The Low-Stress Home Renovation

Plan for Delays

If your contractor says a project will take three months, plan for it to take six, Dr. Wish says. If you are renting a place while your house is being worked on, get a month-to-month lease that won’t have you forced out the door before your home is ready.

Moving out of the home while it’s being renovated can also speed the process. This is especially true if by being there, you are limiting your contractor’s access to the home. “A family might not want repairs done on Fridays, or they only let us work after 10 a.m. when the kids have left for school,” Christenbury says, adding that those limitations can delay a project.

Another way to avoid the stress of delays is to make sure you are not a cause of the problem. Paint colors, plumbing fixtures and cabinet styles are all decisions you should make before the construction even starts. That way, supplies can be ordered in advance, reducing the chance that shipping and inventory problems will delay your project.

Any home improvement project, no matter the scale, is going to come with its own surprises and challenges. But preparing yourself mentally and being organized from the get-go can ensure that you end the process more in love with your home than when you started.