Are you thinking of renovating your house and you realize you don’t have the time or expertise to go the "DIY" ("Do It Yourself") route? This puts you in the majority and it’s likely that your most viable option is to hire a contractor to do the work for you. At this point a lot of questions arise:

Are the Contractor Horror Stories You Always Hear about True?

Undoubtedly you have heard horror stories of homeowners who have gone through this process. Unfortunately most of those stories are in large part true.

Can Contractor Related Problems Be Avoided?

It is without question that many, if not most of the problems, hassles and "nightmarish" results you hear about can indeed be avoided.

If These Problems Can be Avoided, Why Do They Occur Over and Over Again? The most simplistic answer is this: What you don’t know CAN hurt you! Lack of knowledge about what to expect and how to maintain a degree of control over what is going to happen is the primary cause of these situations. If you have never been through the process, how indeed would you know what to expect? Indeed, how would you even have a clue what could go wrong?

Is There a Foolproof Method to Help You Avoid These Problems?

Unfortunately the answer is simply "No". There is not a foolproof way. There are, however, ways to help you minimize them.

Can a Home Renovation Project Be a Pleasant Experience?

Is there a way to have a pleasant, positive and productive experience with a project involving renovating your own home while you are living in it? It is perhaps possible but certainly not likely. With little question you will, at the very least, be very much inconvenienced. At the worst your ‘normal life’ will be disrupted in ways you can most likely not even predict. There are, of course, exceptions but those are very rare indeed.

Murphy’s Law ("Whatever Can Go Wrong Will Go Wrong")

Is there a way to keep "Murphy" of the infamous "Murphy’s Law" away from your project? Not a chance! Murphy simply has to be acknowledged, accepted as a fact of life and dealt with. You can, however, minimize Murphy’s effectiveness. You can do that simply by gaining knowledge. It is important to understand that Murphy thrives on lack of knowledge.

If I Can’t Avoid The Problems, Can I Control Them ?

Is there a way to minimize the hassles, cost overruns and other problems inherent in home renovations? Absolutely. Cover your bases, do everything in writing, check out the "players" carefully and spell out everyone’s obligations. Agree in writing to what each involved party agrees to do.

At this point you might ask "How Can I Do That?"

On the surface that sounds easy…..Simply stated, get some guidance and advice from someone who has "been there and done that". Take advantage of mistakes made by those who have lived through "the good, the bad and the ugly" of working with contractors on home renovations and other projects. Mistakes are wonderful things if you learn from them.