Oct. 15, 2021 / 4pm / Zoom
Interview Questions:
- What are your feelings towards remodeling projects?
- What is the hardest thing about planning and envisioning a remodel?
- Why was this hard?
- What if anything have you done to overcome this problem?
- What don’t you love about the solutions that you have already tried
Responses/Notes
What are your feelings towards remodeling projects? Happy
- 1 year planning
- 3-4 instances of back and forth with the builder
- Charged for change orders that though were included
What is the hardest thing about planning and envisioning a remodel?
- Cannot visualize how the space will look
- Open floor plan
- Architect drew the plans with symmetry in mind and added a wall which closed the space
- Builder could have guided him and told him how that was going to affect the openness
- Took a lot of sweat
- Told builder what he wanted
- Builder provided sections for appliances, plumbing, etc. and corresponding prices
- 10 sections with 3 subsections
Why was this hard?
- Went to preliminary shopping, countertops, etc.
- Will these things go together? Countertop, appliances etc.
- He did not understand the drawings, example landscape
- Sod was not included for the backyard
- Gained understanding and clarity in ideas as the project progress and home was built
- Issue is the design and communication
- “It is not a 3d model” “I get it but not get it”
What if anything have you done to overcome this problem?
- Went everyday to see the jobsite
- Builder used Builder Trend to manage and communicate the project
- Spent 1 year researching on Pinterest photos, library for architect books
- Went to Ferguson, Progressive, and other suppliers to see and select fixtures
- Learned from the retail staff
- Spent at least ½ day at the stores looking at items
What don’t you love about the solutions that you have already tried?
- Required a lot of work
- Needed guidance
Summary
- Emotions: Happy with overall results but some tense moments during project
- Values: Openness and Usefulness of living space
- What is the user trying to do: Build a custom home
- Current solutions: Research for 1 year online and in the library, visit stores for items selection
- Deficiencies of current solutions: Time spent on selecting, not sure if the items selected went together, required a lot of effort.
- Typical source of advice/knowledge: Pinterest, Builder, Suppliers/vendors
- Other pertinent information: Charged extra for changes that were assumed to be included