Harold's Renovation Blog: #104: This Is How You’re Annoying Your Contractor

We turned the tables and asked dozens of contractors – including our own! – what THEY wish we, their clients, did differently. We learned their biggest client pet peeves (we’re certainly guilty of some!) and got great advice for how we can all help renovations go smoother, progress faster, and even cost less. We also share how we hacked our dining table to make it a harder working space, and the big purchase we recently splurged on for the beach house.

You can download this episode from Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and Spotify – or listen to it below! Then use this page to check out any links, notes, or photos we referenced. Note: If you’re reading in a feed reader, you may have to click through to the post to see the player.

What’s New

Above is a photo of the “spa” that we’ve ordered for the beach house backyard. Since we’re not allowed to install a plunge pool (or anything in-ground) this was the classiest looking hot tub we could find (it’s called Jacuzzi J-LX).
And after recording the episode we actually were able to make a new game plan with Sean The Contractor, and we may be able to get it delivered as soon as the end of this week! Keep your fingers crossed for us…
Here’s generally what we’re planning for the backyard. This is a rough schematic that Sherry created in an app called HomeOutside) and if you’re wondering why something is where it is, it’s mostly due to setback rules. For instance, we can’t put the shed any closer to the neighbor’s property on the left due to setback restrictions – but we can utilize the setback space to add a path to access the shed from that side (which buys us maximum patio space to the right of it).

What Your Contractor Wishes You Knew

Sean’s a real person! We heard you guys when you all requested that we have him on the podcast, and as promised here’s an accompanying visual:

Below is the famous (infamous?) GIF/Boomerang that we shared a while back as Sean demonstrated how rotten the back side of the duplex was before he reconstructed it.

Also as promised, here’s where you can download the list of Things Contractors Wish Homeowners Knew that Alma Homes in Minnesota provided us, which covers a lot of the points we heard from many of the contractors who called in and emailed us.

We’re Digging

rug / dining bench / end chair / similar chandelier / stools / art

Above is the dining bench situation we described in the episode. Now that we swapped out four high-backed chairs for two long low-profile benches, it creates much better visual flow across the table (since this dining area essentially sits in the passage between the kitchen and living room). We also love that it makes the seating much more flexible and have already noticed people sitting on the bench closer to the living room while facing the living room (it really does extend the hangout space in a great way because you can sit on each bench facing either direction).
And as promised, below is our bench, along with some others that Sherry’s loving lately! 1 (ours)/ 2 /3 / 4 / 5 / 6

Last but not least, here’s the book I was digging: I’ll Be Gone In The Dark. I forgot to mention in the episode that it’s actually very similar to the Southern Nightmare podcast we suggested back in Episode #100.
We also mentioned that one of the co-author’s sisters is a family friend who has actually been featured on the blog. This was waaaay back in the early days when our photos were small and dark (thanks point-and-shoot camera!) but you can still check out her House Crashing (it was a two-parter!) here and here. It even includes the process she used to get that cool cherry blossom mural in her foyer – it was a DIY!

If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes.

And lastly, a big thank you to Annie Selke’s BED101 for sponsoring this episode. They’re doing ANOTHER giveaway that’s exclusive to YHL Podcast listeners (someone listening is gonna win – and it could be you!). The winner gets a complete “Load It On” set of luxury bedding, so go enter at AnnieSelke.com/Giveaway!