3 Kitchen Decisions to Make Before You Call a Contractor

I break down the three decisions that determine whether your first conversation with a kitchen contractor stays clear or spirals into confusion and change orders. I explain why contractors build the plan but usually do not design it, and how getting prepared first keeps your remodel on track.

• Why a contractor executes your plan rather than creates it
• Decision one setting a real budget number you can say out loud
• How vague budgets lead to blind bids and missed scope items
• Decision two separating needs from wants to protect function
• Using specific choices like lighting and flooring to define scope
• Decision three setting a realistic timeline and aligning expectations
• Why TV remodel timelines mislead and flexibility still matters

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Transcript

Three Decisions That Prevent Chaos

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There are exactly three decisions that decide whether your first conversation with your kitchen contractor goes smoothly or turns into confusion and change orders. And today I'm giving you all three. Plus, telling you exactly where you can work through them with me before you ever pick up the phone. Welcome to Design Your Home, the podcast that helps you design and decorate your home with confidence. I'm Sally Sorcelli, award-winning interior designer. Let's get started.

Contractors Build They Do Not Design

SPEAKER_00 0:59

A contractor executes your plan. They don't create it. They're not sitting down with you to pick out your countertop or figure out your layout or decide what cabinet paint finish is the right one or what color's gonna work right. That's not their job. Yes, some of them can guide you with layout issues or complications, but their specialty isn't designing your space. That's on you. So if you walk in without those decisions made, nobody's making them for you, and the project just stalls until you do. I have worked with many contractors over the years, and the majority of contractors fall into one of the two buckets. Those that are design savvy and have an eye for design and colors and materials, and then in the other bucket are those that don't. The majority of contractors I have worked with are better at implementing your design, but not designing it themselves. So they don't really have an eye, and they will say, Yeah, that looks good, but they really don't know that for sure. So what I think is difficult, and I see it happen is when clients who are second guessing or homeowners are second guessing what they want to do and they're not working with a designer, they ask the contractor who really isn't trained or skilled in that. What they are trained and skilled at is doing the construction and managing the trades. But getting their design opinion, that's a whole different story. On a rare occasion, when I get a contractor on a project who is really design savvy, it's a nice bonus because then I can bounce some ideas off of them. And I think they actually have a lot of great perspectives on things, but most of the time they want to stay in their lane, and I like to stay in mine and help my clients do the same thing. So not every contractor is going to want to be in the weeds with you picking things out. They are gonna want you to hurry up and make your decisions so they can do their job. So before you have a conversation with your contractor, we're gonna talk about those three decisions. I'm gonna give them plain and simple to you today. And then if you are going to want some help with some of these decisions, then stick around at the end of the episode. I'll share exactly how to do that before we wrap things up today. So let's get started with the first conversation and decision that you need to have with your contractor.

Decision One Name Your Budget

SPEAKER_00 3:53

It has to do with budgets. This one causes the most confusion in that first contractor conversation because without a real number, your contractor is pricing things blindly. And honestly, so are you. A range you're hoping stays true isn't a number. A number is something you could say out loud with confidence if they asked you right now. This is the type of thing I walk you through inside Kitchen Design Essentials. It's landing on a real number. And yes, there are some things that you might not know, like, hey, how much does it cost to install these countertops if I use material A over material B? And your contractor absolutely can help you with those costs. What they don't want to help you with is what I talked about a minute ago, which is, oh yeah, this is a prettier countertop that matches the cabinet colors you've done. But they absolutely can give you some costs about, hey, if you want to put a quartzite in versus a quartz or a granite in or a soap stone, they can give you those different costs because they know what it's like to work with those materials. They just can't tell you which is the prettiest one or the most suitable for the way you use your kitchen. So having a decision about your budget, it really is so important. And it is something that I always have to work with with my clients because and my students, because there are so many different categories of spending within a kitchen remodel from your appliances and materials and labor. So having an idea that you can at least give it doesn't have to be a perfect range. But if you go into your contractor and say, Well, I kind of want a mid-range kitchen, that's not enough to tell him or her what that means. Mid-range to you could be 20 to 50,000. Mid-range to a different contractor could be 50 to 150,000. So getting a narrow-down ballpark is a lot easier because if you just say, Oh, I I want to put a new kitchen in and you don't even factor in the different lighting needs, well, then the contractor's not putting it in your bid. And then when it comes time to do the work and you say, Well, wait a minute, what about the lighting? And we were moving the fridge, and the contractor didn't know that, that's when you end up getting into some debates and heated debates with your contractor because you have expectations that aren't meeting their expectations. So I can't stress enough that decision number one is getting a firmer ballpark budget to give to that contractor.

