William Reid: [00:00:00] I am going to go out on a limb here. Checklists suck. I'm going to tell you why. I'm going to take a little break from the world of design, take a detour, and talk about why you're probably just overwhelmed and not even sure where to start. I went online to several social media accounts that are promoting remodeling checklists, new home checklists, all kinds of checklists. I went to a few of them and I'm following them, and I'm getting fed all their information and just, for example, one of them on an Instagram feed took me 30 seconds to scroll through the information on. Obviously a promotional piece to sell a group of checklists.

Another one displayed 40 different checklists that appear that a homeowner could buy and use to navigate their [00:01:00] project. I went onto YouTube. I went everywhere. I just went all over the place, and now I know why you are just paralyzed, because there's just, it's just fragmented out there. What are you expected to do? Download 15 different YouTube channels, purchase six different sets of checklists because they each cover different things. How do you even know what you need to checklist off of? I'm also noticing that some of the people that are selling this stuff aren't even experienced professionals in the world of construction and managing projects.

We're going to move into the studio and talk about this because although checklists on the surface may look great, I don't know, man, if I can't figure them out, I'm sure somebody who's never remodeled a home before can figure them out and it's spurred a whole idea that I have, that I'm already actually working on. And you need one home to go to. Let's talk about it.

All right, we're back in the [00:02:00] studio and we're taking a detour from the world of Design series because something's been on my mind and it's about information overload that's happening on the web for just about everything. But today we're talking about designing and building your new home or remodel project.

And the amount of information out there is just confusing homeowners, I believe, more than ever, and scaring everybody about where to start, what they need to know, where do they, what do they do first, second, third, and I just think it's becoming too much. And a big instigator of this is the web and social media influencers that are selling checklists, systems, different consulting services, all over the internet and social media, and it's getting concerning because I think it's not helping, even though the [00:03:00] individual checklist may help for specific areas.

I think as a whole, it's just creating more and more information that a homeowner needs to really get through. And I really don't think that's helping. So I want to talk about that so that you know what you're up against before you start downloading and buying checklist after checklist and subscribing to different paid blogs and consulting services because not all of them are going to be a good fit for you.

The overall theme today with this episode is combining strategic preparation with professional expertise. This is how I think you can remodel and what I mean by that is what should be done before you go see a design professional and how you go about doing that. And that you need to depend on an architect or a designer, and [00:04:00] sometimes a builder to guide you through the process, regardless of how many different checklists are out there in the world. So professionals are really your solution when you get down to it. And showing up unprepared can be just as problematic as drowning in digital overwhelm.

I went ahead and took a look at how many social media influencers are out there across different platforms, and I came up with 15,000 different social media influencers specifically in the home improvement space. And then not to mention all the people on DIY blogs and Pinterest creators, and they're all selling stuff from $8 to $250 for a remodel planner, quote unquote, on Etsy and all different types of websites. And they're all claiming that it's the only thing that you as a homeowner will need, and they're quote unquote foolproof.

And the reality [00:05:00] is that it's a lot of fragmented work and lists that are just spread out all about that is just going to confuse you even more about which ones to use, who to go to. So that's the biggest thing right now, is the fragmentation problem of all the information out there for you to develop a cohesive plan.

The psychology behind decision overload starts with excessive information. When you have excessive information your tendency is either to not make decisions and therefore procrastinating and dragging out the process, or making the wrong decisions and having negative results and specifically in remodeling and building. One of the things that's contributing to this fatigue is the fact that when you make a remodeling or home building decision, it feels really significant and [00:06:00] permanent and it's not easy to back up from that once the foundation's poured or once the walls are built.

Although it's not impossible, it feels a lot more permanent. So this fatigue that's happening and why people are overwhelmed is you've got the fact that there's a lot of decisions you have no idea how to make those decisions and afraid to make the wrong one and know that they're really a permanent situation. And then you've got all these people throwing things at you from all different angles. How to design, how to build, how to hire, and all the different design ideas. And you've got all that. Next thing you know, you're sitting in front of your computer, you've paid for three different checklists. You have 15 different YouTube channels you're subscribing to, and you've got 50 browser tabs open.

