What You Should Expect From A Showroom
Makingthe decision to remodel your kitchen, bath or any other part of your home ishuge. It's fraught with anxiety and unknowns. A professional showroom's role isto ease the fear and eliminate stress. That's why it is important to understandthat a professional showroom offers more than cabinets, countertops andappliances. A professional showroom is in the business of providing peace ofmind.
How can you differentiate one showroom from another? Develop achecklist of information that a showroom needs to offer to help ensure peace ofmind. You should expect a showroom to provide the following information:
Schedule: An excellent showroom will notonly relate the anticipated start and end dates but the sequencing ofconstruction. Scheduling is particularly important for kitchens and bathsbecause of the lead times required for different products such as custom andsemi-custom cabinets and specialty finished fixtures.
The team: The schedule also shouldidentify which different trade professionals will be in your home and thetimeframe for their arrival and departure.
Protecting your home: Showrooms should tell youwho will lock up your home at the end of the day and how they are going toprotect the space. This may include a dust prevention plan and identifyingpaintings, valuables and other items that may have to be removed from adjacentwalls to protect them from potential damage.
Level of involvement and communication: Youshould expect a showroom to ask you how much you want to be involved in theproject. You should identify the decisions that you want to be involved withsuch as how you'd like tile to be placed or approving lighting location beforethe space is wired. Your showroom team should also determine the best time andmethodology for communicating with you if questions need to be answered orproblems need to be addressed during the day and after hours.
Showroom concerns: Your showroom should identifyconcerns that it has before a project begins. Showrooms have designed and builthundreds if not thousands of new kitchens. They understand that on everyproject there is a potential for the unknown. To reduce anxiety and potentialstress, expect your showroom to discuss the areas of concern it has beforedemolition begins.
Handling change orders: The procedure forhandling change orders should be agreed upon before a project begins. Changeorders are the result of a change in plans or uncovering the unexpected. Oftentimes change orders occur because the existing infrastructure of the home doesnot meet current code requirements. How the changes are communicated and agreedupon should be part of the planning process.
Documentation that you should expect: Atthe end of the project, you should receive all warranties on the products thatyou have purchased and installed, a set of final as-built plans, certificate ofoccupancy if required for the project, operation manuals for all products and aguideline for caring and maintaining your new space.
If you have other questions that you would like to have answeredbefore undertaking your renovation project, please call us at513-271-3490 or visit one of our two showrooms.
