One man show or a small renovation company

When making the decision about who to hire for a small to medium size home renovation project, usually the idea of hiring a single man ( jack of all trades ) that will carry out and perform the complete scope of work could seem a simpler and a more economical approach, but as it is in almost everything in life, it depends.

There is no doubt, that there are few renovators out there with enough experience and qualifications to complete this kind of project with a decent quality, but there is pro and cons to the “ one man show” path.

TIME is the number one challenge, there is so much for so long that one single man can do and in a one month long project, daily life will eventually interfere at some point with the steady progress of the project, creating delays and moving further away the previous set complexion date, that is almost an inevitable result of the one man approach.

In the very unusual case where the home owner can offer an open complexion date, this approach can work for both parties, the home owner can negotiate a better price in exchange of an open time table for complexion and the renovator can use this specif project as work filler between projects or as a side job for the weekends.

In my personal experience, I know that an open time table for complexion is a chimera that disappears sooner than later, as soon as the home owner writes a couple of cheques, the desire to see the fruit of his payments take over and the urge for a finished product becomes a reality.

Also good trade people are always busy, no need to settle for sides jobs at a discounted price.

TIREDNESS ( home owner ) is the number two challenge. There is a time limit in how long a person or even worse a family can put up with the inconvenience of a renovation project, it does not take to long for any one to get fed up with the noise, the limitations of space, the dust, the lack of privacy, etc....

WORKMANSHIP We can usually master and become extremely good in some aspects of a renovation project but its impossible to be good at very single task involved in one of this projects, so when we have to perform these tasks, we have no option but slow down and put extra effort to master this particular part of the project or settle for an amateurish outcome.

LACK Of SUPPORT or assistance with secondary chores as cleaning or materials shopping and deliveries. All scope of work is rated at the same pay scale and organize and executed for the same person.

A well organized renovation company, with experienced trade people, can target and finished the same size project in half the time with higher workmanship and without a significant price difference. Its up to the home owner to weight the pros and cons and choose wisely.