Renovating an apartment. Or learning from it for you own business.
Some of you might already have guessed by my instagram feed and my facebook posts, that i am renovating an apartment theses days. This is a big venture and since it is a big part in my life right now, not only time wise but also head wise, I would love to write about it a bit. Because actually, this very exhausting but also beautiful process, of building a home for ourselves, has showed me some interesting things about myself, design and the industry I work in.
Planning & Decisionmaking: We had 6 moths to plan everything before the actual execution started. And that was a blessing. Good things need their time and planing is key. So the planing was more that 6 month and the execution „only“ around 3 months. Which means with 66% planing and 33% execution we made the whole thing happened. If the planing wouldn’t have been that concrete and thought through, we would have faced way more problems executing things. And i also believe that everybody was happier knowing the exact plan, timetable and through that be able to concentrate on what they are best at.
This showed my clearly, that you must never rush things or get in the mood where you „want to get things over with“ - because nobody benefits from it. It also showed me, that people underestimate time and how long things actually take. So do I. I am also a big fan of being lead by the process of a project but planing the wireframes you navigate in is curtail. Being aware of how long you want to concentrate on specific issue or topics saves a lot of time and energy. And it is key to educate clients honestly on how long things take and never be to tiered to explain the single steps in the process. Because if they don’t know why should they bother or even pay for it.
Jack of all Trades - Master of Collaboration: Working with a construction company that brought in around 6 people to tear down everything and build it up again from scratch, made me realize, that it always comes down to clear roles within a team as well as collaboration. Those men came in and i could not tell weather some of them were specialized in something or not. The first weeks were pretty much crude violence against two apartments that should become one in the end. Only after weeks i realized, that this team of men started out with everybody doing everything. The further in the process, the more defined and clear became the individual professions. So it was clear that there was a electrician, a painter, somebody for installations and so on. But at the beginning they helped each other out to come to that exact point where everybody could shine in his profession.
It showed my, that in a huge project like that you can’t be a pussy and be like „i didn’t sing up for that part or piece of work“. Those men had no attitude what so ever. It also became clear to me that you should always know what you are best at. So being a jack of all trades (like i consider myself) is a good thing, as long as you know what you want to be responsible for in the end and you have a couple of specialties you can pull and push.
No compromises when it comes to quality: Good tools, good materials and being picky sometimes makes a high quality project. That is what i learned the hard way in this venture.
I am tempted so often to give up to early because i am board or lazy or think to myself „whatever“. But to walk the extra mile in the end is key. Shitty tools are shitty tools, so the investment in what you work with is always worth it. There should never be a question weather to buy a new tool or not. You spend so much time with it! Knowing and learning how far you can push yourself and others to get the best possible quality out of a project is hard and has to be learned but in the end it will differentiate your work.
Price Politics & Negotiations: Working with a lot of different companies and craftsmen in this renovation a lot of times it was about money of course. It was very refreshing to see that people, no matter what field they work in have high regard in their own time and what they are able to deliver. Negotiations in this process, were always a must. It seams to be part of our culture. But you could also tell, that there was also a certain limit that should not be crossed. As in knowing what you and your time is worth and what is the magic number you can’t go below.
What I learned is that i still have to get better at negotiations and see it more like a sport than people not appreciating my work. I guess i am good at it but you can always push it further. Secondly, you should respect your work and time. When you know how long things take exactly (I use toggle for that since years now) then you will always be able to win an argument over quality work and what time it needs to get there. Time is money and if you are good at what you do it comes with a certain price. Even if that means saying no to a project.
People you can trust and that have your back: This was key in the whole spiel! If I would not have my great partner, my family and a hand full of people who had my back, I would have gone mad after a couple of weeks!
For any big project it is crucial to have people you can work with, discuss things and that help you decide stuff. Because you simply can’t do everything by yourself. So for me it is definitely about trusting people more. Letting go of a lot of things as well as my inner control freak, speaking up und asking for opinions and help – always. Because it is not a sign of weakness – you just are so much stronger if you are in a team.
This feed is rather personal, so I hope people can take some insights out of it for themselves. I myself am very happy that moving day is soon an that constructions and renovations are over any day. I guess this is a big box i can check, the apartment pics won't spam your instagram feed anymore and the design work and illustrations will be popping in more again.