Trying to figure all this out, saving pictures to Pinterest. And by the way, the last count was there's 47 million pictures of kitchens [00:07:00] on Pinterest. Good luck with that. You're trying to save everything that you can. Eventually you give up. Eventually everybody gives up, but it's how you go about it to overcome some of this stuff.

When we look at some of these digital tools that are being promoted out there, a couple things that are concerning to me. Number one, some of these are being created by people who have never managed construction projects before, never designed anything, or have very little experience, and they're more of a marketer. They're like selling things because they've been designing kitchens for a year or two years or they haven't built anything. They've just designed stuff and haven't been involved in the construction side of things. To me, if you've got somebody telling you how to design something, they really need to have an understanding of how it's built and implemented.

I want to really emphasize that. So you've got people that have no clue, but they're trying to sell a list and then you've got people with some [00:08:00] experience and then there are people out there that do have experience, but there are a lot fewer than there are of the other. So that's my first problem with this whole checklist and remodel system concept.

Now, that said, there are some good ones out there that can be valuable. And some of them are expensive, but it's because they're worth it. You've got architects that have been in business for 20, 30 years that are coming up with systems and how to tackle a project. You've got home builders like myself that coordinate the design and construction of projects that are coming up with more comprehensive, cohesive systems for people to just go to one location. So that's my biggest problem.

Number two is there's a strategic thinking process that needs to happen and you need to do it, but you have no clue how to do it. A lot of these checklists and systems and [00:09:00] forms are more of like reactive tools, they are designed to organize information that you already have or that you know you need to have. But what if you don't know what you need to have? There's nobody asking you questions. There's nobody guiding you. That's another big problem with these checklists. If you have some experience or you've, let's say you've done two or three projects in your lifetime. You might be a good candidate for cherry picking all of these little checklists all over the place and assembling something that works for you. But that's pretty rare, I think. I think most people, even the people that do have experience, still get overwhelmed.

Frankly, I got overwhelmed. I went scrolling through some of these applications, and it took me just on Instagram because I was starting to follow all these people and taking me 30 seconds just to scroll through the list of services [00:10:00] clearly trying to sell me something, and I was not interested in being sold something. I really wanted to understand the solution and how it's going to make my life easier. There's a lot of those like that, and I was really surprised, and it's because although they may profess that they know what they're doing and they, maybe they do, but it came from a marketing and sales approach, which to me is a big red flag. That's a big part of what we're talking about today.

The other one is these are generic solutions for unique situations, custom home building and remodeling and renovating is very specific to a property, to a person, to an area, and to a project type. So these generic lists are, I guess can be useful, but there's an awful lot of information that's in there that you don't need, and there's information that you're missing that you [00:11:00] do need because there's no way to have that interaction to understand what you really need.

So therefore you're tasked to go through all of these lists and try to figure out what you want and what you don't want. And half the time you don't know what you don't want. You don't know what you don't know. So that is the biggest concerns with this whole checklist. And I want you to be really careful about how much money you spend downloading. And be careful that some of these are old. They're not really that current. Some of them are, but a lot of them have been around for a while and are outdated, and that person is not updating them, and therefore the value of those goes down.

When it comes time to engage with a professional, it's really best to have prepared ahead of time in order to make that experience as productive as possible. [00:12:00] You could just show up to an architect and say I think I want to renovate my home. Can you help me with 200 pictures from Pinterest? And they're going to really have to start from ground zero with you. And you haven't been able to like, gain enough knowledge yourself to be able to convey exactly what you think you want for the project.

So they're going to have to stop everything and work with you. And that's okay. They do that, they're used to doing that. But there's a way that you can do that on your own with the proper tools. So like in the book that I wrote, the Awakened Homeowner in the discovery section, which is the very first part of the book, I take you through some steps that are good. Now, there's no checklist, there's no systems that I'm selling you. It's a book that's a tenth of the cost of some of these checklists that you can go through on your own and create. Just, at least you understand the methodology there so that you can share [00:13:00] with them your personal profile, your property profile, your inspirations and ideas and your budget.

So the professional consultation is an important element. You can't forget about that in order to guide you through the process.

