Remodeling Can Feel a Lot Like ADHD

The Hal Effect: why remodeling quotes vary so much, and what separates the pros from the quick buckers

Takeaway: Remodeling has a way of turning one issue into five more. Experienced remodelers anticipate many of those chain reactions — and, just as importantly, deal with the problems they uncover instead of simply covering them up. That difference in experience, scope, and standards is one reason remodeling quotes can vary so widely.

Yes, I know the title.

I’m not making light of ADHD. It’s simply one of the closest descriptions I can think of for how a remodeling project sometimes behaves.

You sit down to do one thing, six others start waving for attention, and the original list quietly becomes more of a suggestion.

There’s a great scene in Malcolm in the Middle where Hal, played brilliantly by Bryan Cranston, sets out to change a lightbulb.

One simple household task.

Before long, that task leads to another, which leads to another, and somehow he ends up in the garage with the car torn apart.

Anyone who has spent enough time remodeling houses has had a Hal moment.

You start with a list of ten things to do.

Simple enough.

Then you start doing them, and those ten things introduce you to five more you hadn’t planned on meeting.

Sometimes politely.

Sometimes with a crowbar.

That is remodeling.

You open a wall and find wiring that needs correcting.

You remove a vanity and discover evidence of an old leak.

You pull up a tile floor and realize the subfloor isn’t suitable for the new tile.

You remove a shower and find framing that looks like someone, at some point in the last 40 years, had a very optimistic understanding of carpentry.

And suddenly the job has changed.

A Real-World Example: The Bathroom Floor

Say we’re remodeling a bathroom.

The plan seems straightforward:

Remove the old floor tile and install new tile.

Except once the old tile comes up, we discover the floor underneath isn’t flat enough or stiff enough for the new installation.

Okay.

Now we need to address the subfloor.

But adding another layer of plywood raises the finished floor.

That affects the transition into the hallway.

The toilet flange height may need adjustment.

Trim may need to be modified.

And if we’re really having a good day, we discover that somebody previously turned a few of the floor joists into Swiss cheese to make room for plumbing.

We started with:

“Replace the bathroom floor.”

Twenty minutes later, we’re discussing joists, plumbing, plywood thickness, transitions, and whether anyone knows what the guy who worked on the house in 1987 was thinking.

That is the Hal Effect.

Why Can Two Remodeling Quotes Be So Far Apart?

Because the contractors may not actually be pricing the same job.

One quote may include more preparation, protection, repairs, trade work, project management, and reasonably foreseeable conditions.

Another may be based mostly on the finished work you can see, assuming everything underneath is in good condition.

Neither approach automatically makes a contractor right or wrong.

But comparing only the final number can be misleading.

The better question is:

What has each contractor included, assumed, and thought through?

If you’re trying to set a realistic starting budget, our Cape Cod Remodeling Cost Guide also explains the work and planning that go into different levels of kitchen, bathroom, and whole-home remodeling.

Experience Changes What You Look For

After enough years doing this work, you develop a sixth sense.

You see an older tile floor and wonder what’s underneath it.

You see a shower that has leaked for years and wonder how far the damage extends.

You see a wall somebody moved during a previous renovation and start wondering what else they “improved.”

Experience doesn’t mean you can see through walls.

It just means you’ve opened enough of them to know what sometimes lives back there.

That experience shapes how a thoughtful remodeler scopes and prices a project.

Not by assuming every possible disaster will happen, but by allowing for the preparation, sequencing, coordination, and reasonably foreseeable conditions that come with remodeling an existing home.

Another contractor may price only what’s immediately visible and assume everything behind it is perfect.

And maybe it is.

But houses rarely seem to have received that memo.

Seeing the Problem Is Only Half of It

Here’s where the bigger difference shows up.

Most contractors can recognize an obvious problem once a wall is open or a floor is removed.

The real question is:

What do they do next?

A professional remodeler understands that one problem often leads to several other things that need attention if the job is going to be done correctly.

We find a weak section of subfloor.

That leads us to the framing underneath it.

Then we notice a joist that was badly cut for plumbing.

Fixing that may involve the plumber.

Correcting the framing may change how the new subfloor gets installed.

That affects the finished floor height.

And now we’re thinking about the doorway transition, toilet flange, trim, tile layout, and everything else connected to it.

From the outside, it can look like we’re bouncing all over the place.

In reality, we’re following the chain.

That is remodeling.

And frankly, it’s also one of the things that separates experienced remodeling professionals from the quick buckers.

The quick-buck approach is pretty simple:

See questionable framing?

Cover it.

Subfloor not quite right?

Put the new floor over it.

Something behind the wall really ought to be corrected?

