These home restoration tips will help you avoid time-sucking delays and help you keep your sanity.
Irma has come and gone, but is your home back to normal? Like natural disasters, unexpected disasters can cause frustrating and lengthy delays. What potential delays await?
Here’s a list of common delays and mistakes homeowners often make.
Home Restoration Mistake 1: Getting the Wrong Contractor
If your home was damaged in Irma, you should first contact your insurance so that an adjuster can determine funds you will receive. The next step is to choose who will make your home repairs. Choosing wrong can be costly.
Tips to find the right Miami contractor:
- Get Multiple Bids
- Use resources like Angie’s List, Porch, or Thumbtack
- Check local homebuilder associations, plus the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry
- Get References – Always ask to speak to prior clients and ask if your contractor (preferably local) has hurricane experience or experience performing your exact repair.
You can find FEMA’s Resources for Smart Rebuilding After Hurricane Irma HERE.
Home Restoration Mistake 2: Indecision
Every cloud has a silver lining, so maybe I’ll go with a new roof tile since I have to repair my roof anyway. In these days of Pinterest and HGTV we are bombarded with options.
Treat design plans as firm. Once your project is started take a break from Pinterest and all those home design shows. If you don’t you may find yourself weeks behind schedule with workers waiting for you to decide.
Home Restoration Mistake 3: Shipping Delays
When creating a time line, be specific. Ask your contractor or vendor how much time it will take for materials to ship. Many home remodels simply allot installation time without considering how long that piece of granite will take to ship.
One way to get around this is to order materials ahead of time. Schedule contractors to start AFTER that date. That way you can avoid having workers to install your new roof tiles and appliances without actually having the tiles.
Also, test materials (paint, tile, wood etc.). Don’t find yourself second guessing your choices. If replacing cabinets, a 3″x3″ sample doesn’t suffice.Get an entire cabinet door! If replacing roof tiles, stack and live with them for a week before pulling the trigger.
Home Restoration Mistake 4: Permits
This one is a no brainer, but worth repeating. Make sure your contractor is pulling the right permits. You may want to give your local building department a call to ensure you’ve pulled all the permits you need (Miami-Dade permit office can be contacted HERE.
Remember to budget time for inspection. This will help you avoid months of inspections and repairs.
Home Restoration Mistake 5: Living in a Disaster
You survived a natural disaster simply to live in a disaster of your own making. Dust everywhere, living in plastic, with living spaces becoming overpriced storage space.
Disorganization will rob you of time (and your sanity). Get a strategy for removing things that need a new home while construction is happening. Local companies like Stow Simple can help by providing heavy-duty bins, storage pickup and delivery from $30 a month.