So what we want to talk about now is what can you look for in help online that you can get started on your own with that will prepare you to then engage with an architect and designer. So I came up with a list of things to look for and honestly, I haven't found it yet out there, but I still think it's important for you to understand like why you need this. And if you can't get it from a checklist or an application, then I would recommend you go through a few of the Discovery Series steps and then start talking to an architect. But here's some things to be thinking about in what [00:14:00] I call like a guided thinking system. So this is not just print out some checklists and go through it.

It's about who can help you or what can help you start thinking about your project. Think about a platform that does the cognitive work for you. So it's asking the right questions in the right order and explains why the questions matter. So you are learning, you're answering, and you're building up the information that an architect or a contractor's going to need. It's going to walk you through budgeting exercises, at least something so that you can build some kind of budget and financial analysis so that you can understand how much you want to invest in the project or in the property before you engage with anybody, because you can talk all day long and have 400 Pinterest pictures and be as excited as all get out.

[00:15:00] But if your budget does not align with your dreams and visions, it's all a complete waste of time. So we need an application that helps you think through the process, and then it helps you develop some type of budget based on the steps and the questions that were asked of you. And then the next thing is it's going to help you analyze your inspiration and your images for you so that you can then share those with design professionals. We're looking for an application like that can guide you through the process. It's an intelligent application that begins to learn who you are and understand your wants and needs and wishes. How much money you want to invest and do all this before you meet with anybody, because once you sit with an architect or a designer and you have this information, they're going to really respect you and be able to bypass all of [00:16:00] that beginning information and then help you a lot better.

So that's what we're talking about is strategic guidance, not just empty templates. It's having an experienced project manager guiding you, sitting like right next to you, guiding thinking, step by step.

Okay. So now that we have the guided thinking system, this, by the way, this guided thinking system can be a person or it could be a web-based application, or it could be a checklist, or it could be a home remodel system or home building system that an architect developed. It could be any of these things. From a person standpoint, it could be a consulting package that people offer, but be thinking about this guided thinking system. But before you do that, you also want to understand who created the system or who you're talking with. Basically the creator credibility. Do the people that you're [00:17:00] talking with or the application that you're using, or the checklist that you're downloading actually come from the design and construction background.

Design and construction, or at least a design professional that oversees construction or is involved in the construction somehow because the design's just part of it. It's the implementation that's just as important, if not more important to make sure it actually gets built. So verifying the creators design and construction background look for real project management experience. Have they actually managed a construction project? Have they done project scheduling? Do they know the critical path elements of a project, and most importantly, avoid these digital marketers posing as experts.

When I published my book, I went on and did quite a bit of research on who else has published books in the same area. [00:18:00] And most of them were people from the construction or design background, but there were some that never had ever, as far as I could tell in their profiles, in their bio, had ever run a construction company or ever run a design agency. But yet they were publishing books on these topics and I couldn't quite understand that.

It does exist that there's people out there to make money just to make money, and they might aggregate information. They might be a curator of information, but if you're not talking to somebody who's actually done it. Skip them. Don't even go there or skip that checklist or skip that application that you've downloaded and just get to the people that actually have done it. And that could be a real person or it could be an application.

As we get a little bit deeper here, it's becoming a little bit more difficult when it comes to utilizing something other than a human being [00:19:00] that's a professional in the design world, a construction world. And that's why we want to talk before you download lists or applications. You need to understand if this tool is going to understand you, is it going to understand your functional needs, your lifestyle requirements, the scope of work, the clarity of what you actually want to accomplish, not just I want to remodel my kitchen, but understand the problems that you want solved.

So that is how you use your space the non-negotiables versus the nice to haves, things like that. How is a checklist? Tell me. Going to figure that out. I can't figure it out, so it's probably not going to happen. I don't think a checklist, a human being with a system together. Is how it can work out.

Budget development is a really big one. The first thing on a [00:20:00] design professional's mind is, can these people afford this project that they're telling me about, telling you? That's what they're saying, because they don't want to waste their time. Even if they get paid, they don't want to waste their time because it's taking away from other clients. Have the appropriate budget for the scope of work that they want. So is this tool that you think you're getting or this application or checklist able to come up with some sort of reasonable budget or realistic budget so that you can process that before you start engaging with an architect or a designer, or when you talk with an architect or a designer with your project scope in mind?

