“How much will it cost me to renovate the apartment?” he asked after sending me by email several photos of the apartment he had bought through a local broker.
“It's hard for me to estimate,” I replied. “It depends what it's for. What level of furnishing do you want? There are so many questions that need to be understood before getting started.”
The client went on to detail his expectations, and right after the call I contacted the local team so that they would prepare sketches and a detailed price quote for him.
I usually don't tend to get involved in renovating apartments, but rather connect my clients with the hive of suppliers that I or my clients have worked with and have had a good experience working with. I never recommend a supplier I don't know personally or whose work I haven't seen with my own eyes. In most cases we help developers build their own local hive of professionals based on our experience and their needs. I don't tend to, and don't like to, deal with private investors who come to renovate an apartment with fantasies or without familiarity with the local market and the consumption habits of the locals. In this case I departed from my practice because this is a regular client of the office who made several purchases through us in various countries.
I started by connecting the client with an interior designer I work with on apartments that I buy from receivers and sell to locals. I asked her to gather his needs and put them all on a plan, and perhaps we would also need visualizations. A week after the connection I received a call from her saying that the two or three hours of help had become a joint project of the client and his wife, and that the expected average per square meter is 3 times what the client had allocated...
I spoke with the client, explained the implications, and in a conference call we connected the plan to reality.
Our local team brought 3 price quotes from 3 different contractors. The client held Zoom calls, negotiated the final price and the specification, and decided to contract with one of the bidders.
At our last meeting before the works began I suggested that he take into account that there would be budget overruns (when are there not, in projects like this?), and that there would be surprises. We do know how contractors work…
The works were supposed to take about a month. In practice they took almost 3 months, with countless snags and delays. Since it is an old building, it became clear when the works began that the water piping was very old and the client agreed to replace it, which led to additional costs and additional working time. The pace of the works seemed to him, from his seat in Israel, too slow. And more.
And the client? After a month and a half he began to show signs of discomfort, and from there quickly moved on to blaming the contractor, the local team and me (and that is exactly the reason I make a point of not recommending suppliers).
When the renovation ended I promised myself that this was the last time I would assist in such a renovation process or recommend local suppliers.
Do you too like to focus on your own professional field? On the one hand there is my wish to always help, and on the other hand .... What do you think?
Stories are based on real situations, with identifying details changed. Not legal advice.
Translated from the Hebrew original. עברית