The Build Process - Project Control Cycle Components - Part 3

The project control cycle applies just as readily to activities such as demolition, installation of  plumbing fixtures, floor and wall tile, and painting as it does to the suppliers who are providing the materials and products used to build your renovation. Your project’s success, and especially for a seemingly small one like a bathroom, needs to follow a Project Control Cycle  because one small deviation can have a significant impact on the progress of the work.

Here is a more detailed explanation for each of the Project Control Cycle components.

Set Initial Goals

The first task in the project cycle is to set goals for each of the activities. This step needs to be completed before the job is awarded to the contractor to do the work.  Many of the goals you are required to identify are the project pricing, materials selected, and the completion of the contract documents such as the detailed working drawings, scope of work and specifications.

The pricing allows you to arrive at an initial cost for the project. The working drawings, scope of work, and specifications identify who is going to do the work, where it’s going to be done, what materials are to be used, and how long the project will take. Simply put, the budget for the construction should not exceed the costs anticipated in the estimate nor can the time planned in a schedule exceed the number of days permitted.

Why? Under the terms of the contract, expectations for the budget and schedule are clearly disclosed.

It is important these initial goals are established and agreed to in writing before any work starts. Knowing what these goals are allows you to measure the project’s progress enabling you to address issues in a proactive rather than a reactive manner. So if your scope of work outlines a task needs to be completed in 1 day, and 3 days later the task is still not complete, the damage this delay causes to the project becomes extremely evident, especially if it’s the early stages, such as the site preparation activity.

Establish Job Plans

Establishing your project’s Job Plan is a three step process.  

First, the job is broken down into its composite parts or activities.  

The second step is to plan and optimize the activity for maximum efficiency.  For example, some of the activities may be Site Preparation, Demolition, Mechanical Rough-in, Framing, etc..

Lastly, with the activities identified, these are then strung together in a realistic order of work.  This order of work is converted into a diagram and calculations are applied to determine at what time and on what dates the activity should take place.  

The result is a plan you can use as a guide for all of those involved with building the job. The job plan is used to effectively cope with the inevitable changes that will occur.

Monitor Progress

Monitoring progress of the project is a two step process.  

The first part is carried out on the job site at regular intervals and involves monitoring the actual events occurring. This may happen once or twice a day, typically being at the beginning and half way through the day.  The purpose of this monitoring activity is to determine who is on site and/or confirm if the materials have arrived or are available for the work scheduled.

The information gathered from the monitoring activity is compared to the working drawings to confirm the work is being done to meet the design developed. The specifications are consulted to ensure the correct materials delivered are those purchased. Jobsite health and safety practices and standards are important, and the trades doing the work are observed to confirm they are meeting those standards.

The second step of the process is to monitor the schedule, or schedule monitoring as it’s called, and this is done on an activity by activity basis to measure if: the work starts on time, is performed within the time allocated, and is completed according to the schedule.  Schedule monitoring is done at all stages of construction, from set-up to the final cleaning. This includes the performance of all of the required inspections too.

The Build Process - Your Project and the Project Control Cycle - Part 2

To bring order to the seemingly chaotic world of construction, a formal method is used to control, monitor, evaluate, support decision making, and allow you to understand how well your project is progressing once it’s underway. Your contractor’s goal is to meet each of the objectives you define and outline in your construction contract and those objectives are to:

• Establish a realistic schedule
• Work within a realistic budget
• Identify resources/materials used
• Define the project’s outcome

To manage a project such as a bathroom renovation, the method used to do all of this is called the Project Management Cycle. Basically, it’s a term used to identify the project’s performance criteria, allowing you to control and monitor the progress of the job.  Using a Project Management Cycle enables your contractor to establish short term goals and you to determine if these goals are being met.  

If project goals are not being met, the Project Management Cycle will show you how successful or unsuccessful your project is so action can be taken to get everything back on track, fast, or keep on making steady progress.

