My husband and I recently decided to refinance our house. With home values not at their optimal state, we knew that our home value had fallen some since we purchased it. However, we didn’t know how much, and we wanted to make sure that we got the highest appraisal value possible, so we decided to do home improvements. I was raised in a home of do-it-yourselfers, but my husband was not. Therefore, I decided to be the project manager for these projects. My husband was my team member, and I brought on my dad as the SME since his has built two of the house they have lived in. The first project was replacing the bathroom floor.
The previous owners of the house did not put in the bathroom flooring correctly, and as a result, the flooring was starting to peel backwards. My 1 year-old boy and 4 year-old girl had started throwing water out of the bath tub, and the floor boards were rotting. So, we needed to replace all of it. So, I consulted my SME, who told me that we needed to pull up all of it, put down new subfloor, and put down new tile. I consulted my resources and my team member (my husband) before I purchased anything. By including my husband in the decision making, it made the process take longer. My husband and I have very different opinions on home décor. After everything was purchased and ready, we decided my husband would strip the bathroom, and my SME (my dad) and I would fix the flooring. So, my husband grabbed a hammer and started ripping up the floor.
At first, it was easy because there were areas that were already ruined enough to just pull up. Then, it got difficult. It was taking a long time to get very little done. My husband thought he needed a different tool; he thought he needed a tile gun that would heat the tile enough to pull it up. So, I borrowed one; this was not the solution. The tile gun was just a glorified hair dryer. The tensions were starting to rise. Then, I decided to go to the hardware store and see what they suggested. After consulting the hardware store, I came home with a destruction bar to help, and it did help. The floor was torn up in no time. Then, my dad and I swooped in to get the new floor down. While this process took a while, it went smoothly.
So, what went wrong in the first part? Some project management steps were missing in the early stages that could have made this project go more smoothly. First, while I had a conversation with my SME (my dad) and with my team member (my husband), I should have had all of us meet together at the same time. This communication model would have helped all of us be on the same page, and it would have helped my husband clarify how to best perform his role (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008). Also, as a project manager, I needed to give my team member the proper tool for success (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008). Since my team member was not naturally good at home improvement, I needed to spend extra time planning his needs. Also, the project would have moved more quickly if I hadn’t included my team member in the decision-making. Unfortunately, that was not a choice in this situation.
Overall, the project ended up being a successful. However, it would have went more smoothly by have a better communication plan and better tools for my husband.
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project
management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Oh how I relate to the problems and triumphs associated with D.I.Y. house projects! I didn’t even think about how these experiences could be viewed through the project management lens—what a great idea of a practical and relevant example. My husband and I bought a 2-bedroom ranch-style brick home three years ago and have since redone 80% of the flooring, replaced or repainted EVERY wall and trim, removed a wall, and completely redone two full bathrooms. I love it, but as I reflect on your post, I can now see how a project manager’s perspective and process could be invaluable to these projects.
ReplyDeleteWhen we first moved into the home, like you and your husband, we knew we would need both expert help as well as just extra hands for simple tasks. Our SME was a contractor friend who also provided us with the wood for our flooring. My dad (a self-appointed SME) disagreed with this contractor on a few points which left my husband and I stressed at how to resolve the situation with everyone’s pride and desire to still help intact! Had my husband and I been a bit more methodical with a Work Breakdown Structure and Linear Responsibility Chart we may have had less friction on our “team.”
Like project managers, my husband and I also dealt with scope creep during our recent bathroom remodel. Did you find in this project that your budget and timeline seemed to grow day-by-day? Seems to be a common problem in D.I.Y, but maybe with the application of some components of the PM process that too could be diminished or avoided!
As a Project Manager, it’s important to be cognizant of the five life phases that a project goes through, which are (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008):
ReplyDelete1. Conceive – an idea is born; you and your husband initiated a house improvement project to receive a high appraisal value for your home.
2. Define – a plan is developed; you and your husband determined the bathroom floor needed to be replaced.
3. Start – a team is formed; your team was your husband and you communicated with an SME, who is your dad.
4. Perform – the work is done; the floorboards were replaced, but the unexpected scope creep impacted the process (taking longer than expected) to complete the project.
5. Close – the project is ended; goal of replacing the floorboard was achieved.
I believe you realized the importance of evaluating your home improvement project when you conducted a post mortem. You found several areas of the project that could have been improved upon, such as communication, budget, and resources (i.e., tools and other people like the hardware store employee). In addition, you mentioned how missing steps affected the process of completing the project, one specifically being communication, and that if you used a communication model it would have been beneficial. Which communication model?
A Statement of Work (SOW) will help you determine the following (Portny et. al., 2008):
• Purpose
• Objectives
• Constraints
• Assumptions
You obliviously knew the purpose of the project (raise the appraisal value of home) and objectives (newly modeled bathroom floor), and it appeared that you anticipated the constraints (husband’s lack of knowledge regarding home repairs). What about assumptions? Portny et. al. (2008) posits assumptions are statements regarding uncertain information the project manager is taking as fact while conceiving, planning, and performing the project.
Reference:
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
This scenario sounds like my husband’s approach to projects when my input is excluded from his home improvement plans. You noted that project steps were missing but to be a little more specific we can say that it was the needs analysis. According to the role of the SME, I want to include that he should not only provide instruction, but to recommend the instructional material which your husband required from start to finish.
ReplyDeleteI have had experiences when there is lack of an in-depth analysis and I am left with newly purchased materials which I have no need for. One situation was when my husband called me on the phone and asked me to buy tiles for repairing the bathroom, I bought the requested number and half of these tiles were not used for the job. Learned my lesson well and now, I do not drive a stroke without a needs analysis, measurement and all must be part of the planning.
I enjoyed reading this report and I am happy to know that return on investment would not be negative, because the previous tools used were borrowed rather than bought. We often hear of “seeking a second opinion” and we can relate this to needs analysis which falls right into the Statement of Work.
These experiences make things better next time around.
Becky,
ReplyDeleteI agree that working on home project can be extremely stressful and hard; especially when you are working with a loved one. Organization is an important key to any project. Our course text explains that a project should be planned based on life cycle phases (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008). I believe that in your define phase your team should have spent a little more time planning and that would have avoided wasted time and money on the project. It is important to have a project strategy before you begin any job and of course having a backup strategy should always be planned. Your team got the job done which is great. The great thing is that your team learned from your experience and I am sure that on your next home project you and the team will be able to plan things better.
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project
management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.