When I work as a Renovation Coach I do the following:
Trace problems to their source
Evaluate options for remediation
Guide you in your project – step-by-step
Help avoid future problems
Critique conflicting contractor propositions
Find solutions that fit your house and your climate
Help point hired help in the right direction
Have 40+ years of broad experience in residential building science
Am independent – judging people and products on their performance
Work as your personal aid in understanding and making decisions
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The term COACH is suddenly all over the internet and means different things to different people.
Traditionally a “coach” helped an athlete to perfect himself/herself or get a bunch of athletes to work together as a team. The term “coach” spread to the arts with voice coaches and dance coaches. With the explosion of the web we now have coaches for everything we do or want to do with leadership coaches, financial coaches, personal improvement coaches, spiritual coaches and even renovation coaches. As with most trends on the web, there is no real definition of what a coach is or what he/she does hence there are no standards to qualify a coach. Anyone can claim the title of “Renovation Coach”.
RENOVATION COACHING
Coaching is about training, educating, guiding and backing up the homeowner. A contractor could act as a coach, but he is not impartial, or not necessarily looking at alternatives that are not in his toolbox. Yes, impartiality and broad experience allows your coach to help identify DIY opportunities or necessities to hire specialized contractors or even general contractors.
Renovation is a lot of work for a homeowner, whether they Do It Yourself or hire contractors. A renovation coach can help you with both paths, helping you see what you must do, and when to do it to keep a project on a timeline and a budget. Renovations rarely work well by hiring someone to realize your dreams and you disappear to let it happen. A renovation coach is part of your renovation team.
“Coaching” is generally less expensive than “Project Management” because you, the homeowner, retain the ultimate responsibility for the flow of the project.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
In the construction/renovation business, there is a professional job function that is today largely confused with “coaching”: Project Management.
Project management is controlling the flow of a defined project: who goes where and when and with what materials. The management objective is to get things done in the right sequence, in the most efficient time and nobody steps on someone else’s toes. A project manager usually works from a predefined project and executes what was defined for them by someone else. For a large project or company, this is a specialized job within the company; for a small contractor whoever is in charge of the work site usually fulfills this requirement. For a DIY job, even with specialized subcontractors like plumbers and electricians, the management job falls on the homeowner.
Project managers sometimes work within a construction company. As most projects today require some use of specialized trades, sometimes project managers act as an independent business coordinating independent contractors and suppliers for a specific project. For smaller jobs, the small renovator may have someone to manage all of that, or they do it themselves as best they can while working on the job at the same time. So, although renovation project managers can certainly choose to call themselves renovation coaches, not all coaches take on the responsibility of project management. Unfortunately, the term “coach” allows some individuals to take on project management without the training or contacts necessary to do that job well. On the other hand, project managers don’t always see the larger picture.
THE HOUSE AS A SYSTEM
To me, “Renovation Coaching” for homeowners is less about actually managing a project, and more about guiding a project – conception – limitations – opportunities – identifying causes -- avoiding problems. The Coach sees the larger picture, the house as a system, and clearly identifies the underlying causes of problems that need to be addressed before the good-looking renovation.
For the homeowner, a Coach’s job is encouraging and guiding you to do what you can reasonably do well yourself – or even guide you to realize your limitations and suggest when you need to hire out part or all of the project. If there are a lot of different contractors involved in the project, a coach could even suggest that you need to hire a project manager to coordinate the work if one of the contractors is not equipped to provide that overseeing service themselves.
As I see it, coaching is about technical details about buildings and products, or evaluating services offered by others, or guiding you with your instincts about what can or cannot be done, or what you want to accomplish. A good renovation coach will have an even broader experience than specialized renovators, leading to identifying and redirecting the project to the source of a problem that needs to be addressed, rather than just covering up a problem. A coach should be independent of vested interests in products and contractors, looking out for your interests.
Yes, I do Renovation Coaching in solving problems or orienting the job to be done or even evaluating contractor’s work, but not Project Management in the sense of taking over your project.
Jon Eakes
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