Home renovations can be massive undertakings. And when you renovate more than one room at a time, it can be an even bigger challenge for homeowners. This makes it especially important for remodeling companies to ensure communications with their customers are clear, concise and stress-free.
Charleene’s Houses’LLC recently finished renovating the second floor in the home of a family of five. This included four bedrooms and two bathrooms. These clients wanted more rooms for their kids and guests, and desired additional bathrooms. Now, each of their children has their own bathroom, as well as an additional small room for an office. Having three of four bedrooms inaccessible can be stressful, especially for kids. This smart family made a plan in advance to help ensure a smoother process, and we kept the lines of communication open on a daily basis.
Bedroom Remodel Details
We began this home addition in November of last year, and completed it about five months later in April 2022 . At our first meeting, our clients showed us a sketch of how they desired their space to work. Working off of that sketch, this project involved removing the left side of the front roof and adding four bedrooms and two bathrooms, with hardwood floors throughout.
When renovating your home, it’s important to understand the stress it can bring. Not only is it difficult to see the space changing so drastically throughout the process, but you often lose access to a particular area of your home. This is usually one of most-used spaces, as the most common rooms clients choose to renovate are their bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens.
During this particular renovation, this family of five lost access to all of their bedrooms except for the master. Thankfully, they were incredibly organized and had created a plan prior to the beginning of the project — I highly recommend doing this if you can. Part of their plan included putting mattresses on the floor and nightstands in their living room for their two boys. But the kids still slept in the master bedroom with mom and dad sometimes. Their dressers and furniture had to be taken out of their rooms and were stored in the hallway, creating a narrow walkway. On top of the dressers, they put any linens and possessions they would need regular access to in labeled boxes. Anything else that was in their bedrooms that they wouldn’t need to access every day was stored in the basement in labeled boxes.
This plan allowed them to stay as organized as possible during their home renovation, and the kids actually enjoyed it. They felt like they were camping and never got to a point where it was tiresome.
Finding the Right Company
This family had undergone a home renovation in the past, but it was a negative experience for them due mostly to the lack of communication. They heard about the company they had used, which has since gone out of business, in Baltimore magazine.
There’s a lot that goes into renovating your home, and that includes paperwork and agreements. Because it was their first time, these clients didn’t really understand agreements at the time, or their importance. Part of the importance of agreements is that they allow the clients and the company providing the service to agree upon a date of completion for their project. But they hadn’t done so with this previous company. Because of this, their renovation took three times as long to finish, and they had to fight to even get it finished at all. The company also lacked communication with their clients. This meant they often didn’t know when anyone would show up to do the work. All of these things can add unnecessary stress to an already stressful project.
When it came time to do another renovation, they knew they needed to do their research in finding the right company for their needs. This time around, they searched www.houzz.com and found Charleene’s Houses LLC. They were pleased with our reviews and photos and decided to give us a call. When I asked them how their experience with Charleene’s Houses compared to the last company they worked with, they shared that they couldn’t have been happier — that the experience was “many, many times better.”
These clients liked how we protected their space while working, such as using dust covers and floor protectors. When we come into someone else’s home for such a major project, it’s important for us to make sure we treat their space with respect and ensure the areas not being renovated remain intact. Something that many clients find comfort in as well, is that I have had a long relationship with my sub- contractors. This makes every part of what we do easier. We communicate regularly, often daily, which allows us the ability to know exactly what to expect from each other. With this mentality, our clients know what to expect from us as well. We’re respectful of our clients’ time and make sure that people are working when they say they will be. We try not to work on the weekends, but sometimes this is necessary to stay on schedule — we take our deadlines very seriously. Whenever this happens, we always contact our clients to make sure it’s okay.
Charleene’s Houses LLC is not just a remodeling company. We like to think of ourselves as a one-stop-shop design-build firm. This allows us to simplify an otherwise stressful process for clients, and even save them time and money. If you’re looking to take on a new renovation, whether you’ve had a bad experience in the past or it’s your first home renovation, Charleene’s Houses LLC will do everything we can to help keep your stress levels low and always have an open line of communication. Give us a call today, at 443-797-2813, to get started!