Are they able to help you at the beginning, establish a budget, not just gut instinct, not just words, but an actual formula, an actual system or a process to come up with a budget for the project you think you want to build, there's ways to do that. It's still at a high [00:21:00] level, but it's much better than just saying, ah, it'll probably be a million dollars. What is that? What is that based off of? What does that mean? It, on the other hand, it's hard to price out a job before it's designed. This is the biggest problem in this business, but there's got to be a way to get a little bit closer so that you can make informed decisions about where to go and who to hire. So that's a big part of this project development aspect of these checklists or these systems, is the project definition, the inspiration management, and the budget development, so that you are assembling all of these components in a way for somebody to serve you.

So a checklist isn't going to do, the checklist is going to tell you, don't forget the outlets in the laundry room. Don't forget the gutter style. You know they're going to, they're going to help you with all that. But they are helpful, don't get me wrong, but they're not the solution. So don't go spending hundreds of dollars on checklists until [00:22:00] you've done some of your own introspection. Before you go out and engage with architects and designers.

The next component that we want to talk about, whether it's from a human or for from a checklist, is what type of design professionals do you need? Do you even know? If you're building a home, do I just need an architect? Do I don't know? Maybe you need an interior designer. Maybe you need a civil engineer, a structural engineer. Maybe you have to hire him. Maybe you don't have to hire him. Maybe you need to understand the trees, maybe you need an arborist. There's just, there could be upwards of 10 to 20 different designers and consultants involved in a large scale custom home project. So is this checklist helping you with that?

Is the web tool that you found helping you with that as a homeowner? I haven't found one yet. And if you find one that you feel is accomplishing all these goals I'm talking about today, [00:23:00] please leave it in the comments, in the YouTube comments or send me an email. I'd even love an email from you and that'll all be in the show notes.

The budget of the project can directly relate to the matching of the professional to help you. If you're on an extremely tight budget and have lofty goals, some of the better architects are probably not going to be available to help you because they're busy with other projects that are better aligned. Who's helping you with that? Aligning the budget with the scope of work that you want to do and balancing that. So that's what I call the budget balance. You're budgeting the project with the value of your home and your neighborhood and the budget, and then your budgeting, your desires and your dreams and wishes with the budget. Who's doing that for you? Do you know how to do that? Is the checklist helping you [00:24:00] with that? Is the home system helping you with that?

When it is time to attract design professionals, I know it sounds weird, but you kind of have to attract design professionals to you and your project because for the most part, they're pretty busy. Even in mediocre economic times, they're still busy. And also, even if they're not. The mental investment that a designer has in a project is extensive and they don't want to waste their energy on projects or people that are not prepared, that are not realistic, that haven't thought through their project, even though their job is to help you think through your project. You still want to come prepared and attract good designers because good designers. Superior architects, if they know a client is realistic and has got their head together, they're going to be more attracted to your project and frankly might even tailor their fees [00:25:00] accordingly because they know they're going to be productive. That every pencil that's put to paper, if people even do that anymore is going to be productive because it's clear.

It's clear to the designer where we're going with this project. It's the people that show up and say, I don't know what I want and I want a 4,000 square foot home and I have a $300,000 budget. You're not going to get anywhere. You're going to get garbage results from a designer, if you can even help find one for that.

In this professional connection strategy we're talking about, we want a system that's going to provide an output for you to literally hand to an architect or email them a project profile so that they can visually see who you are, what you want, and how much you have to spend. It's pretty simple. Are any of these checklists doing that? Are these checklists helping you find and [00:26:00] hire an architect? They might be providing you a list of questions to ask, which is good. That's great. But that's like this minuscule little amount of what this entire process is. So what are we getting out of this system? What are we getting from all these hundreds of checklists that literally produce something for me to help me go start my project. What is happening here? I am not seeing it. I'm just seeing mounds and mounds of checklists and I'm not sure which one to start with.

Okay, so now we've talked about how to attract professionals and then let's talk about the power of the strategic preparation. So we're taking a generic list and generic criteria, and we're converting them into strategic conversations with professionals. So you're giving them a jumpstart with all the information that you've [00:27:00] gathered, and hopefully you've found a solution for it. But again, this whole podcast episode is about, it's not about a mound of checklists, so what is out there that's going to help you get there?

