Trades ghosting you? I bet you’ve been there. We’ve all been there. And the construction industry is full of them. How do you handle it? Whichever side of the fence you’re on, here are two email templates to get you started.

Meet our Featured HQ Members: Every quarter we feature an active member of Homeowner HQ. This quarter, meet Erin from Pacifica, CA. as we celebrate her completed renovation / remodel.

When you have 101 decisions to make during a new home or renovation project, you're bound to have a few arguments with your partner / spouse. Okay, okay, A LOT.

Here are some ways that my clients, including my husband and I, have simplified discussions during a home project and avoided most arguments.

If you're working with an Architect, Architectural Designer, General Contractor or Project Manager, but have never had ANY experience talking about specific parts of your home, the process, and the build, it can feel seriously overwhelming just to know how to speak! We have heard so many made up words to try to describe something on a house that we thought we’d try to help out and know what the heck your team is talking about.

If your mind is on a continuous loop of questions or uncertainty, you don’t have complete clarity on your project, and your to-do list is never ending - test out a few of these tools! You might be surprised at how helpful (including financially helpful), mindful, and seamless your home project will run when you utilize these programs to help you out.

I know firsthand how exciting it is to undergo a new home or renovation project. But it’s also hard, overwhelming, exhausting, stressful, tiring, frustrating…

What a lot of homeowners don’t realize is…

...upgrades, splurges, whatever you want to call them, are typically not included in a project unless noted on the plans or you've made your contractor aware. They are a step-up from your car's base model to fully loaded.

Five years ago, I purchased a piece of property and set into motion my own new home project and all the hurdles you typically come up against. Being in the industry, it was nothing that my retired contractor dad, my machine operator husband and I, an architectural designer, couldn’t handle, but I got to see it for the first time from my clients perspective.

The results are not what I expected…

Have you ever heard the advice that if something isn’t a ‘hell yes’ it’s a ‘hell no’?

It sounds great, right? A life where everything is a simple ‘no’ when it’s lukewarm until you feel an overwhelming sense of ‘yes’ - pure confident bliss!

However, here’s the problem with that advice: There’s not a lot of Hell Yes’s in a home project (am I right?)

Ever feel stuck or directionless?

Far too many times I have seen my clients struggling to put into words what they want. Or hesitant because they don’t know how far their money will take them. Or is what we’re thinking of doing the right choice?

I know how they feel because I’ve been there.

This is often the first question people ask when they’re looking to price their project because it’s how we’ve all been taught to evaluate the cost of construction.

Perhaps it’s because construction is muddled with products and materials, both with grossly increased profit margins, and multiple professionals, each bringing to the table their own set of technical expertise. But anyone can make a quick calculation.

From time to time I meet with the odd potential client who doesn’t understand the value of a design - the amount of work that goes into a design and the value of the design itself. It’s a far cry from knowing the building will be framed with 2x6’s and that it’s just a quick drawing.

To get a better understanding of what goes into a “simple” design, I decided to follow along one of my projects and write down some of the questions that went into the design. I tried to keep it short...