Part IV: What A Coach Should Be Able To Do For You

By Jerry R. Spumberg
The DIY Coach 

If you read Part III (“The Relationship”) you understand that a Coach is your personal teacher as it specifically relates to your project.  The items that are listed below are general in nature and apply to most projects that a Do It Yourself Remodeler can tackle.  It is important that you understand setting goals and objectives; I strongly suggest that you go to our web site thediycoachusa.com and read the material on that subject.

What a Coach should be able to do for you:

• Developers know that not all projects that are conceived get built. The first step is to do a feasibility study or determination. This process is worthless unless a predetermination is made about what it is we wish to accomplish under set guidelines. A Coach should be able to guide you through this process.
• A Coach should be able to help the client in setting and maintaining realistic expectations through the planning, construction, and final stages of their project.
• A Coach should be able to teach you during the planning stage that developing optional approaches can be done concurrently.  For example: Do we rearrange and expand an existing house as opposed to  the house be demolished completely and built from scratch?  In both situations, the final product may be indistinguishable from each other.
• A Coach should be able to help you understand the determining factors as they relate to your goals and objectives in reaching your decision.  For example: Do we restore this one hundred year old house to its former glory because we want it to be preserved?  Has it deteriorated to the point that the costs are beyond our means?  If we build a reproduction of the old with modern conveniences for less money, will that make more sense?
• A Coach should be able to teach you that everybody’s right answer is different.  He should help you find your right answer.
• A Coach’s experience and expertise should take you through the planning stage and requests for proposals. You should, with his help, be able to obtain reasonable and believable costs in developing a budget.
• A Coach should do everything in his power to stop you from beginning a project until you have a completed budget that is acceptable to you.
• A Coach should be your adviser during the purchasing process and awarding of contracts.  During this period, he should be willing to expose you to his business methods that he has used in the past that protected him from unscrupulous vendor and trades people.
• All that has been previously talked about in the blog articles should be initiated by a Coach.
• At your direction and as your agent, he should be willing to take on the responsibilities of those duties that you have assigned to him.  The Coach should keep you up to date as things progress, informing you of issues and day to day activities.
• He should be able to help you resolve disputes.
• He should be experienced and knowledgeable enough to direct day to day operations and able to work with you on aspects of the project that you would like to take on.
• He should be willing to perform manual labor when necessary and cost effective.  He should supply the tools he needs to perform his work. 
• He should be willing to teach and work with you when you wish to participate in a phase that the coach has expertise in.
• From beginning to end, a Coach should give you the confidence that you have taken the time to plan, evaluate, and make the best decisions for you.  The results should be a great project with as few surprises as possible.

The main difference between a Coach and a builder or general contractor are significant. Builders, general contractors, subcontractors, and vendors are driven by a profit motive that is based on how much his contract is worth.  The bigger the dollars and higher the margins the more money they make.  Their contracts can limit the flexibility a client has in choosing who is to perform a correction if there is a hidden defect that may require additional cost.  In most cases, contractor’s direct costs are not transparent.

When working with a Coach, the direct costs for a project from each vendor or trade’s contractor are transparent. The  goal of a Coach should be to help you develop plans and specifications that are as complete as possible for the biding and budget development process. The objective is to eliminate surprises to you by inclusion of everything that is foreseeable.     He is paid for his time as needed on an hourly basis. There are no mark-ups on your other costs.  You make all the decisions throughout the project. The Coach works for you, similar to a trusted employee, with your benefit as the governing factor.

When working with a contractor, you will still need to develop a set a plans and specifications. Depending on the project, you may be required to hire an architect or designer (at your expense) to be able to obtain pricing.  In most cases, specifications are set by the bidder and when they are not specific are given as dollar allowances.  The difficulty with this is that allowances may not cover the items in the contract, some items may not be included, and the specifications may not meet your objectives. You and the Coach should work together to eliminate the unknowns as much as practical. 

In either case above, you will pay for plans.  In the case of using a contractor, you do not have an independent professional looking out for your interests through the most important part of any project – planning.  When contracts do not have a transparent method  for the unforeseen or changes, clients become uneasy.  Most clients have heard stories that tell of unscrupulous  contractor’s overcharging for items not clearly specified.  Clients have good reason to be cautious and concerned over executed change orders that may be extremely profitable for the contractor.  This can cause extreme project cost overruns.  To understand the costs added on for mark-ups, go to our web site and use the links to trade publications that discuss this subject.

Developers and builders understand the cost of a project manager as it relates to a project. When he is assigned a project, he receives his job responsibilities in writing. When a property owner who is not a professional in the construction industry takes on the role of developer and administrator, there is a learning curve to determine a range or allowance for project management supervision. The builder understands that this is somewhat indeterminate and adds a contingency amount to his best guess.

For a few of my past clients, the lack of an exact cost for the Coach is the most uncomfortable part of using a Coach. The cost of the Coach is based on the time required to meet the client’s specific needs, goals, and objectives.  As it is with the builder’s project manager, the costing is not an exact science.

To put my clients at ease, I explain that builders have a salaried person running projects and that is included as a indeterminate direct cost before mark up.  When using a small building company, the owner may also be the project manager; they pay themselves a salary (as above) and it is charged to the project.  Builders always add into a project a guesstimate as well as a contingency dollar amount for additional supervision, something they missed, or price increases.  The cost of a Coach should be similar to what a salaried employee with the same responsibilities cost a builder, but you don’t pay a mark up or profit on the project.

In discussions with prospective clients, I verbally give them cost ranges from past similar projects.  I also explain that no two projects are ever the same and costs for our services vary. Our web site is a learning site to help them and you make the best choices.  We encourage people to use it.  It’s our pay forward to everyone who is a Do It Yourselfer.  A Coach’s contract should allow the client to terminate at anytime.  A Coach needs to earn the client’s respect and trust every day. Owners usually understand the value of their own time.  A qualified Coach, in most aspects of your project, should save you time and money when compared to the less experienced owner running a project alone.

To sum it all up: A Coach should be able to help his client, the team manager and owner, build the right team for a winning project. 

With the series conclusion of Part V- Finding A Coach (due in December), I will be publishing a true story about a client’s project that transformed a small home into their dream house.  The project included the reconfiguration of their existing home and its expansion.  It is my hope that these articles, our web site, and this story will have you explore doing your next home improvement project with a  Coach.

Remember that: 

You can do it for yourself, but you don’t have to do it by yourself. 

You can have more value added to your home then you spend.

May The Coach Be With You,

Coach Jerry