The Mythical Two Day Project…

I’m sure you’ve been in this situation before….

You plan a project thinking “Two good saturdays and I’ll have this thing knocked out.” It takes a month but you finally get two, whole, free saturdays lined up.

The first Saturday comes. You get up early and make the list of things you need for the project and head out to the local home improvement store. Of course, you suddenly realize every other person in the county *also* decided to work on their ‘two day project’ this Saturday. So, you’re met at 7:30am with long lines — and not just at the cash register, but also when you need help finding that L-shaped brass bracket with 3 holes in just the right places. That part is in aisle 17, or maybe 16, or 15, depending on which orange-aproned clerk you happen to bump into. By the way, did he mention his regular job is making keys. So you’re 30-minute trip turns into 1 hour and 30 minutes — and that’s if you’re lucky enough to find everything at one store.

You get home only to find the kids have just finished breakfast and your wife [husband?] needs some help getting them through their morning routine. You get “the look” that says your kids are more important than your project. Besides, it’ll only take 15, nay 30 minutes to put things in order. No big deal. After all, you’ve the whole day to focus after this - or do you? What? You forgot your wife’s friend’s wedding is this evening at 6:00 and its 30 minutes away? You agreed to go last week? OK. Well, the project must stop at 5:21. After all, you’ll only need 9 minutes to shower, shave, change on the way out.

You get the kids cleaned up and off to their activity. Finally! Project time has started! The first 30 minutes are spent reassessing your plan and “trying” out options. Hmm… Turns out that L-shaped piece you got really needed to be 1 inch shorter. They have a shorter one back at the big box, but going there will take another hour or two at this point… all the late risers (and those less savvy than yourself) are just getting started on their projects. Besides, the piece is right, it just needs to be an inch shorter. A hack saw should do the trick.

Now when was the last time you saw that hack saw? Probably about 4 weeks ago — maybe in the garage, or was it in the bathroom you still haven’t finished upstairs? Nope… That’s right! you loaned it to Bob down the street. Well, at least going to Bob’s will be faster than heading back to the big box. Besides, you need the exercise. A run down the street will be good for you.

Knock Knock. Wow! Look at all the progress Bob has made on his new home theatre room. You spend another 30 minutes learning how Bob’s new $1250 remote works. You can’t afford that remote, or the TV, lights, or coffee maker it controls. Somewhat depressed, you head home with hacksaw in hand.

The work area is cleared, you break out the hack saw and cut that L-shaped bracket to the perfect size…. That is, if the perfect size were about 1/4″ shorter than it really is. Fortunately, the job required two brackets - so you’ll just cut and install the second one first, then head back to the big box and stop by local fast food for a late lunch. Another 45 minutes to the store, Wendy’s and back - but hey, at least the new bracket is the right size - which is good, since your hacksaw’s blade probably couldn’t cut another one. It hasn’t been changed in 5 years.

You install the second bracket, another 30 minutes goes by, and its just about time to get the work site cleaned up so the kids don’t wind up in the hospital after playing “Papa’s Workshop” sometime between now and next Saturday. It’s now 5:20, and with one minute to spare, you run upstairs, get dressed, and into the car and your wife (husband?) asks how the project’s coming. You remind them that they want this finished as much as you do… and then let them know the bad knews. This project is going to require four Saturdays and three weeknights.

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If you haven’t been in this situation, you’re better at home improvement than me, and I need to learn your technique.

My next few posts will focus on setting reasonable goals for projects. I think projects go better when you set reasonable expectations for what you can finish in a set amount of time. I know that for avid home improvers like myself, its tempting to think you can re-shingle your roof in 4 hours next Saturday morning…… even if its raining…… by yourself. But, you can’t. And telling yourself you can will force you to sacrifice other things that are more important - like time with your family you should be spending.

I’d love to hear your own stories about projects going over budget for time. Just follow the comments link here and leave me one. If you’ve got a home improvement blog, leave me a link to it in the comment too.