Decision Two Needs Versus Wants

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Decision number two, which is really important to share with your contractor, is what are your needs and your wants? Having a separate list of them is really important because without this, everything feels essential and must-have in the moment. And you end up spending your budget on all these wants before your needs are even covered. So a needs list is what the kitchen has to have to function for how you actually live. A wants list is everything else, and it's allowed to exist. And I hope you can do all of your wants. It just can't run the show because if you put this extravagant chandelier in your kitchen, but yet you didn't handle the janky electrical that's outdated, it's not gonna work. So essentially, the more details you can give your contractor, the better. Do you think you want two pendant lights or three? Are you wanting under cabinet lighting or not? Are you putting hardwood flooring or tile or LVP luxury vinyl planks? That changes the process, the order of operations, what type of materials? Because if you're doing hardwood floors, there's a whole different preparation and underlayment that goes on than if you're doing tile or LVP. All of this information helps give him or her an accurate scope of the work so they can give you a quote that will actually be realistic for your dream kitchen. Building this exact list of needs and wants and what you want in your kitchen is something that we do in Kitchen Design Essentials too. So you will walk in already knowing what's non-negotiable, have that design ready. Because the dream for any contractor is that you are going in there with all your decisions, all your materials, everything is ready, and they can tell you how much material you might need, but they're not waiting on your decisions because contractors, when they are working on projects, they are trying to manage multiple projects. Some do them simultaneously at the same time. Others have a small crew and they're working on different projects throughout the year. So they're trying to plug and play different contractors based on each project's needs. So if they know you're putting hardwood floors in, they'll get their hardwood floor crew at your house doing the prep, while at another house they might be sending their tile crew or their LVP crew. Having as much information as you possibly can and those needs and wants for your contractor will make a huge, huge difference. Moving

Decision Three Set A Real Timeline

SPEAKER_00 9:49

on to the third decision and conversation that you're going to have and need to have with your contractor, and that is having a realistic timeline expectation. What is your realistic timeline? This is one that can turn a good project into a frustrating one. Not because the timeline was wrong, but because nobody set one up before starting. And with a kitchen, tensions get high. In any kitchen remodel, when you are not living with a kitchen and you are getting takeout, you're washing your dishes in a bathroom sink or outside at the hose, it gets old fast. And when there are delays, people can justifiably get cranky. But again, if you don't have decisions dialed in and conversations with your contractor set up with clear expectations, this is where people get frustrated. I was recently working on a really large remodel in a home. It had six bathrooms, kitchen, laundry room, pantry, whole house flooring, you name it. The contractor is a large contractor who was doing multiple projects in multiple locations. And the clients were getting really frustrated, understandably, because things were taking a really long time. And I try to stay in my lane and respect contractor's work, but in this case, I felt the same way that why is this taking so long? Why is nobody here for weeks and weeks and weeks? I ended up taking some matters into my own hands and getting this calendar set up and kind of moving things along with the contractor. It was a little bristly for the contractor, wasn't super happy with that. But that's part of my job when I'm working with clients, is they bring me in and I want to deliver and make this process as smooth as possible for them. And so I had talked to the clients and said, look, I'm gonna have this conversation with the GC. I know you've been wanting to be involved, but I want to have some separately. And then I started getting this calendar and these other things that I do in with my clients and in my programs, and boom, things started rolling and happening. This was a case where timelines aren't being followed or expectations for timelines aren't being followed, it gets really frustrating. So when you go to work with a contractor and bring them in, you want to know and tell them when do you want to start? And then talking with your contractor about how long will this realistically take to finish. And I say realistically because if you are watching or have ever watched shows on HGTV or Netflix or any of these home design shows and before and afters, it's beautiful, they're fun to watch, but they omit so much of what happens under the hood, the length of time that things take. They give you a nice glossy finish of the process, but things can take much longer, lots of other decisions. So you really need to have a conversation and discussion about what is your timeline for you as the homeowner, what is the timeline for the contractor? Because they might be ready now, but you're really not ready. Or it's the reverse. You're ready, you've got all the materials picked out, you've even bought the materials. They are sitting in your garage, raring to go, but the contractor's not ready. So you don't want to start demo until it gets time because then it's just longer that you're sitting without a kitchen. Because the truth is, contractors have their own schedule that they're working around. You don't have control over that. They don't always have control over it. I always, when I'm working with client schedules, I will have things written down, but I always tell them these dates can change at any minute. Just because we think countertops are getting installed on this day doesn't guarantee that they will. Because if the contractor got delayed on another project or a different install, then they're not going to be at your house that day. Or if something was wrong with your install for your countertop, your cabinets, they might not be ready for countertops. Things have to happen in an order and being flexible about that timeline, but at the same time having clear expectations that look, we are available from this time to this time. What can we do to make things happen within this time? This is also something we work through in Kitchen Design Essentials because working with contractors, there's a whole module all about this with training because I never want a client to be mid-project wondering why nothing's on schedule. I want you to be in control of it, get it dialed in as much as I want to when I'm working with a client who has a general contractor. I want to stay in my lane and quote, do the designing. But when I see the timeline getting messed up and it's affecting my clients and my timeline, I am 100% going to get involved and there is no debate about that. And that's what I did with this project. The clients were so grateful because they were just getting so frustrated with the contractor that they chose and brought in. It wasn't one that I brought in. So I had to get in there and make sure things were going according to the plan. And I'm glad my clients were happy with it. Yes, it was extra work for me to do, but again, it's about getting the project right. And that's so important. And I want you to get your kitchen remodel right. And a

