As a residential painting company that works in the home services industry in San Diego, we work with a lot of homeowners going through extensive renovation projects. Sometimes, we are only one of more than a dozen contractors working on a house. While we are taking care of painting the interior or exterior of their San Diego home, there may be other contractors, such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, drywall installers, flooring contractors, HVAC specialists, and more working on other aspects of the home. It can get a little crazy!

We’ve seen our share of stressed out, overwhelmed homeowners, so we wanted to share a few tips to help you stay sane, even when everything around you seems to be in chaos.

Have a Plan

Nothing seems to stress out a homeowner more than a project that goes way over budget or takes much longer than expected. You may have heard from other people going through home renovations to plan on things taking twice as long and costing twice as much. This might be good advice for homeowners who don’t have a clue about what things actually cost, but we would recommend getting estimates (on cost and timeline) from respected, reliable contractors. Do your research and find out which contractors do what they say they will do, and avoid the ones who make lots of promises up front, but then don’t come through. By doing so, you will have a good idea of what to expect up front and avoid a ton of frustration.

Of course, it’s always a good idea to set aside some sort of contingency fund for when things don’t go exactly as planned, but if you’ve done your homework, you should have very few surprises.

You should also try to find contractors that communicate well. Very few things are more frustrating than working with contractors who show up unannounced, or worse, don’t show up when they say they will (and don’t call to let you know they won’t be coming after all). If you have trouble getting ahold of a contractor, or if he or she takes a long time to return your calls or emails in the bidding stage, you should consider that a red flag and probably look for a different contractor.

Another way you can plan ahead is by thinking about how you will conduct your normal, everyday activities while your house is being worked on. For example, when we do kitchen cabinet painting in San Diego homes, your kitchen may be out of commission for several days. Plan on either eating out, or cooking simple meals that you don’t need a full kitchen to pull off. Barbecuing is always a great option!

Take a Break

If you’re going through a lengthy remodeling project on your San Diego home, it may be necessary for your sanity to get away at some point. We don’t recommend leaving the country or traveling for a lengthy period of time, but maybe take a short weekend getaway at a local resort or even spend a couple of days at a friend’s house. Just removing yourself from the chaos for a couple of days can do wonders for your sanity!

Focus on the End Goal

When you start to feel like you’re going a little bit crazy, remember why you decided to undertake a remodeling project in the first place. Whether it was to gain more space, create a better layout, or just beautify your home, focus on that. If you have inspiration photos, keep those out where you can see them, and when you start to feel overwhelmed, take a look at them and remind yourself about the end goal.

Final Thoughts

We said it before, but it’s worth mentioning again—hire respected, reliable contractors! As residential painters in San Diego, we see people all the time who do house painting as a “side gig.” They usually offer great pricing, but typically aren’t licensed or insured. They also may have another full-time job that will take priority over your house painting project if push comes to shove, which will inevitably extend your project’s timeline.

If you’re in the market for a San Diego house painter for your upcoming remodeling project, we’d love the opportunity to earn your business. We offer professional service and have many, many satisfied customers in San Diego. Contact us today to get an estimate on interior or exterior house painting or cabinet painting.