To do this, the Project Control Cycle allows you understand the who, what, when and how of your project to:

• Control material and personnel resources
• Organize trades
• Direct activities
• Decide on the use of resources and individuals
• Control and direct trades toward a goal
• Define a formal decision making process to achieve specific goals

You need to be able to understand how this is being accomplished because your project has the following characteristics:

• It’s fractured
• There a large number of disconnected people involved (craftsmen, subcontractors, suppliers, designers, and you, the owner)
• Suppliers and installers need to be coordinated
• A small mistake or oversight can have huge implications later on in the project
• Everyone has an opinion
• Decisions have to take into account the requirements, opinions, and attitudes of all those involved
• The customer is rarely right (because of their limited experience and practical knowledge)

Here, in a nutshell, are the major steps used to ensure every activity performed for your project is successful.  Each project requires your manager to:

• Set initial goals
• Establish job plans
• Monitor progress on work done
• Compare progress to job plans
• Look for deviations in the work
• Take corrective action
• Collect historical data

Now let’s take a more in-depth look at what this all means to you and how you will be able to determine the effectiveness of the manager in charge of your project.

Building A Deck - The Wrong Way

My deck sucks.

Yep, whoever built the deck for the previous owner of my home was a complete dolt.  After reading this you're probably going to feel a great deal better about your deck.  Although my deck situation definitely makes me feel "Not OK", you'll probably end up feeling quite a bit of "I'm OK" after reading this. 

Glad to help out and make your day, by the way.

Deck Builder Dude: Who Are You?

After buying my home and placing the existing deck on life support for the last few years, it's time this deck is taken down and forgotten. Mind you, it has served its purpose to remind me that out there, somewhere in deck-building contractor land, there is some guy out there building decks stupidly.

So where do we begin our voyage of discovery?

I guess from the ground up would be the best thing to do.

As we all know the thing that hold up our houses, skyscrapers, and decks is the soil or dirt on the building lot.  The best and only type of soil to build upon is undisturbed soil.

Take a look at the creative approach deck builder dude took to solve the issue about putting a post on disturbed soil close to the foundation.  The solution - there is no contact with any undisturbed soil, or any bearing surface for that matter - period.

The post is suspended with an air gap close to 3 inches separating the underside of the post from anything that would offer it support.  Disturbed or undisturbed soil.

Well, you may think this is a bad thing.  Actually, it's a good thing, especially when you look at the beam to post connection up above.

Two Posts Are Better Than One

Typically, the beam to post connection is just pure compression.  The beam collects the live and dead loads from the deck joists above.  The post accepts these loads and transfers them down into the soil below. Undisturbed soil that is.

 Well, deck builder dude must have had one too many during this summer holiday project.  To be on the safe side, two posts were installed.  The beam is connected to the shorter post with three nails and to the longer post, one screw and one nail were used.

Since neither post bears on anything, deck builder dude could have used chewing gum and binder twine for this connection.

I mean, come on.

My quick calculations tell me the live load this one post is supposed to carry is about 2,880 pounds, plus or minus 10%.

When you consider the amount of weight the post and beam connections need to transfer between one another, you want more than one screw and one nail to be doing the job.  To be fair, on the other side of the "beam" deck builder dude used two screws for long post and four nails for the shorter post.

Oh, and never, ever, ever use nails or screws to hold up a beam like this. This type of beam connection needs to have a cleat nailed to the face of the post below the beam.

I bet right about now you're feeling pretty "I'm OK" about your deck, aren't you. 

It gets better.

Joist Hangers and Hand Grenades

Floor joists, whether used for an exterior deck or for your home need 1-1/2 inches of bearing surface to rest upon.  When you have a flush connection, say between a ledger board and a floor joist, you use a joist hanger to provide the bearing surface required.

The tricky part about joist hangers, at least for deck builder dude, was knowing you needed to insert the joist into the joist hanger for the system to be effective.

So for all you wanna-be deck builder dudes out there: placing the joist hanger near the joist just doesn't cut it.  The joist must rest inside the joist hanger.

So what happens when you run out of joist hangers?

Well, you can go buy more, or, hey wait a minute, why not make your own?

And that's exactly what deck builder dude did.

Yep, believe it or not, the ends of this beam are supported using home-made joist hangers fashioned out of sheet metal.  Deck builder dude did a pretty good job of making these hangers look real, but to be real, a joist hanger is engineered to provide you with the stiffness, strength, and nailing pattern required.

Mind you, this connection may not have seemed critical because, after all, just four feet away to the right, deck builder dude installed those two posts I talked about earlier.

