Reno Diary #14: I Map Out the Handyman’s Task List

nvilu7

Sep 17

3 min read

63 Days to Moving Day

Original patio door on a midcentury ranch house — My new house. Now I just had to get the reno done in 63 days. Easy peasy.

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Time to build Doug the handyman’s task list.

When we met the day of closing, I had reviewed the entire reno execution schedule with Doug, emphasizing where his projects fit in the overall plan. Which was pretty much everywhere.

Doug’s role was pivotal. He was the glue that held the plan together. And, as a jack-of-all-trades, he eliminated the need for me to find the additional specialists—like interior and exterior painters and tile installers—required to complete the reno.

Now I wanted to give Doug his task timeline, including the timeframe for each task. When we met, I had emphasized how important it was to stick to the timeline because Doug was working around big projects like electrical, plumbing, and floor installation where the timing was set in stone.

And, more importantly, if he didn’t get his tasks done on time, he would stall other critical projects and send the entire reno to hell in a handbasket.

I figured that he would get it since he and his brother had built houses for a living for a decade.

I had spent many hours assembling the reno timeline spreadsheet, including using reno task time estimates I researched on the internet to confirm that the timeline was accurate, then color-coding the line item tasks by tradesperson.

Whole-house renovations are complex and crammed with dependencies—which is why I built a master timeline rather than individual timelines for each tradesperson.

I had 60 days to get the pre-move phase of the reno done. I had to make sure that the plan would work—and the only way to do it was to build the entire plan, so I could literally see where one task ended and the next one began.

Reno timeline — My color-coded master timeline kept track of who was doing what—and when.

The side benefit was that all I had to do to build Doug’s list was cut-and-paste his color-coded items into a new spreadsheet.

Done in less than 10 minutes.

Reno timeline for handyman jack-of-all-trades — I pulled Doug's projects into his own timeline, complete with deadlines.

When I gave Doug his timeline, he would know exactly what was expected, when each task needed to start, and how much time he had to complete that task.

The last thing I wanted to do to Doug was set unrealistic expectations. When I handed off the list tomorrow, I resolved to go over each line item with Doug one more time before setting him loose, so he could confirm that the timeline was reasonable and doable.

Because the electrical in the house was spotty, and I had no internet there, I would need to work in my condo during regular business hours, so I couldn’t be at the house during the day.

Frankly, that made me a little nervous—but I had to put that side and trust the work would get done according to the spreadsheet.

It was time to fix my house.