The best bathroom remodels involve a carefully choreographed dance of finish experts and subcontractors, accompanied by close designer-builder-client collaboration. Portland contractor Hammer & Hand knows the dance steps for beautiful, on-time, and on-budget bathroom remodels.
Portland, OR. April 20, 2011 – Successful bathroom remodels, whether simple surface updates, historically-accurate restorations, or modern master bath additions, require formidable management prowess. Why the need for highly accomplished coordination skills when working on the smallest room in the house? The concentration of finishes present in the bathroom.
Imagine cutting a cross-section through the wall of a bathroom. As in any room of the house, the wall’s framing, drywall and paint are exposed by the cut, but so are the tile, plumbing, electrical, fixture connections, and glass that is integral to every bathroom. Each additional material represents an additional tradesperson involved.
“The remodel of a bathroom means piling a whole bunch of tradespeople on top of one another in a space the size of a closet,” says Daniel Thomas, co-founder and CEO of Portland contractor Hammer & Hand (https://hammerandhand.com/). “And that requires some really skillful project management.”
This choreography of craftspeople and subcontractors might mean slotting a morning for trade A, followed by an afternoon with trade B so that trade A can come back the next morning to finish up in time for trade C to perform their work, and on and on. Each step in the process depends on previous steps, and impacts future ones. It’s all interconnected and tightly woven. Managing the process requires finesse and élan.
The concentration of finishes in bathroom remodels also makes the designer’s role crucial, elevating the importance of designer-builder-client collaboration in project development. ”The consumer is confronted by a massive maze of un-parsable information,” explains Thomas. “In our design/build collaborative process, the designer takes three thousand choices and distills them down to a handful of options that are right for the house, the budget, the client and that don’t disrupt the schedule or our critical path to project completion.”
Bathroom remodels by Hammer & Hand include:
1. The full gamut of design styles, from Victorian restorations to high concept modern designs.
2. Designer-builder-client collaboration that empower clients to make easy, informed decisions.
3. Expert project management and subcontractor coordination.
4. Craftsmanship, precision, and sustainable design and construction expertise.
“Don’t let the bathroom’s small size fool you,” says Thomas. “It’s a room that demands design intelligence, careful craft, and subcontractor choreography.”
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