Our life to date on this home renovation project has seemed like nothing but demo and mishaps. Everything of course taking longer than originally planned. Where we thought we would be in three months has taken more like six months. But now it is time to move on and put this house back together. Time for it to go into a three month treatment plan of healthy eating, wellness and a few little nips and tucks. Re-emerging years younger and healthier. Where no one will recognize it!

The Assessment

So now that we have pretty much completed the interior demo and have hopefully found all of the surprises, my vertigo starts to settle. But let’s not get too excited as there is still a lot of work ahead of us. As we stop and assess the tasks that we still need to complete, we also start to assess our limitations. We already know that we are not doing windows, beam, siding, plumbing for washer, foundation, and electrical ourselves. Professionals are being brought in for those tasks. So what is left? Well a lot! Oh my! My vertigo is returning. Can we ever complete this?

The Project Plan – AKA Gantt Chart

Learning from our lack of demo planning, and in order to provide clarity and help me wrap my head around everything that is left, I turn to my project planning background. Time to put a project plan in place, see what needs to be done, layout a timeline and track status. We need to identify what will be done by external parties and what will be done by us.

So I build a Gantt chart. Yes a GANTT chart! Excitement sets in! I know, obviously I don’t get out much. My husband laughs at me as he asks… ‘what the heck is a Gantt chart?’. What? Doesn’t everyone know what a Gantt chart is. I start to explain in great detail and exuberance as I watch his eyes start to glaze over. I am sensing a total Dilbert moment. Why is he not as engaged and excited as me? The house also starts looking bored and saying… really… let’s focus on my update! Shocked and confused by this I say… ‘simply put it is a project schedule in a bar chart format’. See Wikipedia definition below.

‘A Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule, named after its inventor, Henry Gantt (1861–1919), who designed such a chart around the years 1910–1915.^[1][2] Modern Gantt charts also show the dependency relationships between activities and current schedule status.’

I choose to download a free software app for the project plan, as I do not have one at home. I choose the viProject app. It is simple yet effective, allowing me to layout all tasks, link tasks, assign tasks to resources, track time, track costs, and capture notes. Unfortunately the reporting side is limited if you want to print or email the plan to anyone. Otherwise it fits the bill for what I am looking for. So I create the detailed schedule. The list is quite extensive, but the schedule gives us a better insight of what tasks remain.

Resource Planning

But now, looking at the project to do list and schedule, I am not sure what we are looking at is reassuring or if it is more overwhelming. We just look at each other and say… ‘crap there is a lot left to do… who are we kidding… we don’t have the skillset for all of this’. YouTube can only get you so far. Unless of course you want to take two years to complete this project. Which based on how this project is going so far, may be exactly where we end up.

Fortunately my husband has more flexibility in his work schedule than I do. So we plan for him to go out for longer stretches to complete this project in a more timely fashion. But he can’t do it alone. So who can help us without having to hire a contractor and costing a fortune? Ummmm… I know… family! Ah yes… family can be great resource. It is just the art of convincing them that this would be fun, fulfilling and an adventure full of joy, laughter and self discovery. Not the true horror story that it really is. Shhh, don’t tell them. That goes for you to house… as the house is rolling its eyes. So here goes nothing!

But who to reel in? As we assess the family, there are many hands that we could call in, but land on my step father. You see my step dad has experience building cottages, and can provide a lot of experience that we do not have. So skilled labour, retired and hopefully sympathetic to our cause. Sounds perfect! Time to prep our sales pitch.

The Call

We place the call to my step father. ‘Hello… how are you? What a wonderful day. We haven’t seen you in a awhile? Would you like to come for a visit? Oh and yes would you like to help us on the house? Just for support and for coaching of course. You don’t need to do much work. We will, or I should say, my husband will do the work. You just need to guide and coach him. Free room and board. Just a nice vacation and visit with us. Doesn’t that sound like fun? And fulfilling?’

He falls for it… hook, line and sinker. Hey, we are good… He says… ‘sure, when and for how long’. We plan on when and say around two weeks. We book his flight out, but with no return flight. HA! HA! We have him now. As, in fact we are not sure how long it will take and have no clarity on when he will be able to return. Will we keep him?… Let him return?… Who knows how the story will end.

He is like, ‘um this is only a one way ticket’. Concern sounds in his voice, and with good reason, as I think he now believes he may be held captive by the house. Well, stranger things have been known to happen on this project. You never know. Like entering a haunted house and never escaping. We reassure him, and my mother, that all is well and he will eventually return home! He then asks the ill fated question: what tasks do we need to work on? I hold on to that information for awhile, as I don’t want to dishearten him just yet. I tell him I have created a Gantt chart and the project schedule is coming. ‘What is a Gantt chart he asks?’… Really?

But in all seriousness, we are very lucky he says yes. Given his experience we know he can greatly help and educate us. Lucky for him he has not yet seen the list of tasks ahead of him. However, if we do want him to be able to return home, we need to plan out the work we need his help with. So the infamous Gantt chart is updated where his name is assigned to specific tasks. So what do we have in store for him? Well let’s list out the key duties to be accomplished in the two weeks as we start to plan to pull the house back together. The house is on pins and needles waiting to hear what we have in store and what its makeover will include. What about you? Are you on the edge of your seat?

The Two Week Task List

The list is totally manageable, nothing extreme. My husband is not convinced. Why it only includes a few tasks… including: demo deck cover, build deck stairs, install support beam under deck, frame in some walls upstairs, install pre-hung interior doors, frame downstairs basement walls, remove the old window air conditioner and patch, install subfloor in kitchen, and remove insulation in workshop. Totally feasible in two weeks! I think my husband’s and house’s faces all just turned grey. What, am I being over zealous? Well I am trying to stay positive. I have total faith in them.

Once we share the plan with my step dad there is initial silence as he begins to see what this trip holds for him and fears his initial thoughts are correct…. that he may not return from the next chapter of this story. Stay tuned to see… does the work get done in 2 weeks? Will he return from the dark abyss of this house or will he also succumb to falling down the rabbit hole with us? I think I see the glow of the Cheshire cat’s grin in the back ground. But don’t tell my step dad ok?

So my friends hang on tight as we take this turn on the roller coaster ride and see what dips and dives await for us on this track of the journey.