How to decide what to pack and what to store while renovating

I got some good advice on this topic from family and friends. Here is what we did right:
- We packed most of the boxes ourselves, labeling each and keeping a record of each box
- We used movers to pack the unweildy mirrors and items that require specialized packaging
- Most importantly, we packed each box into three categories:

1. Store in garage (nothing worth stealing, nothing we needed while gone, nothing that couldn't stand temperature changes - e.g. books, pictures, mirrors, etc)
2. Store in rental basement
3. Unpack at rental (with room label)

- We used the movers also to help us move into the rental which saved a ton of broken backs

Here's what we did wrong - please learn from our mistakes :)

- Didn't organize by seasons so now we have to scrounge in boxes for winter gear not totally sure where the few we need are

- Didn't use a mover based on personal referral. We chose the one that seemed the most organized which ended up trying to charge us a bunch extra on moving day - argh.

- We let the movers pack the kitchen - big mistake! We ended up with boxes full of knives that were barely wrapped under plastic bowls they wrapped 5x!

- Didn't plan how to do all the moving and unpacking with the little ones. Our wonderful nanny ended up taking the girls for one day to her house and we dropped Fezzie off at doggie day care, but we really should have done this three days in a row and gotten it all handled. We still find ourselves dealing with half-unpacked boxes since we never really had the time to do it without little ones around.

Here's hoping we do better on the move back (hopefully in a few months) :)

Getting the heck out of the way (aka finding a rental)

Many people told us that THE most important thing to do (for the sake of our marriage anyway) was find someplace else to live while the major construction was happening. Mind you, we have two small kids and a dog, so this wasn't much of a debate for us. The trick was - how the heck to find a place?

Here's some things I didn't know:

1. Finding a place that will rent for less than a year is really hard (at least in the 'burbs)
2. Finding a place that will accept a pet is even harder
3. Finding a realtor who will really help out - hardest yet. I highly recommend finding a realtor who specializes in rentals intead of home sales. They seem to be from totally different planets.
4. You really want to find a place close to your renovation project so you can go often and on the spur of the moment.

It ended up taking us about two months and much effort to find the house we are renting. (* We never would have found this place if our truly awesome realtor hadn't worked really hard on our behalf. Thanks again Mary Ellen!)

Short version: You probably won't forget to budget for a rental, but don't also forget to budget the time to find a place. One friend mentioned that they got stuck in a tiny apartment above a restaurant for 8 months - not fun.

As for moving costs, I'll pass along great tips given to us: tell movers that it is a two way move and ask for discount and sort & sell big items that you don't want post-renovation rather than paying to move or store.

Landscaping considerations when renovating

If you are renovating and messing with the outside of your house, it stands to reason you'll need to do some landscaping. Here's what I knew:

- Get a quote from a trusted landscaper before the project starts to include in your budget. Be sure to ask for any of these that apply to your project:

- - Cost to move any plants you want to save to a safe location on your property

-- Cost to move those plants back and add new landscaping when done

-- Cost to cut down or trim any trees in the way of new building

Here's a few things I didn't know:

- Be sure to ask your landscaper what he is going to do with any plants you cannot save. If he plans on dumping them, give your neighbors a chance to dig up and take any they want. It saves plants, makes neighbors happy, and saves on dumping fees.

- Be sure your construction won't affect your ability to water the plants. If it does, you may not want to spent to move plants to "save" as those have high watering requirements.

- Ask your landscaper about timing. In my area (Northeast / MidAtlantic Region) the rule seems to be that you should move plants on cool Fall days or early Spring.

- Ask your contractor about what types of machines the project requires and what access they need. I discovered the day before work started that that several bushes were getting run over by the excavator and our apple tree had to be cut basically in half for the foundation work.

- Don't forget to add sprinkler repair to your budget.

Filling the information void

I'm a type A person. Not being a contractor myself, I tried my best to be informed before we started this renovation. But despite reading two books cover to cover and scanning a bunch more I still have discovered a bunch of hidden (but important!) nuggets and we are only two months in.

This blog is an attempt to share this hard earned knowledge with others so you can learn from it before you are already knee deep.

Before we begin, let me just state who I am: I'm a working parent who knows nothing about construction and design other than what I have read and am now learning. I have no desire to know everything our contractors know, but as homeowners it turns out that we should know more than what contractors and books would seem to want to share.

Here's hoping we can shift that balance a bit :)