Repair under the key: how to prepare, procure materials, choose a team and monitor progress
Tips A Life / / December 19, 2019
A year ago, my family bought an apartment in a new building. Make repairs on their own, and no one appeared once, so we decided to hire a team that will make all the key. organization of the process laid down on my shoulders.
Everything written below - is the essence of my personal experiences in the process of repair. I do not pretend to give advice, but I hope that my story will be useful to those who first encountered the finished house or apartment. Here are five basic steps through which you must pass.
1. The study of materiel
Some people love to repair. They like to wander around the building shops, they are experts in plaster and paint can independently zakolerovat and-stick wallpaper for them - sheer nonsense. I'm not one of those. The upcoming repair makes me fear. Largely because of the information vacuum.
A year ago I did not know anything about the building materials and techniques perform various finishing works. The acrylic bathtub better steel, but what gives the cast iron? Why cork underlay under laminate better than the substrate of expanded polystyrene? What is fiberglass?
Long before receiving the keys to the apartment, I began to collect and study information on the construction and repair. Disappeared on the sites'Your house"And"Vdolovke"I am looking Alexei Zemskov, Alexander Smirnov, Michael Bezyaeva, Alexander Smolin and other thematic channels on YouTube.
I became a pro in repair? Of course not. But fears are gone, "I am a girl! I do not want to do repairs - give better soup'll make some! ". I developed a conceptual device that helped then to speak the same language with the workers and ask specific questions to consultants in DIY stores. In the end, I knew what kind of tile in the bathroom to choose than to strengthen the plaster wall and so on.
2. Selecting teams
finishing and repair crews are not just a lot, but a lot. One has only to drive in a search engine query "apartment repair turnkey
I selected five officially registered companies, whose name at the hearing and whose portfolio was pleasant, and three private teams, which I have recommended to friends and acquaintances. Assigned to the whole meeting at the site with an interval of an hour (fortunately, measuring and budgeting at all free).
It was difficult, but fun. It is difficult, because each team had to explain that it is necessary to expand the doorway and here are to build a partition of the drywall, there need to be painted, and here are Mural.
It is worth separate mention that pay for a professional design project, I did not. Drew ideas from social networks and website HouzzAnd cadastral plan and program Sweet Home 3D and PRO100, as experience shows, it is enough to visualize the interior.
It was fun because the team knew that behind them come the other contenders, and all wanted to show their best side, offered, advised. By the end of the day my hands have been several estimates and draft contracts.
Some applicants were eliminated immediately. For example, one of the private teams were Central Asians. In Russian well I said only one of the three. Realizing that talk, especially on the phone, it will be difficult, I refused that option. They also found that two out of five businesses operate under the key, but the balcony with no trim and interior doors are not set.
I stayed in a private two-person crew. They offered the best price and terms. In addition, they recommend a close friend who collaborated with them and were satisfied.
We did not enter into a full turnkey contract. On paper, it was only estimated, where it was painted, as in what time frame they have to do, how much we have to pay for it. By the way, about the payment. The calculation was carried out in three stages: 10% prepayment, 40% in the middle and the remaining 50% on completion of repair. Every time a receipt is compiled.
Shook hands, we have begun to purchase building materials.
3. supply organization
Typically, a team is interested in the fact that for the season to repair several objects. In their own interest to work well and quickly, and for that they need to supply construction materials on time.
In my brigade, we have agreed as follows: everything that has design variations procured me, the rest - they are providing and then checks. It is much better than if I myself chose the alabaster, plaster, profiles and screws. You need only a little to be guided in the prices, and to understand how much good finishing plaster or tile adhesive.
As the theoretical base I already had, before starting work I took a week off to travel around the shops, watch and buy everything you need. Shopping trip after work or at the weekend would take much more time and effort.
During shopping, I made a few discoveries.
- What is not in large hypermarkets, there appear in a small building shops. We toured all the shops in the city plumbing, but the desired shell found in a modest shop in the building market.
- Tiles from the same series, and even from one box may differ in size. Unpacks and scans need to, as they say on the spot. Within two weeks of the goods taken back without question. At the end of 14 days of a product of poor quality can be returned, but this procedure is a hard and long enough: first, have write a claim, then you will come brakor, send the samples for examination, and only by its results, you can exchange the item or return money.
- From the words "share" and "sale" better stay away. Saving a hundred rubles, you can face the fact that it was the last roll of wallpaper and are no longer produced.
When the bulk of the material was purchased, the fun began.
4. Monitoring the progress of work
My new apartment is located in more than one hundred kilometers from the old one. But even if they shared a hundred meters, the object would hardly have been able to attend on a daily basis. Fortunately, I have been working young guys who know what Telegram and WhatsApp.
We agreed that every night they would throw off my photo reports on the work done. All incomprehensible moments talked about and solved during video calls: "Nastya, look, here's this niche are doing in the middle or shifted to the edge?".
Once a week, I came to the site, see and touch everything personally, to know whether you need something else, verify the checks and keep the money in the next batch of consumables.
To say that it is convenient - to say nothing. This approach allows you to save a lot of time. You go on about your business, but do not fall out of the repair process, you can quickly make adjustments and permanently control the quality. But most importantly, getting the next portion of the evening photo, feel progress - the dream becomes real.
Six weeks later, as agreed, the guys invited me to the final acceptance.
5. acceptance apartments
The long-awaited and most pleasant time to repair turnkey. When cross the threshold of the apartment where everything is beautiful and new and start fluttering butterflies in the stomach.
But you can not let my guard down! It is necessary to poscholkat all switches, sockets and check valves to open and close the doors and windows and so on. If all goes well, we can open the champagne! :)
This is my humble experience. For myself, I reached the following conclusions.
- Do not be afraid. Even if the case is completely new, fearful of the unknown, you need to treat it as a challenge. Life gives the opportunity to become better, overcome all difficulties.
- Knowledge and planning - force. If you know the 'what', then you can decide 'when'. If you know the "what" and "when", invented the "how." Having decided on the repair, you need to understand exactly what you want (colors, textures, shapes, materials), to determine the timing and phasing (preferably with a margin). I had a huge red notebook where I wrote down all the Repair of Local Shopping and articles of goods before their delivery dates and performers phones.
- Do not forget that the market construction and repair services - is still the market. And it is worth to use. For example, the benefits of competition. Our mentality is that we often feel uncomfortable about somewhere else, if you like already agreed to in one place. Sometimes awkward point out flaws and make them alter. It is necessary to reject these prejudices and clearly understand what the client's position priori advantageous.
- I love gadgets and the Internet. There is nothing that simplifies life as they are. Think about it, you can at a distance sufficient to determine the saturated color of the paint has turned out more or caramel added. You can quickly transfer money on supplies when they suddenly ended. You can open an online calculator and count how many of linoleum needed. You can send a photo wallpaper mom and ask, "How?". Modern technologies offer us many opportunities.
- Repair - a quest. You finish one task, another begins. If something is overlooked, then it will be difficult to correct. You are the main character, but without interacting with other characters can not do. They will help, if you ask the right questions. Your super power - it's money. Your main resource - time.
His quest called "repair turnkey" I went through. I'm happy with the result. I'd be happy to discuss your experience in the comments of the apartment decoration. Write the way you organize the process, they have learned during the repairs.