Start your renovation

The Best Renovations Start With
The Right Partnership

Sweeten has supported thousands of successful renovations. We’ve taken what we’ve learned from all of those plans and punch lists and built tools for renovators and general contractors to help better prepare for and navigate through the renovation process.

We’ve also developed some best practices – these explain the commitments and behaviors we ask both renovators and contractors to follow to successfully complete the renovation together.

Thank you for trusting Sweeten to help support you and your team as we remove the barriers between your vision and your renovation. Through our Standard and Renovation Financial Protection you can be assured you are in good hands from start to finish.

Commit To The Partnership

For Renovators

The team you hire to work in your home is a critical partner in making your vision a reality. Nurture this valuable relationship as you would any other professional partnership.

Your crew will handle the day to day but your role as the client will demand time, effort, and follow-through to bring your vision to life.

Your home is their job. Respect and expect boundaries between your personal space and their professional domain.

For General Contractors

Honor the trust your client has placed in you and your team by providing reliable guidance, sound decisions, thoughtful customer service, and clear communication.

Your job is their home. Ensure that your clients feel that they have your commitment, care, and focus when it comes to working in their personal space.

Assume the Best Intentions

For Renovators

  • Show appreciation for your team’s skills and ideas, as well as the value of their time.
  • Expect competitive pricing, but don’t expect your GC to work without making a profit. Your GC needs to make sure they are managing their business sustainably.
  • Recognize when conditions and complications beyond your GC’s control may reasonably alter plans.
  • Treat everyone with respect in every interaction.

For General Contractors

  • Be realistic about timelines. Being accommodating is important, being accurate is even more so.
  • Get creative about controlling costs without cutting corners. There will inevitably be budget pressure—take the time to make sure your client is well informed about any trade-offs to make the best decisions possible.
  • Your client should feel like the job is complete and that you have worked diligently to meet their expectations.
  • Treat everyone with respect in every interaction.

Stay Organized

For Renovators

  • Make decisions on details before demo begins. Figuring out fixtures and finishes before you begin will help avoid surprises and delays.
  • Ask questions. Lots of them. If the plans are hard to visualize, ask your contractor to walk you through them in your space.
  • Be proactive about checking your contractor’s work. Identifying issues early can save time and money down the line.
  • Make payments to your team on time.

For General Contractors

  • Stay on top of scheduling, and clearly communicate changes in advance, especially when a client is planning to meet you on site.
  • Establish a regular cadence for communicating project progress.
  • Set expectations about site supervision and general staffing so that your client understands who will be in their home and when.
  • Recap in-person conversations with a written record to memorialize decisions made.
  • Maintain an orderly site.

Stay in Sync

For Renovators

  • Decide upfront how you will document scope changes with your contractor so that you’re both clear on budget and timeline implications.
  • Don’t hesitate to express respectful concerns at any point in the process, but be sure to give your GC an opportunity to address and resolve issues.
  • Keep in mind that your needs and preferences for using your space during construction may compromise your crew’s ability to work, and be clear about working within bounds set by your building and neighbors.

For General Contractors

  • If you discover conditions that require changes to the plan or budget, discuss them proactively with your client and give them an opportunity to respond.
  • Provide clear tracking of change orders in writing and get explicit approval for solutions before moving forward.
  • Demonstrate that you have the willingness and expertise to work through issues.
  • Complete work in accordance with local laws and building requirements, and with consideration for neighbors.

Communicate Clearly

For Renovators

  • Articulate requests directly to your general contractor.
  • Be clear about what you want, don’t be afraid to speak up, and communicate so that your team can understand priorities.
  • Recognize your own communication preferences and consider your crew’s.
  • Your GC has other professional and personal commitments. Avoid peppering them with multiple message threads. Think strategically about effective communications and maintain reasonable expectations for response times.

For General Contractors

  • Update your client on progress and scheduling.
  • Communicate clearly and organize your thoughts and priorities so that your client can understand them.
  • Recognize your own communication preferences, consider your client’s, and use communication methods that will help you all track progress and document decisions.
  • Your client has many demands on their own time and energy. Work with them to coordinate scheduling collaboratively.
  • Respond in a reasonably timely manner to requests and inquiries.

Here For You For The Duration of Your Project

If you are unsatisfied with your GC’s efforts to meet these expectations, or for support with any other issue related to your Sweeten renovation, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Sweeten by email or phone. Email Sweeten via [email protected] and you will receive a response within 1 business day.