
when doing a project. However the next question would be where does
a homeowner get "educated"? Or maybe a better question would be
where does a homeowner find the time to get "educated"? Education is
a great thing if you can get it but unfortunately there aren't
many "how to" courses or schools that tell people how to not get
themselves in bad home improvement situations.
Then I guess we need to put the blame on the government for making
it too easy for someone, who has no ethics or skills, to do home
improvement work. There are still some states that do not have
licensing for people doing home improvements. In some states, that
do have licensing, licenses are issued without the applicant needing
to demonstrate any type of competence in home improvement work. This
is like giving out a driver's license without taking a road test.
Crazy hah?
Maybe we should put some of the blame on the influx of home
improvement shows we find on television. These shows usually fail to
mention how not to get involved in a poor home improvement
situation. Most of these shows tend to unrealistically glorify the
home improvement project as being easy to do with nothing ever going
wrong. The last time I looked nothing ever goes perfect including
home improvement projects.
My theory is that there is plenty of blame to go around when it
comes to problems with completing home improvement projects. From
being in the home improvement industry for so many years I have
learned the best way for homeowners to avoid the bad situations are
to become educated. The faster the education process the more likely
the homeowner will become involved in the process.
To do a home improvement project correctly you need to follow five
(5) steps. These steps are:
1. Define your project based on your needs, finances and
structural constraints.
2. Determine who can complete the project.
3. Evaluate perspective candidates (including yourself) who you
may want to use to complete the project.
4. Prepare a contract that is "thorough" and protects you from
poor home improvement situations.
5. Completing certain tasks when the project is being built.
These five steps seem relatively easy to understand but it's
the "particulars" (exactly what to say and do) of each step where
most people fall short. These particulars are what will make or
break your project.
Since I retired from the home improvement industry two (2) years ago
I decided it was time to stop worrying about who or what to blame
about the constant wave of home improvement complaints and to put
together a way for homeowners to fight back and get educated
quickly. This is why I founded The Home Improvement Success Club of
America ™ at www.homeimprovementsuccess.com. This is a one-of-a-kind
National Club that guides people on how to get high quality problem
free home improvement results. Membership to this club includes The
Home Improvement Success System, a complete home improvement system
that details all the steps and "particulars" you can use with any
project. Your club membership also includes a web forum to ask
questions, phone consultations, monthly newsletter, teleseminars,
teleclasses and written evaluations of member estimates/ contracts.
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