I am working on a story for a national magazine entitled "Breaking the Rules of Remodeling." I'm looking for remodelers who would be willing to talk to me about their positive experiences with breaking some of the following rules:

Allowing clients to do demolition or other work
Allowing clients to purchase their selections
Doing a remodeling job for a relative
Doing design changes on the fly instead of using change order forms
Compressing the schedule (working with a client's time line instead of yours)

I would be interested to know what are considered to be the cardinal rules of remodeling and whether you've had success breaking one of the rules listed above or other "rules" that come to mind.

Honestly, You'd have a much more entertaining story, if you wrote about the Horrors of breaking those rules.

Most of these rules are there for a reason, we all bend on them in certain circumstances, usually when we see a slow down coming, or are trying to fill in work.

Most guy end up regretting the decision before the work even begins.

I've got a project that in the end turned out good for a total rehab for a relative, but it was very difficult through out the process, and I would not consider it to be a positive experience for me.

My cardinal rule is to never, ever do anything for free. It will never fail that the thing yo do for free will be the one to bite you in the btt or cause customer disatisfaction.

There is an interesting flip side, exception to this rule, that is" If a customer asks you to do something that you know will not last, i.e. paint a small stoop rail wthout priming it, just to last him until next season etc... Then do NOT charge for it and make it clear that the reason you will not charge is because you will not and cannot stand behind it. Also, if he is unhappy with the way the free item turned out, then he cannot hold it against you when it comes time to get paid for your "real" job,

Tell me what you all think

Rich,

That is a good exception. You break a rule only when your breaking another rule.

I do the same thing on occasion, and typically regret the fact that I did something improperly.

Had a customer insist on epoxy grout on unsealed/unglazed porcelain tile, I explained that the epoxy grout is difficult to remove the haze from the surface of unglazed tile. She insisted, so I wasted a $80 package of epoxy grout and just grouted under the refrigerator. SHe thought it looked good, so I showed her with a droplight that the film is there, just not noticeable unless the light hits is just right.

She says it is acceptable, I tell her no charge for the upgrade to epoxy, because I can not stand behind the final result.

In the end, She did not like the grout film, because the sunlight through the kitchen door hit the haze just right to show it off. She still owes me nearly $1000 of which I will never see.

Oh yeah another thing, She is a friend of a friend, so I do not feel right about sueing the person.