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Triple master contractor Ed Del Grande
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By Ed Del Grande
The best part for me about writing this home improvement column is getting to hear all the stories that you (our readers) send me on a daily basis. One topic that comes up all the time is how easy it is to lose control of a large home improvement project and what can be done to prevent that from happening. I never could relate to how a homeowner could lose control of a project, since the process is usually a slow one. Also, in my 30 years as a professional contractor I ran jobs every day and never let one get the best of me. When I built my own home 20 years ago, I applied my usual contracting methods, and the entire process went according to plan.
So I never understood how someone could lose control over a major home improvement project — until now, because recently I nearly fell into that trap. I built my home at the height of my professional contracting career. I did my paid jobs all day, and I spent nights and weekends building my own house. Because I worked on my house every single day from start to finish, this job (like all my previous jobs) received my full attention, and I had complete control over the building process. Before I knew it everything fell into place and my house was finished as easily as one of my paid projects.
Cut to 20 years later. I'm not on construction sites every day like I was years ago. Nowadays I'm lucky enough to travel the country with a new book to promote, syndicated newspaper columns to write, TV and radio appearances and live speaking events, all to educate homeowners and contractors on a topic that I devoted my life to: home improvement. My work now is a long way from my every day on-the-job construction site roots.
But my love for hands-on construction hasn't stopped, and earlier this year I decided to build two additions to my home: a mud room area and a home office. No big deal in my mind, or so I thought when I took out the permit. Since I'm on the road constantly, the big change for me was only getting a day or two here and there to do my work or line up subs. Sometimes weeks passed between the days I could actually work on the projects.
Now, with the limited time I had, my major home improvement project did not get my full attention — and I had two additions going at once. I felt as if everything was out of control and nothing was getting done. For the first time in my building career, I understood what many of my readers were going through. This was a humbling lesson for me.
My solution to this mess was to take a breath and follow my own advice that I wrote in the book: "Focus on one small task at a time and do nothing else until that task is completed, then move on to another small task." Sounds simple, but if you lose sight of that goal, you will lose control of your large project.
My first step was to stop all work on the office and to devote all the time I had available to the mud room. Then I broke down the mud room into tiny projects that I could complete in one day. This is called true "step by step" buildin, and it works! Even though I still have a way to go before I can move on to the office addition, I'm no longer overwhelmed by the job, and I can see progress being made.
Today's goal? All I'm worried about is getting a cup of coffee and a gallon of interior paint so I can paint the mud room door, and that's it. Not a bad day!
Ed Del Grande was born and raised in a family-owned plumbing business. With more than 25 years of experience in every aspect of construction, he holds current Master licenses in pipefitting, fire protection and plumbing. If you have a question for Ed, send him an e-mail at eddelgrande@hgtvpro.com.
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