Accuracy or Precision? Take Your Pick.

Speaking of nailing patterns, as was mentioned, every joist hanger is engineered to carry the load a floor joist may be carrying. A 2 by 10 joist hanger will have more holes in it for you to drive a fastener into than a joist hanger for a 2 by 6 joist for example.  That only makes sense since bigger joists are capable of bigger loads before they fail.

Once again, deck builder dude shows us what their opinion on the matter is.  To this particular individual, properly nailing a joist hanger is optional.

You have to give deck builder dude credit though. They managed to get the joist to sit in the hanger on this one.

Back to the joist hangers. The joist hanger manufacturers make it dead-simple to use their product.  Place the joist inside the hanger, and where there is a hole, drive a fastener into it.

Over 60% of the required fasteners for this connection in the photo are missing.

Fascinating.

Oh, and can you see the difference between the "real" and "home-made" joist hanger? The home made joist hanger is dented where deck builder dude used those wee thin rusty nails.

Is There More?

Oh, there is just so much more to this project deck building dude messed up.  This is just a small sample of the type of idiocy that exists in the deck they built for the previous owner of my home, and the type of service that's out there.

If you're a homeowner, be aware, because this deck builder dude may be the guy building your deck.

To stop deck building dude dead in his tracks, hire a professional to design your deck for you. Create a scope of work and get a building permit.

Get a permit.

Did I say that already?

The only person you're helping by not getting a permit is deck building dude who is tired of all those inspectors telling him how to do things and messing up his zen.

If you're buying a house, have it inspected by a qualified professional, like me, who can spot deck building dude's handiwork right off the bat.

Together, we can stop deck building dude cold in his tracks.

Exterior Insulation and Strapping

Here's the reason why dumb contractors are a mouse's best friend.

First, a little background.  The exterior of the house was insulated with foam insulation.  When you hear that the walls of the house have been upgraded to exceed code by having exterior insulation applied to the walls, your first thought is "Wow!  That's fantastic!!"

With a little bit of investigation your initial "Wow!" factor quickly turns into an overwhelming sense of WTF!? 

Check this out.  Exterior foam insulation was installed and then strapped with 1x3 spruce strapping.  Umm, to me it's pretty obvious something is amiss.  

Need a clue?

It's the writing on the wall - it's sideways.

The manufacturer's installation instructions simply state:

• Tongue and groove (T&G)edge panels install horizontally.
• Fit joints tightly.

Well, the manufacturer is pretty clear on how things need to be done.  Install the panels horizontally and fit the joints tightly. Never mind the nailing pattern which is completely botched as well, or the fact the joints remain open and untaped.

Like, how dumb is the contractor? How blind or ignorant was the homeowner who hired the dumb contractor?

All of this indicates this energy retrofit is a major fail because the dumb contractor did everything they could to screw it up. The ignorant homeowner didn't read the writing on the wall, nor did they take the time to educate themselves about how the product they purchased should be installed either.

Then we have the strapping installed by the dumb contractor and how this dopey dude became the best friend a mouse could ever hope for.

Here's a corner detail.  Strapping is installed so it creates a raceway from the bottom to the top, with a convenient means to gain access to all parts of the wall, behind the siding and parts beyond.

See that wee hole? That's a hole chewed by a mouse.

Oh, and don't get me started on the golf towel used to "fill a gap" in the insulation. Of course it made a great home for the mice.

I hate mice, but I hate dopey dumb contractors even more.

I Hate Mice

I hate mice.  

I mean, I really, really, really hate mice.  Rodents of any kind that want to live in my house, uninvited, are near the top of my list of things to hate.

What tops off my list of things to hate are dumb contractors, or people who are dumb enough to think they are contractors.  Dumb contractors are a mouse's best friend.

Why? Because the lack of attention and the sheer idiocy exhibited by dumb contractors is taken advantage of by mice.

Have a dumb contractor build your home and mice will surely follow.  They are the piped piper of furry scuttling feet running around in your attic or walls.

That's all I have to say for today.

I may hate mice, but dumb contractors top my list.

Cost Versus Value - A Delicate Balance

As a homeowner you're probably curious what projects provide you with the best return on your investment (ROI). Or maybe you want to spruce up your home to help with its resale.

