Kitchen Sync

Managing Expectations: Stealth costs

What I want to share with you today is one of the biggest enthusiasm-killers to any project, the shock you get when what you had in your mind doesn’t match up with the actual costs. I’m not talking about when you first start your research, although many of you have emailed with your disappointments. I hear you.

What I’m talking about is additions either during the selection process or during the project. You know the type – you decide to add can lighting to your kitchen. You went online to a box store, added the cost of 4 can lights, 4x $ 20.00 per can (and you weren’t in California where you needed fluorescents at 4 times the cost.)  You’re thinking $ 80.00, maybe $ 100.00.

You get the bill or change order for $ 900.00.

“What?!?” you say. “Wait a minute, I’m not paying for this! It should have cost 1/8th of that.” Now you’re steaming mad, refuse to pay, hop on the internets and blast your contractor for being a crook.

Hold on. Yes, your contractor was wrong, but not for the reason you think.

One of the biggest common failings in our industry is that we have a tendancy to assume you all automatically know what we do AND how we do it. *scratch head*  I don’t know why, but we figure just by talking to us, you have somehow absorbed every aspect of our business. Silly, isn’t it? Then we end up all shocked that you would be shocked, because we actually gave you a discount even though we had to drop everything else to accommodate this last minute change and it put us a day behind at another job and now our other client is upset.

Hurt feelings all around, but really?  That’s our fault. We need to step it up and recognize no, you don’t know:

• the cans you saw online – that $ 20.00 is just for the trim. They need housing and assembly which costs extra. The bulbs are also on top of this. New price: $ 38.00
• the housing looks like this:
• 
• the sheetrock and/or plaster has to be cut for 4 boxes. The ceiling joists weren’t in the right spot and the contractor had to add some framing in the ceiling so that the lights would line up exactly where you want them
• the sheetrock also had to be cut out on the wall for the light switch
• somebody had to go pick up the lights (and Murphy’s Law being what it is, the store was out of stock and there was an extra 1/2 hour drive to another store for pickup. You probably weren’t charged for the extra trip, but when you ask why it’s taking so long, that’s one of the time-killers on any job.)
• you forgot to add in the 2 hours of electrician’s time
• the electrician found a wiring mess buried in the insulation and had to repair it
• someone had to repair the sheetrock
• someone else had to paint the ceiling. If it’s done properly, the entire ceiling was painted, not just 4 small patches(Sometimes it’s more labor taping around a patch then spraying the entire ceiling)
• the mess of sheetrock, insulation bits, and wiring had to be cleaned up

Knowing what’s involved is a big step towards understanding.  Repeat after me: Failed expectations are the sole cause of anger. Ommm.  *grin*

The last few years, I’ve taken time to explain where the costs come from and if I can, in the early stages, so that the adjustments for both budget and expectations can be made. Sure, I still have clients say: “I had no idea there was so much to this”, but at least they didn’t have any surprises.

And that’s my 2 cents for the day.

Julia Child's kitchen yesterday and today

(Photo: Sony Pictures)

 Like many of you, I can't wait to see "Julie and Julia".  I grew up with French cooking, with butter and cream and gallons of wine tossed in a pot. So along comes a movie with all these great dishes that changed the rules of American cooking, and Meryl Streep thrown in for the win. Woo! Toss me in the pot and call me done.

Of course, it wouldn't be half as fun without the added bonus of talking with other designers about the kitchen too.

Design links

A belated Happy 4th for my American readers.

In between my work (I'm playing catch-up; it's a perfect foggy morning for it) and typical weekend errands, I thought you might enjoy the following links.

VACATION TIME

From Tiny House Blog, a site devoted exclusively to smaller homes, (who in turn, found it from Materialicious, a blog on all things housing), the Carré d’étoiles Cube from France, a solution for vacation housing for France and eventually Europe. Check out the website here. Now if we could get it on wheels...

  
(Photos: Carré d’étoiles via Tiny House)

The return of Classicism

Classicism - imitation of Greek and Roman antiquity in all forms from art to architecture.Typical classic design is based on proportion and symmetry.

Here's a little trick I learned early on in my career: if you want to see what the future trends and colors are, check out the new stores or recent remodels of the big chains, whether they're furniture or restaurant-based.  It's a cheap way for the rest of us, from homebuilders to designers to homeowners, to find out what's current or what will be current. Check out any new remodelled Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Starbucks, Crate-and-Barrel, and even to a lesser extent, McDonalds, and you'll get a pretty good idea. 

Here's the reason why: these companies pay big - and I mean BIG - bucks on reasearch and marketing to discover what people will buy.  They can't afford to have items clients won't purchase or stores that people won't go into, and when your stores cover most of the continent, you have to get it right from the beginning.

For the past couple of years, I've watched Classicism make a very quiet comeback - a  re-interpretation of turn-of-the-century British and American Colonial. The fluted columns and arches of the Roman and Greek architecture haven't really returned - that's mostly over except in existing antique furniture and some very sad choices in overwrought "Tuscan" homebuilding. No, this is a cleaner transition with a slight nod to Art Nouveau that dovetails nicely between Shaker and Contemporary.

Case in point: Kraftmaid, one of the bigger -- if not biggest semi-custom cabinet manufacturers -- in North America.  Like them or hate them, their marketing department is a force to be reckoned with. I figure their market research studies must number into the high six-figures. They're not going to re-tool the factory and spend millions of dollars without determining whether something will sell - they can't afford to.

Hence the new line that made its debut last year: "Eternally Classic - a blend of American Colonial to Classic Greek design."

Never mind the island - note the twist on the mullion doors:

Sunday design musings...

So, I stopped by Old House Web blog a couple of days ago. Nice, if somewhat brief, articles for the D-I-Ys. 

Their latest post discusses how it's a good time to remodel.

~ * ~

Since we're on the topic of old homes, let's continue. I've been fascinated lately by the Victorian floor tile restoration in the U.K. From about 1870 to 1910, there was a fashion for geometric floor tiles. (Well, it dates back to earlier times, but work with me for the purposes of discussion here.)  Private homes, churches, Victorian baths were laid with tiles rich in greens and golds and blacks and wines and whatever anyone could think of. Then, somewhere in the 1950s-1970s, they went out of style and with the exception of some of the churches, many were covered up.

Then fast forward to the past 15 years for so, and a new generation of homeowners are finding them buried under layers of linoleum and restoring them, much in the same way the do-it-yourself-ers restored the old Victorians in San Francisco.

  

(Photo credits: Building conservation website)

Feeling good about home design

 

I'm perhaps a bit too fond of saying, "Home design isn't about the materials, it's about how it makes you feel."

Now,  I know you practical readers out there are giving me the hairy eyeball.  "Getting a tad New Age-y there, Sparky. It's about safety and ergonomics and practicality andandand...remember?"

That's a part of it, sure, but Sparky here'll stick to her guns.

The real reason you build and/or remodel is to feel good - to have a piece of the world that is solely yours, which cocoons you from the outside world and states, "This is me!"

Of course, some of you wouldn't call it emotion, you'd label it logic, like my very practical-minded financial client. He just selected a Wolf range, (keep in mind, he's not into gourmet cooking), and his satisfaction this past weekend was palpable. He says he picked the range for the quality and durability. I say it made him feel good because it was consistent with his ideas.

Funny thing, that logic. *cough*

Designing Your Dream Home - Reviewed

I should point out for disclosure purposes that Susan Lang, the author of Designing Your Dream Home, was kind enough to send me a copy of her latest book well over a month ago without any requests for review, but I was impressed enough to do one anyway.

For those of you considering a new home, whether building or buying, this may be the book for you.