The 3 key steps to take before starting a kitchen or bath project.

Written by Corey Klassen CMKBD NCIDQ IIDA

There is an overwhelming amount of information about kitchen and bath design available to homeowners found on home improvement reality television stations and other blogs or resources. Some of the information is valuable, while the vast majority of the resources are not because the nature of kitchen and bath design work is customized to suit the needs, culture, and cooking preferences of the homeowner. There just is not a one-size-fits-all scenario.

We hope that you landed here because you find this topic interesting and you want to pursue a kitchen or bath design project with us, but we want to caution you that you may not end up with the knowledge that you expected to gain. At Articulated, we believe that homeowners have a lot to gain from our over 10 years in business and 20 years of experience - and that includes our mistakes and triumphs.

What we will cover:

• Industry data on kitchen & bath projects and what it means for you.

• Good, better and best investment standards for kitchen & bath projects.

• Important milestones and project timelines.

What we cannot cover:

• Unique conditions in your market area.

• Fluctuating prices across the kitchen & bath industry landscape.

• How the scope of work and design style will influence the final budget.

3 Key Steps to Take Before Starting your Kitchen or Bath Project

Identify goals & objectives.

The first step for every homeowner to align the project goals and objectives with the available budget, infrastructure and timeline. This is called “feasibility” and because most kitchen & bath design projects follow a hybrid of both full-service and online services model, this part is up to the homeowner to prepare in advance. This is challenging for most, but we recommend beginning with some critical thinking and observation about current behaviours and patterns in the kitchen or bath.

Many homeowners have sat down and itemized their goals and objectives, separating their wants from needs, and thought carefully about what is working and what is not working for their household. Some homeowners have done research at quality NKBA Member local showrooms and suppliers to get their bearings around price, timeline, and finishes they would like to consider. Some homeowners have extensive Pinterest boards of a lot of spaces they believe they would enjoy. Starting fresh puts us all in a position to identify the roots of the design problems before we begin to solve them.

We’ve assembled the most common questions and budgeting problems in our free pre-design checklist below to download. Please keep reading below to understand how to apply the budgeting worksheet.

Break-out cost assumptions.

In every design work project, there are hard costs, soft costs, and additional costs.

• Hard costs (minimum 40%) - These costs include labour and materials to complete the construction work. These costs also include finishing materials such as cabinets/casework, counters, tile, HVAC, plumbing & electrical. Corey always says “We don’t know what we don’t know” and by this there needs to be an allowance for the unexpected surprises that invariably will be found after demolition.

• Soft costs (no greater than 60%) - These costs include plumbing fixtures, faucets and equipment and decorative lighting fixtures. It also includes any furnishings, window treatments, and accessories. Many homeowners underestimate these costs and what they can afford in their project budget.

• Additional costs (above the working budget) - These are the design fees, building permit application fees, inspections, delivery and couriers and even Structural Engineering.

The most elusive of these factors are the soft cost. Since the start of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic, every soft cost has risen by a minimum of 12% year-over-year on average. Some costs have increased by 50% while others have only increased with the rate of inflation. This means that what we use to be able to quite accurately budget and allow for prior to March 2020 has been completely thrown out the window. In order to control these unknowns, we consider the complexity of projects under a base, moderate, and high level.

Prepare to make decisions.

The most significant factor in projects are the types, quantity, and ability to make decisions on a project. Having critical conversations about how they will be made for the household before engaging with a design professional on a project is considerate of everyone and is essential for success. We have prepared 12 Guidelines for Design Work Success in our Client Welcome Kit, but there are some important factors to consider before starting design work.

We assure you that we are not guessing. We will provide you with the BEST options based upon your scope, timeline and budget. If there is something that feels missing, it is highly likely that it falls outside of the stipulated budget.

Scope creep is extremely costly for everyone. Please try to refrain from exploring a series of mazes or iterations that will not be considered because this costs more and delays meaningful outcomes by weeks, if not months. The very best advice for all homeowners is to listen to our recommendations and discuss them with us.

Adjectives used while describing an item have a secret meanings. Well, it’s not so secret anymore: if there are extra adjectives and “designery” language and descriptors being used to explain a finish, technique or solution, the homeowner can assume that those extra words are to be interpreted as extra costs.

Finally, design by committee is possibly the most difficult way to design a project. We are qualified and experienced professionals - talk to us about everything to come toward an independent and informed conclusion. If there is a family member or friend who is a designer, we recommend not competing them against us because this is also an area that will cost more time and money.

Final thoughts.

It’s a known fact to us that homeowners often want more than they can afford (let’s take a moment to recall our favourite childhood memory: the opening theme from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous). There is no absolute in the design world and anything can be an option if the budget fits the solution, but by no means does this guide provide a complete and comprehensive way of working for every client or project. These cost assumptions are based on our professional experience over the past 20 years in the industry and 11 years of our own design studio practice focused on kitchens and baths.