As an architectural professional, questions I'm often asked are: What are my options? Is this project worth the time? Is it worth the money?

Fortunately, there's information out there to help you understand what the costs and ROI will be for typical renovation projects.  It's often surprising to learn bigger is not often better.

Let's take a look at a kitchen renovation as an example.

A major kitchen remodel may cost you anywhere between $40K to $60K. A minor kitchen remodel will be in the price range of $10K to $20K, maximum. If you, the homeowner, are thinking the major kitchen remodel is going to give you a 100% ROI you're sorely mistaken. Same goes for the smaller kitchen remodel.

The ROI for the major kitchen remodel tops out at 74.2% and the ROI for the smaller kitchen makeover is 82.7%.  So if you're looking to add value to your home for resale, fixing up the kitchen may not be the best project to undertake.

Here's what I mean.

Let's say you're thinking of selling your home in the next year or two and your home renovation budget is $15K. Your goal is to make your home sell faster, since the time it spends on the market just eats into your profit margin.  Your second criteria is you want as high a ROI as possible.

What projects should you consider? 

For a budget of $15K, here are a couple of scenarios you may want to consider to help improve your home's curb appeal, saleability, and the ROI you will experience.


Scenario 1

• Entry Door Replacement (steel) 
• Your cost: $1,162 
• Your return: $1,122 
• Your ROI: 96.6% 

• Wooden Deck Addition
• Your cost: $9,539
• Your return: $8,334
• Your ROI: 87.4%

• Garage Door Replacement
• Your cost: $1,534
• Your return: $1,283
• Your ROI: 83.7%

This first scenario will cost you $12,235 and your ROI will be $10,739.  The difference is a loss of $1,496.

Scenario 2

If you want to switch things up a bit, consider what this scenario offers:

• Entry Door Replacement (steel) 
• Your cost: $1,162 
• Your return: $1,122 
• Your ROI: 96.6% 

• Window Replacement (vinyl)
• Your cost: $9,978
• Your return: $7,857
• Your ROI: 78.7%

• Garage Door Replacement
• Your cost: $1,534
• Your return: $1,283
• Your ROI: 83.7%

This second scenario will cost you $12,674 and your ROI will be $10,262.  The difference is a loss of $2,412.

Both home improvement scenarios are below the $15K margin, which is a good thing, because you give yourself some wiggle room for any unforeseen complications with the work.

Scenario 3

Let's compare these two scenarios to a bathroom remodel:

•  Bathroom Remodel
• Your cost: $16,128
• Your return: $11,688
• Your ROI: 72.5%

The bathroom remodel will cost you $16,128 and your ROI will be $11,688.  The difference is a loss of $4,440.

When we compare the bathroom remodel to Scenario 1 and Scenario 2, the bathroom remodel is over budget and provides you with much less return.  Not to mention the disruption and inconvenience you will encounter while the project is underway.

The conclusion is: pick your projects wisely. If you have a limited budget for your home improvements and want to maximize your return on your investment, going big is not always better.

Finishing Your Basement

Back in April I wrote about the dangers of finishing your basement - the wrong way. Moisture, or water, was the culprit I said, and you needed to ensure you had bulk water management systems in place before doing anything.  Evaluate before you renovate, was and still is my message.

I also mentioned there were solutions out there and all you had to do was find the right person to ask. Well, since I've written that article I've been asked what the right way to do things is.  That means I'm the go-to guy for this type of information, so here is what you need to do to create a healthy basement.

Insulated Wood Frame Walls Need Two Sides to Dry Out

 

A typical method used to insulate basement walls is to build a wood frame wall, leave a 1 inch air space between the wood studs and the concrete wall, fill the stud bays with fiberglass batt type insulation, and then cover the interior side of the assembly with a sheet of 6 mil polyethylene vapour barrier. With the plastic sheet installed on the warm side of the wall, this limits the wall to only being able to dry out towards the exterior. 
 
Since basement walls are unable to dry out towards the exterior because the ground is damp, and with the tight film of plastic preventing walls from drying out towards the interior, the result is the small amount of water that does make its way into the foundation walls moves into the framed wall and stays there, trapped.

