Bathroom Remodeling Your Project Management Options

Bathroom Remodeling Your Project Management Options

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Managing your bathroom redesign project

This is the tale of an acquaintance of mine who decided to handle the project management of her bathroom remodel by herself. She's a teacher and is very organised. She also has more opportunity to be at home than most of us so she was well placed to tackle the project, or so she thought.

Before she started hiring contractors my friend made sure that she was quite clear in her mind about what it was she wanted. She found all the best prices for the stuff she wanted to use then she drew careful scale drawings on graph paper square to make sure that it would all fit ok and to give her something to help explain the remodeling project to the contractors.

Listing the jobs to be performed in the bathroom remodel.

Here is the list my friend made to make sure that she didn't forget any of the tasks that needed to be done:

* Remove existing bathroom fixtures.
* Legal requirements compliance.
* Design and styling of the bathroom.
* Walls, widows and other major building tasks.
* Interior walls finishing.
* Install plumbing.
* Install electrical appliances and wiring.
* New bathroom fixtures fitting.
* Wall tiling.
* Flooring.
* Remedial work.

Now that she had a task list she was in a position to identify the skills that her contractors would need to finish the job. So she made another list.

Skill requirements for bathroom remodeling

* Electrician
* Carpenter
* Plasterer
* Builder
* Glazier
* Flooring specialist
* Plumber

She could see from this that she would have her work cut out for her just phoning around for a couple of days. She used the phone book and the Internet to look for suitable workers to do the job. Then she visited her local bathroom showrooms and asked the staff if they could recommend anyone. This strategy turned out to be the best way to find good people to do the job as often the staff had personal contact with the contractors. She also obtained a few leads from friends who had recently remodeled their bathrooms.

The project management begins

Making a project plan was the next thing to do and this is where it began to get difficult. Because there were so many workers involved it wasn't easy to get everyone to agree to do things when my friend wanted them to do it. She wanted to get the project finished during the school holidays when she would have more time to help but many of the contractors also had children and they wanted to go on holiday at that time.

My friend managed to produce a project plan in the end that everyone could agree to and she thought that she had done very well. She was pleased with herself for that but I'm afraid that it was the last time that she felt she was able to do that.

The problems had started

The new stuff didn't arrive on time and the contractors that did arrive on time to fit it all had to be sent away. They weren't able to come back at the time when my friend needed them to. She was left without a bathroom and a remodeling project going nowhere and this was just the beginning.

Project management is much more difficult than it seems

If it could have gone wrong then it did. Or at least that's how it appeared to my friend. The bathtub was cracked and it had to be returned. They couldn't get another one for 4 weeks! The shower didn't work and the manufacturers had to fix it. The painter managed to flood the place and destroy the ceiling below.

There was no light at the end of the tunnel for weeks and what should have been a two week remodeling project turned into a hard three month long slog. My friend swore that she would never do it again.

Hire a project manager to do the job for you

If you've never done any project management before then think twice about managing the project yourself. Ask yourself whether you have the necessary skills, plenty of time and have enthusiasm in abundance. If you don't have all of these attributes then you should consider hiring a project manager to control your bathroom-remodeling project. If you still want to get involved in some way then pick a task that you feel confident in handling like painting for instance.

About the Author:
Discover your options bathroom remodeling and project management at http://www.bathroomsremodeling.this-info.com



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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