Why is remodeling such a charged experience for so many homeowners?

From a strictly hard-nosed, economic point of view, your home is the most valuable thing you’ll ever own. And when you think about it, to be able to spend money on fixing it up is a great privilege.

So it’s doubly tragic when something you should enjoy and take pride in goes horribly awry. On a psychological level, our homes are a reflection of who we are. They’re very near and dear to our hearts, so operating on them is like operating on one of your kids. You want it to turn out really, really well.

How do you differ from a general contractor on projects?

Ayotte Solutions has dug the ditches, worn the tool belt mastered business management and engineering. We do not carrying the perspective of a builder or an architect.

Ayotte Solutions is an unbiased representative standing in the middle understanding the thinking of all around, seeing it happen in many different ways. So what people buy when they hire Ayotte Solutions is a no-agenda opinion. We call it not how we see it, but  by how the reality presents itself, in black and white.

Feedback to that way of thinking is appreciation for the objectivity. Having that third-person-in-the-room factor becomes very important during the project, as Ayotte Solutions assures that everyone’s input is considered and weighed — you, architect, builder and key project participants.

At what stage of a project are you typically called in?

In the "perfect" world, Ayotte Solutions is involved when you are scratching your head wondering what to do. A lot of the work is psychological, listening to what’s bothering the client and what they want to — or think they want to — solve. There’s also the financing. People tend to get a fixed idea about what they want to happen, and they minimize in their mind what it would take to realize that idea.

Why do they minimize? You could blame the media, which has a tendency to make remodeling look easy. Or it could just be human nature. On almost every job, people underestimate how much time and money will be involved.

Any advice for keeping projects on budget?

On the design front, be very careful if you hear the word “just.” People seem to think that the volume is what counts. “I’m just bumping out the kitchen four feet,” they say. Well you might as well make it 40 feet, because it’s the corners that cost money.

Put yourself in the builder’s position. You’ve been told to build a bump-out. You cut your whole in the wall and, boom, you’re off. But as soon as you hit a corner everything stops. Careful cuts get made, fasteners get put in, trim added. So much of the labor is when you change direction. So on the design front, remember it’s the corners that count.