Many people, in their over enthusiasm to jump start the renovation, plunged head on into the process without a proper plan. This is hardly recommended, especially for people who are new to renovation.

“Why?” Some of you might wonder, “So what is the big deal of having a renovation plan?”

Well, a good renovation plan prevents cost over-run and delays. It even makes sure that the renovation work delivered by the Contractor or ID is of certain quality standards.

On the other hand, some of you do believe in having a renovation plan, but have mistakenly thought that the contractor or ID whom you have employed, will have a renovation plan.

Unfortunately, most contractors or IDs' idea of a renovation plan is very loosely defined, with them paying more attention to their payment milestones instead of ensuring that their work will be completed within the given budget, quality standards or on time. This is simply because Contractors and ID firms are profit driven. In fact, they are most certainly glad to persuade you to spend more on additional fixtures and renovation works which you have not planned for.

Furthermore, some unscrupulous Contractors or IDs might even “accidentally” leave out certain scope of work so as to “meet” your budget during the initial contract discussion, only to have them discretely added into the renovation works much later on.

On other hand, popular contractors and ID firms might have to extend the given renovation timeline due to the over-whelming number of renovation projects at hand.

Thus, a well thought out renovation plan should be able to help to prevent cost over-runs and delays.

In actual fact, it is interesting to note that renovation contractor and ID firms love to highlight the design skills that their contractors and IDs are capable of producing. Just take a walk around and you will notice a thick catalog full of photos and pictures depicting home design belonging to their past clients.  

Some companies went as far as saying that their company is ISO 9000/9001 certified; which by the way simply means that their company has been audited that they have the proper paper work and procedures in place. This has very little or no relation to whatever they are capable of completing the renovation works to your satisfaction. However, you can take comfort that at least companies with ISO 9001 certification will have a proper complaint procedure.

In addition, I observed none of the Contractor or ID forms highlight that they are capable of deploying successful renovation projects; which means meeting the key performance indicators (K.P.I). These targets should include completing the renovation project:

1)      Within budget;

2)      Within timeline;

3)      Meeting the Requirements and Scope (i.e. design, look and feel of the home interiors);

4)      Meeting Quality Standards and

5)      Meeting Customer Expectations and Satisfaction.

 

These are essential key indicators of a successful renovation project deployment.

In the IT industry, people handing IT projects are expected to be PMI PMP (Project Management Process) certified. Unfortunately, in the Renovation industry these Contractors and IDs are not expected to undergo similar certification. So, how do they learn to manage a renovation project? The more fortunate ones have an experienced “Shi-fu” aka Master whom they can learn from while the rest learn through trial and errors on their own.  

However fret not, there are some good project management practices which you can use in managing your renovation project and ensure that your contractor and ID are on the right track.

I will cover these practices in my subsequent posts. :)