There are many reasons why detailed planning is essential in renovation and construction. Good planning avoids a lot of changes as you go, and often changes are very disruptive if you have to go back and rebuild something already done. Good planning gives you a chance to see the whole picture, including work to be done and costs.
Every renovation has one or more “while-we-are-at-it” moments – moments where you realize it might be a great idea to do something more while you are at it. But those moments can destroy schedules and budgets. The more you can think of all of that ahead of time, the better your judgment will be about doing them or not. The fewer unplanned while-we-are-at-it projects, the smother things go.
One of the reasons for good sketches if not full scale plans is that you can clearly share your ideas with the family and any contractors or workmen before work begins – and keep it on track as you go.
Here is the animated story of my replacement of a very old small deck that originally was just a platform next to an above ground swimming pool. When we bought the house we transformed a kitchen window into a second patio door at the pool level, so obviously we had to rebuild the pool platform. But while-we-were-at-it we wanted to make it a little bigger. Then the family designers got involved and it grew, some of that growth happening after all the foundation pillars were poured and the vote was to change the back stairs to the deck. By the way, never tell the family the positive thinking mantra that “anything is possible”. Enjoy.