A RENOVATION NIGHTMARE
Everything You Shouldn't Do During A Home Renovation
All the author wanted was a nice summer cottage. What they got was a $500,000 lesson in contract law.
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The Lede
As Christine Chitnis stood in her newly renovated bathroom, watching water spill over the shower edge and flood the room, she alternated between rage and exhaustion. Even with her untrained eyes, she could tell that the lip of the shower was improperly leveled, which led to water cascading to the floor instead of swirling toward the drain. What was supposed to be a yearlong $140,000 renovation ballooned into three excruciating years that cost more than $500,000 — and the work is still not finished.
Key Details
- According to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, home-improvement spending skyrocketed from $328 billion in 2019 to $481 billion in 2023. With demand soaring, contractors have been in short supply.
- Between 2021 and 2022, the construction consultancy Arcadis reported a 42% increase in the average value of construction disputes in North America, a historical high.
- But as the author and her husband soon discovered, unless you've made a plan, legal protections for homeowners are close to nonexistent.