When you're empowered with that information and that output, the professionals can then give specific strategic advice tailored to your situation. So it's a custom business, which there's fewer and fewer custom businesses out there today. Everything's getting more systemized and productized. And building a new home, custom or remodeling even more so remodeling an existing home. There's no two alike. There's a lot of the same components and some of the same ideas, but there's just no two alike and there's no human beings alike. So what system is creating this information that's shareable to an [00:28:00] architect or a designer? Is it the checklist you're finding? Is it a proprietary home design management system to a specific construction company that you're kind of locked into? What is out there? I know I keep saying that, but what are we? Look, this is what we're looking for and I need your help to find it. Because I can't find it.

I think you can see where I'm going with this is you can create a partnership, collaboration experience with architects and designers that are going to ultimately take all of your ideas and transform into something. It turns into more of a collaborative relationship versus a dependent relationship, right? So you're now informed and you're now working together with the professional. They see you as a serious client who respects their expertise. You need that expertise. No matter how many checklists you download, you still need somebody to help you through the process. So [00:29:00] that is one of the biggest benefits of the human interaction combined with the preparation that we're talking about today and today's about how are you going to prepare and what are you going to use to prepare.

This cohesive strategy is compared to disconnected activities. So the project definition informs the inspiration, drives the budget, and guides the professional selection as they are trying to fulfill your needs and wants and wishes and dreams. So when you approach an architect as a prepared homeowner, you're going to get more specific strategy advice you're going to get more detailed recommendations than the surface level guidance that will just keep sending you off down on these garden paths. [00:30:00] Contractors, designers, architects prefer prepared clients, and those clients get better service and more valuable guidance.

It's simple as that professionals can focus on strategy instead of basic education. I know that's easier said than done, and I know you're trying hard to become educated, but I'm really concerned that it's going the wrong direction. With all of the information out there, with the checklists and everything you're going to get better advice, better matching with your professionals, you're going to have more confident decisions. The consultations that you have are going to be more productive and you're going to find the best fit for your professional.

All right. I can keep going on and on with this, but I'm really concerned about the fragmented information and tools that are being presented to you out there, and I want you to be really careful. So let's talk about what I think [00:31:00] you should do. Stop collecting all these fragmented tools. Put down the random checklists and disconnected spreadsheets. Close the browser tabs and stop downloading all these random PDFs and end that fragment approach. Start to research platform creators. Verify the backgrounds and design and construction before investing time. Look for real credentials, project experience, professional background, and avoid digital marketers invest in guided thinking.

So the platforms you want to be looking at is to see if there's a guide there for you to ask, and answer questions. That helps you organize and do some of that cognitive work for you, and they take you in this stepping stone approach. Prepare strategically develop your project's, clarity, inspirations, and budget framework. So that you can be empowered to have [00:32:00] that information, talk to design professionals, and then use this information to connect and have professional conversations with design professionals.

I feel like I ranted a little bit here today but I want you to just be careful and I do want to recommend. I know, here we go with my sales pitch, but take a look at the book, the Awakened Homeowner. It's on Amazon and everywhere, and just go through that first discovery section. It's what I'm talking about, at least you get your thinking going on. Everything that you should do before you call an architect, and this is going to help you approach your project in a smart way. Frankly, you don't necessarily need a lot of tools and checklists. What you do need to do, what you do need to know is how to think about your project. Come at it from your life, your lifestyle, your family, your home. Focus on [00:33:00] how you envision living in your home. And how you know you'd like your home to look.

Everybody has their own idea of that. And go in prepared with your personal profile, your project profile, your inspirations and ideas, and your budget. And that first section talks about how to do that. And you don't need to download checklists to do that and start there. Then the following chapters, the World of Design teaches you all about design professionals and how to deal with them. The world of construction, same thing. And then the last chapter is how to go about building your team some ideas about how to do that.

So that's what I have for you today. Sorry for the rant, but I just, I'm worried about you. I'm Bill Reid with the Awakened Homeowner. Back to the Discovery Series. Next episode, we'll be talking about design consultants. Thanks for listening.