A Christmas remodeling miracle
Working with remodelers I often hear stories of woe. Difficulties meeting project deadlines because of various reasons include weather, delays in getting materials or homeowner changes to the original plan. However, it is rare to hear of a perfect project.
Will Cole, owner of Divine Renovation, recounts a Christmas miracle that occurred in November 2017.
“I was asked to renovate two multiple occupant restrooms inside a large church on Westheimer Road. The bathrooms were standard commercial bathrooms and the renovation would require multiple fixtures, new tile, partitions, countertops, custom mirrors and more.
We made a proposal which they agreed to with one caveat, the bathrooms needed to be completed before their holiday party that was taking place in approximately 30 days. My response to them was,
“Completing this before your party will take a miracle; however, this is Christmas and you are in the business of miracles so ask your boss.”
After a short pause they said, “Yes let’s do it!” To which I responded, “Ok, but no promises.”
So the race was on to renovate two commercial bathrooms, inside an operational church. This would take a sizable bit of demolition, new cabinets, granite countertops, tile, fixtures, dividers, four sinks, four toilets, two urinals and a partridge in a pear tree. Careful planning and quick thinking were in order.
Typically, a well-run improvement project starts weeks before the first nail is driven, and we were on a very tight deadline.
We met with our church contact and their designer and planned everything down to the smallest detail,
including fixtures, paint colors and other materials. Not to mention we even verified all the selections were immediately available.
They say the devil is in the details, so we had to carefully check every item to make sure what was ordered, actually came in; otherwise, something may not fit or match. In addition, we had to make sure the correct amounts of each item were received as well.
To pull this off everything needed to go perfectly without a day of delay for rain, materials, sick employees, etc. In short … a miracle. Needless to say, we made all our lists and checked them twice.
The conclusion
“Would you believe we finished a day early? To this day I still believe it truly was a Christmas miracle.”
This story interested me because of its emphasis on the importance of careful planning to get the job done and how a can-do attitude contributes to a successful remodeling project. Cole was recently installed as the 2020 president of the Remodelers Council of the Greater Houston Builders Association.
This article was provided by a member of the Remodelers
Council of the Greater Houston Builders Association. The Remodelers Council is dedicated to promoting professionalism and public awareness of the remodeling profession through education, certification and service to the Houston community. To reach the author directly, email info@divinerenovation.com. For information on this article, please contact Lorraine Hart at lorraine@idealconsulting.net. To join the council or to find a professional remodeler in your area, please visit www.ghba.org.