All the Work and No TRADES...

This week, we are taking a hard look at what's happening in the construction industry...side note we are on a mission to flip that industry upside down every which way to Sunday.

I'm sure you've heard it several times now...

"Sorry the project's delayed due to the labor shortage," or "The groundbreaking on your new house build is now going to be August of 2023 instead of August 2022."

While we believe what is happening is definitely tied into the great realignment, it also goes deeper than that. It's not just that everyone decided to be woke during the pandemic and figure out what they really wanted to do in the careers and time and jumped ship from toxic employers.

How many of you were encouraged to go to trade schools instead of university? Or encouraged your kids to go to trades schools back in the 90s/early 2000s? I am 100% a product of the "Go to college" route. And while I feel it lead me to the path I'm on now, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I would have picked a trade or vocational training to pursue?

Did you know....

...there were over 800,000 new home builds sold nationwide in September 2021? Or that the construction industry is projected to grow by 7% between now and 2030?

So what IS contributing to this "labor shortage" and how do we fix it?

We believe it's a combination of: Lack of skilled trades, toxic company environments, and low pay for their teams, along with the massive growth more suburban areas are seeing.

We know it's a tough market, projects are delayed and backed up. The current average wait times for home renovation projects to start? 6-9 months. Right now, on average, we are scheduling projects to begin as far out as January 2023. I can't even get a contractor to put me on their cancelation list because their waitlist for that is already full.

With that being said, know that we are here to help mitigate the labor shortage challenges to the best of our ability. We strive to work with contractors who have clarity around communication in their business and the right teams in place, no underdog tricks with hiding numbers in their budgets, confidence knowing they are trustworthy and aren't going to cut corners. And we look for contractors who will see the project through to completion and not leave you hanging.

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Do you have an upcoming project? We would love to talk with you about how we can help manage the details of that project. Schedule a free project call with us today!

PS.. next week we will take a break from our blog.. in observance of the 4th of July Holiday. We 100% embrace a family time here at Sonder Luxe Solutions and do our best to give ourselves and our team that balance between work and home life.

How to prep for Home Remodel Project

Home remodel projects should be fun. They shouldn't be a headache. But they also take some planning and preparation. Unless you're fully doing the all the work yourself (Which we don't recommend for the every day homeowner), coordinating a renovation project and having it organized from the get go can help mitigate costs, labor issues, scope creep and delays.

After your project is all done, you want to sit back and be able to enjoy it. Here are our top10 tips/checklist to help prep for the journey and help your project stay on time and budget.

1. Take before pictures.

2. List out all the updates you want to add to the space.

3. Create a board in Pinterest or other design boards to keep all your ideas.

4. Think about the best time of year for the project. For example plan to paint or refinish your walls when there is less rain and humidity in the air.

5. Schedule large renovations around your vacation schedule, are you ok going down to one bathroom for a month or 2 while it gets renovated? What about cooking and utilizing your kitchen, it won't be accessible when completely overhauling it.

6. Allow plenty of extra time for shipping. The supply chain issues and labor shortages are a big issue slowing down projects left and right. Make sure you add extra time allotments to the timeline of your project.

7. Consult with a construction loan program if you don't have the funds saved up, you may actually have hidden equity you aren't aware of.

8. Budget an extra 10% for contingencies and unforeseen issues that may arise.

9. Create a space for everything that revolves around the project. Be it a digital folder on google, or hard copy folder, have one designated space to keep it organized.

10. Get a minimum of 3 bids/quotes from 3 different general contractors or sub contractors before beginning the project. Even if you have a contractor you want to use, make sure their pricing is inline with the market and you aren't being price gouged.

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If you've checked all these off your list then you're ready to start your project.

Like our content? Schedule your free project call today.

Lucy Moments

What do you call your mistakes? Let's be honest we all make them. We are all human and mistakes are a natural part of life. It is impossible to maintain perfection 100% of the time.

I call my mistakes Lucy Moments. Yes I named my mistakes after Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy.

Why?

I've learned over the years that I can either laugh at my mistakes and use them to grow, or I can get hung up on my mistakes and lack of perfection and allow them to run my life.

When looking for people, vendors, contractors to work with, I tend to gravitate towards those that can own their mistakes and have a laugh about it.

I'm going to let you in on a pretty defining moment in my life where I had a big "Lucy Moment" aka mistake.

Many years ago when I worked for a plumbing company it was my duty to do the initial intake for customers and schedule their appointments. This customer wanted to replace her existing water heater with a larger 75g one. I took the call, schedule the appointment dispatched the plumbers etc. But I forgot to ask one very important question: What was the space size for where her new water heater was going to go? Uh Oh!

Fast forward to the plumbers arriving, and try as hard as they could but the 75g tank wouldn't fit. They had to go back to the shop pick up the smaller tank, try and return the 75g one, haul it back and then do the install.

This Lucy moment of mine ended up costing the company money, time, materials, and got me in hot water with the boss. Yikes!

But from this I also learned valuable lessons:

1. Being thorough and asking all the questions from the beginning could have saved me time and the company money.

2. I can honestly say I've NEVER made that mistake again. I stick to the measure 2x cut or install once method.

3. I actually have a pretty valuable tribe of Ethel's backing me up, encouraging me, and in some instances making these Lucy moments happen right along side me and learning with me.

You might be surprised to know, but I am on good terms with that customer and still keep in contact with her to this day and we still have a chuckle about this incident.

So what do you call your mistakes and are you ready to avoid some costly ones in your project? Schedule a free project call today Let us know in the comments.