Recap Plus Free Live Training

SPEAKER_00 16:16

kitchen remodel that goes right doesn't start with a contractor call. It starts with three decisions that most people skip. And as a recap, those decisions are about your budget, your needs versus your wants, and your timeline. You can't go into these meetings being loosey-goosey without some of this, because what that's gonna do is your client, your contractor is not gonna take you seriously or take your project seriously. So they're gonna have you on the back burner when they know that you've got things done, that you're prepared, that you are serious, they will take you serious. And all three of these decisions, your budget, your needs versus wants, and your timeline belong on your side of the table before your contractor gets involved. And remember what I brought up in the very beginning. Contractors are not designers. I've worked with plenty over the years, and some on a rare occasion have a genuinely good eye, but a lot of them don't. And I'm not saying that to insult them. It's just not their strength, it's not their area of expertise. Their strength is bringing in and managing trades, knowing the building codes that are gonna keep you and your home safe, how to have the trades work to do things that are actually gonna build out your vision, which is exactly why having that vision figured out first matters so much. So here's what I want you to do now. I'm hosting a free live training to help you plan and design your kitchen remodel. And this is happening on Thursday, August 6th, and I want you there with me. I'm doing something different this time, and I'll be working through a real listener's kitchen photos and redesigning it live right there in the training. I'm actually so excited about this training because in my very first round of Kitchen Design Essentials, I brought that first cohort through this experience of them submitting photos to me. And then during our monthly calls, we went through those photos and I redesigned it live and it blew people away. They got so much out of it. And even looking at examples that weren't their own kitchen, it just opened up the floodgates of creativity and said, Oh, I didn't even think that I could do that in my kitchen. And now that I saw you do that in someone else's kitchen, that gave me a different idea. So that is something I have been so excited to do. And this Thursday, August 6th, is the first time I'm gonna do it in this live training, and I'm super excited about that. So if you have been with me these last few weeks, this is where it all comes together. So go ahead and save your spot in that live training, and I have a link in the show notes to do it. If you want me to say the link, I can also do that. It is nesterations.com forward slash kitchen webinar. And my Kajabi is M-Y-K-A-J A B I dot com forward slash kitchen webinar. If that is too big of a tongue twister for you, just go straight into the show notes and you will see the link to get that. And remember, a successful kitchen remodel that goes right doesn't start with a contractor call. It starts with three decisions that most people skip. And I know you're not going to do that now that you've listened to this episode. So I will see you on Thursday, August 6th. I can't wait. That's it for this episode. I will catch you at the training and then on the next episode. Have a great day.