Well, if it wasn’t in the quote, close in the wall and keep moving.

The homeowner may never know.

At least not right away.

The problem is that covering something up doesn’t make it disappear.

It simply hands the problem to the finished work — or to the next person who opens that wall ten years from now and says:

“What the hell happened here?”

A good remodeler has to be willing to say:

“Before we keep going, this needs to be addressed.”

Sometimes that means changing the plan.

Sometimes it means bringing the trade partner back.

Sometimes it means spending time on something nobody will ever see once the project is finished.

And yes, sometimes it costs more.

But that is very different from creating unnecessary work.

It means recognizing that the quality of the finished remodel depends as much on what gets corrected underneath as on what you eventually see.

Underbidding Can Create Bad Decisions

This is also where a low quote can become a problem.

If a contractor has underbid the job, every unexpected condition becomes painful.

Now there’s pressure to keep moving.

Pressure to avoid calling the plumber back.

Pressure to skip an extra layer of plywood.

Pressure to say:

“Eh. It’ll probably be fine.”

Those may be the four most expensive words in remodeling.

A contractor who has properly thought through the job has a much better chance of dealing with problems correctly when they appear.

That doesn’t mean you can predict every contingency.

It can’t.

And it doesn’t mean the highest quote is automatically the best quote.

Far from it.

But when two contractors are pricing what appears to be the same project and the numbers are dramatically different, it is worth asking:

• Has the contractor thought through the entire process?

• Have they allowed for conditions that are reasonably likely to occur?

• Do they include demolition, protection, permits, trade coordination, cleanup, and finish work?

• Are the allowances realistic?

• What happens if something unexpected is discovered?

• Is the contractor pricing the complete project — or just the most obvious parts of it?

Those answers can tell you far more than the bottom-line number alone.

How We Handle the Unknowns

A good remodeler tries to identify as many potential problems as possible before construction begins.

We look.

We measure.

We poke around.

We crawl into places we’d rather not crawl into.

We ask questions.

And occasionally we stare at something for a while and say:

“Huh. That’s interesting.”

For the homeowner, “interesting” is rarely the word you want to hear from your contractor.

The goal is to put as much as reasonably can be anticipated into the plan before demolition begins.

That planning is a big part of how we approach remodeling at At Design Remodel — getting selections made, details worked through, materials coordinated, and the project thought through before everyone starts swinging hammers.

When something truly unexpected does appear, we stop.

We show you what we found.

We explain what it means.

We walk through the options and costs.

And we agree on the path forward before the additional work continues.

You shouldn’t first learn about a problem when it appears on the final invoice.

Older Cape Cod Houses Make This Even More Important

Even with careful planning, surprises still happen.

That’s simply the nature of remodeling an existing home.

We’re not starting with a clean sheet of paper.

We may be working on an Upper Cape house that was built 20, 40, 60, or 100 years ago — and possibly remodeled several times by people whose work ranged from excellent to “creative.”

A house may have had a kitchen remodeled in the 1980s, a bathroom changed in the 1990s, plumbing moved somewhere along the way, and electrical work added by three different people over several decades.

All of it eventually becomes part of the house we’re opening up today.

That’s why experienced remodelers spend so much time thinking several steps ahead.

It isn’t enough to ask:

“What do we need to do?”

We also have to ask:

“If we do this, what else does it affect?”

And:

“What are we likely to find once we start?”

Sometimes we can predict it.

Sometimes we can’t.

The goal isn’t to invent problems or inflate a project.

It’s to recognize the trouble spots, account for what can reasonably be anticipated, and be prepared for the truly unexpected when it appears.

Because in remodeling, the visible work is only part of what you’re paying for.

The unknowns — and how well your remodeler anticipates and manages them — can have just as much impact on the final cost.

And when those unknowns show up, the contractor has a choice.

Deal with them properly.

Or cover them up and hope nobody notices.

That choice matters.

So when two remodeling quotes are far apart, don’t simply ask which one is cheaper.

Ask what each contractor has included, assumed, and thought through.

Ask what happens when something unexpected turns up.

And maybe most importantly, ask yourself whether you trust that person to do the right thing when nobody will ever see the work underneath.

Because every once in a while, yes, you really do start out changing a lightbulb and end up wondering how the hell the project got this complicated.

Planning a Remodel on Cape Cod?

If you’re considering a kitchen, bathroom, or whole-home remodel and want to understand the scope before construction begins, we start there.

At Design Remodel works with homeowners throughout the Upper and Mid-Cape to plan the project, identify the likely trouble spots, establish a realistic scope and investment, and then manage the remodel from design through completion.

Thinking about a remodeling project? Start the conversation.