The Better Way to Finish

The better way to finish your basement is to create a wall and/or floor assembly that enables the walls and floor to breath. Using permeable materials allows moisture to travel through them and this helps both the foundation walls and/or floor slab to dry out. The excess water vapour is managed by using a dehumidifier. To construct wall and floor assemblies that help damp concrete to dry out will require you to use vapour-permeable materials like EPS for insulation, latex for paint, and cork for flooring, for example.

All of these finishes allow water to move through them. Although it’s impossible to keep your foundation and floor slab from getting wet because they are in contact with the ground, using a wall and floor assembly that allows the walls and/or floor to dry out is the better solution.

A Final Word Of Warning

A more common water issue impacting homeowners in developed areas in both the US and Canada is urban flooding. Paul Kovacs, executive director at the insurance industry's Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, points out that, according to his research, basement flooding has emerged as one of the fastest growing causes of losses and extreme damage in Canada, costing $2 billion just in direct insurance payments annually. You can read the full study here in Urban Flooding in Canada.
 
The Center For Neighbourhood Technology in the United States has published a case study on the Prevalence and Cost of Urban Flooding in Cook County, IL, and say “the economic and social consequences can be considerable: experts estimate that wet basements decrease property values by 10 - 25 percent.” For a home with an appraised value of $300,000 that’s a monetary loss of $30K to $75K.
 
So before you decide to finish your basement make sure your bulk water management systems in place work, understand the risks associated with flooding, and when making your finish material selections, chose permeable finishes that breath so things dry out when they get moist.
 

Kitchen Planning and Primary Work Centers

Kitchen Planning - Primary Work Centers

You may find your kitchen is cluttered, there never seems to be enough room to cook or prepare meals, and someone always seems to be in someone's way.  There may be more than one reason your kitchen design may not work for you. Since the kitchen is the "heart" of the home, it's important to get it right.

As a lay person, how do you know if the kitchen you're looking at works or not?  Are there rules good kitchen design needs to follow? Templates even?  I mean, where do you even start?

To help you better understand how your kitchen works, you need to learn about some fundamentals about kitchen design and layout. It all starts with what are called the Primary Work Centers. The importance of Primary Work Centers are they impact the kitchen’s layout, restrict what can or cannot be done in the kitchen, and set the design criteria needed to create an efficient, comfortable, and well planned workspace.

Understanding what the Primary Work Centers are, what they're composed of, and the types of activities that occur enables you to evaluate your current kitchen layout with a more practiced and pragmatic eye. Not only will a good design appeal to you aesthetically, you will know why it makes the heart of your home a very comfortable place to be.

Primary Work Centers

The idea behind Primary Work Centers is based on a rather simple premise.  Group activities in the kitchen into distinct areas and then identify the tools and space needed for these activities. 

That's it in a nutshell really.

Whatever the activities are for each area it only makes sense to ensure there is ample storage, enough counter space, and sufficient lighting for you to be able to carry out the tasks you need to perform.

OK, so what are these "activities"? How granular do you get anyway?  

Let's keep the count down to four activities and they are: cleanup, mixing, cooking, and serving. It also becomes evident that grouping these items might make more sense if you placed the cleanup area next to the mixing, the mixing area near the cooking, and the serving area, well, it can be left to float around a bit or put close to the clean-up area.

Needless to say, identifying these four areas allows you to see there are some relationships between the work centers that are stronger than others.

So, How Does This Help Me?

Circles Keep It Simple

If you look at the diagram provided the arrangement of the work centers fits within the layout of the room and they either create new circulation paths or accommodate existing ones.  

As shown in this example the clean up area is located between the mixing and serving work centers.  The cooking work center is floating up there at the top.  Maybe it's an island, or perhaps it's located on exterior wall? Who knows?  This layout looks like it can accommodate two entrances into the space too.

What we do understand is the work center layout needs to fit the space available, provide the work centers with context to one another, and moving any one center to a new location impacts what is done where and the flow through the space.


The simplicity of designing or evaluating your kitchen using the four work centers allows you to:

• Learn how activities relate to one another on a macro rather than micro level 
• Understand how moving one work center to a different location affects the entire layout
• Quickly create numerous layouts by something as simple as circles
• Choose a layout that works for you
• Determine if the layout works for the space available.