It drives me crazy to walk into a store in September and see Christmas decorations right next to the Halloween, or to turn on the radio before Thanksgiving only to hear Christmas carols. So, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I turned on the news this morning to see one of the key stories is that a major retailer is already running commercials for holiday shopping, and apparently people are seriously divided on whether this is a good or a bad thing.
I can’t speak to Christmas commercials in September, but I can say with absolute certainty that now is the time to start if you want to complete any home renovations before the holidays are upon you. Your first instinct on reading this is that you still have plenty of time, but let’s do a little math, and you will quickly come to see that, if anything, you are now on an extremely tight schedule if you wish to complete your project before your holiday guests arrive.
First, have you even decided what renovation you want to complete – windows, doors, roofing, or siding? Let’s assume you want to replace all the windows in your home. Next question: wood, vinyl, or fiberglass? For the sake of our discussion, we’ll look at wood windows. Once you have met with your contractor, selected all the options for your windows, and finally signed the contract, which could take a week or more just to complete this process, the clock truly begins. When it comes to wood windows, production can take anywhere from 4 weeks (an extremely optimistic estimate) to 6 weeks or more. The timeline can become particularly long as the holidays approach, as many manufacturers either decrease or completely shut down production for a period of time in the winter, whether because of decreased product demand, facility maintenance needs, or to allow their staff to share holiday time off with their own families. Once the windows are built and delivered to your contractor, you still have to schedule the installation, which will be dependent on the availability of installation crews, not to mention weather conditions, which could further delay your project, say another 1-2 weeks.
Okay, time for the math: 1 week to make all the necessary choices and sign the contract, another 6 weeks for your windows to be built and delivered, and yet another 2 weeks to complete the installation process. That’s a total of 9 weeks from start to finish. Checking my calendar, I see that by calling your contractor no later than Monday (that’s September 16, if you’re following along), you should probably be able to complete your project in time for Thanksgiving, assuming no further delays other than those we already addressed. If you delay much longer, well, you can do the math on that…
We’ve so far only discussed production and installation schedules as they impact your preholiday renovation project. We should also take a quick look at one other thing that certainly has to be taken into consideration in our area – winter weather. Not only is there always the possibility of snow anytime after Halloween in the Chicago area (on rare occasions, even before Halloween), even if there is no frozen precipitation to battle, temperatures can without a doubt throw a monkey wrench into your home renovation plans. Roofing and siding in particular must be installed only between specific temperatures to avoid material damage that could further delay your project and/or void your material warranty. With unpredictable temperature swings during the fall around here, you could have everything scheduled for the installation of your new siding, only to watch the thermometer drop 20 degrees, placing everything on hold until warm weather returns for a few days. Obviously, then, you should certainly get a jump on any exterior renovations, not only to cut down on the holiday chaos, but to beat the ever changing Chicago weather conditions.
To assure a warmer and less stressful holiday season for you and your family, call us today at (708) 423-1720 or visit our website at http://www.www.evergreenwindow.com to schedule your professional consultation, and get ahead of the holiday rush!
