Decision fatigue is a nearly universal problem faced by homeowners enduring a major renovation. The vast majority of those who are willing to put the time, resources, and energy into building a custom home or renovating an existing home rightfully expect that the result is going to fit their lifestyle, their needs, their goals. For that to happen, those needs and goals and lifestyle details are all going to have to be communicated to a Designer and a Builder. It’s a very personal business. In a dream scenario, if the designer is intuitive, experienced, and naturally aligned with the Owner, they will come back with designs that can be approved by the Owner with minimal input, and the Owner can largely trust the designer to select materials and fittings that they are satisfied with. More often, though, each aspect of the project will go through several revisions before reaching anything close to solidity, and before the process of selecting materials, fixtures, and fittings even begins.

The typical bathroom in a Manhattan co-op apartment is approximately 5 to 6 feet wide and 8 to 10 feet in length. 5’ x 9’ is very common so let’s go with that. That is a single room of 45 square feet. Even for a bathroom of this size, a complete schedule of tile and finishes, cabinets, lighting, plumbing fixtures, and accessories will include at least 35 line items and can easily be closer to 50. All of these items need to be carefully selected and ultimately approved by the Owner. Each line item will also include it’s own set of options which also need to be considered. For example, a bathroom faucet will be available in several distinct finishes, which is easy enough, but there may be 2 to 3 heights available as well, it may be available in a single-hole version or a widespread version, the faucet handles may be available as a cross or as a single bar, or it may come with a touch-sensor. This adds up fast. What we have here is a single room of 45 square feet that requires well over 100 small decisions that need to be made just to select materials alone. All this before construction details, layout, problems encountered during construction, figuring out what to do with that ugly steam riser pipe in the corner… It is no wonder that decision fatigue is so common.

For better or worse, this is simply the nature of building and renovating in the modern world. Building technology has expanded exponentially in the last century, to the point where there are literally thousands of materials to choose from where there were once only a few dozen. As a result, it simply requires more expertise and industry-knowledge to get through the design process and it can be exhausting for Owners to stay on top of things. We’ve seen it all before, and so we want to offer a bit of advice for the Homeowner to help ease the process:

Accept it.

As a homeowner, you are the CEO of the project. This means that you have the final word on all decisions and no matter how well and thoroughly you delegate, your subordinates are still going to come to you with this question or that, or at least to get your approval on something before moving on. Accept that this is your primary responsibility as the Project Owner, try to get a sense of the scale of this responsibility, and allow yourself the time and energy to engage with the project.

Trust your architect.

This is a very personal business. Find an architect that you are comfortable with, that you think can understand and align with your personality. Choose an architect that is experienced in custom residential building and they will already have a system for getting to know their client and learning about their lifestyle so that they can create designs accordingly. Choose carefully, then trust your decision. They do this every day, let them do what they are good at. If you find yourself directing the architect, do it in broad strokes and let them handle the details. Again, they will have a system for this that will be based on long experience. Don’t wear yourself or your Architect out by attempting to do their job, that’s why you hired them. Get the most for your money and let them do their thing. In residential renovation, the homeowner is usually the party that has the least experience. If you want to make some changes in the design, consider letting the process play out for a bit before you jump in, there may be something happening that you will eventually love.

Trust your contractor.

Things are going to come up. Especially in the context of renovation. Unfortunately, the way the construction business has evolved over the past few centuries has led to a system in which Owners, Designers, and Builders often have competing interests and incentives. In short, there is a lot of distrust between the three parties. We could write an entire dissertation on the root causes of this distrust but that is not for this article. Be deliberate and systematic when selecting a Contractor, but also look for the same qualities you look for in your architect. You want someone you can communicate well with and that can understand you. Most Contractors that are building custom homes and doing major renovations in the NYC Metro area are operating at a very high level and are very good at what they do. We really don’t want the change orders any more than you do so when something unexpected comes up, take your Contractor’s recommendation for how to solve the problem. There should always be something in the budget to deal with unknowns. Don’t dwell on how someone should have anticipated the issue or how the former Owner’s Contractor messed everything up for you, or why the management company should handle the problem. Just deal with it and move on. If you think your co-op should pay for that rotten beam or cracked vent pipe that your Contractor discovered during demolition, don’t make it an issue within your project team. Make sure the problem and the solution are well documented, pay for it, and don’t let it hold up your project. You can always try and recover the funds retroactively.

Delegate Appropriately.

Design decisions are for Designers. Construction decisions are for Builders. Don’t forget this. Everyone may know how things are supposed to work, but as the Owner and the client, you will have the greatest ability to throw a wrench in the gears. If you keep asking your Contractor what they think about the design, we can only refer you back to the Architect so many times. Throwing our two cents in where they don’t need to be can throw off the Architect’s process, and vice versa. If you need advice on something, ask the right person.

Don’t skip Pre-Construction.

Building on paper is the safest, cheapest, and fastest way to build. Make your mistakes in pre-construction with your core project team, not during the course of an expensive, high-risk project with dozens of stakeholders. Pre-Construction is a great time to take care of the lion’s share of material and fixture selections and make sure they are going to fit within the budget. The cost of plumbing fixtures or lighting fixtures are the easiest numbers to attain accurate information on, yet for some reason they are often left for last. Too many times we have seen Owners try to pull back on their scope of work mid-project because their own fixture selections put them over budget. This is an easily avoidable mistake. Additionally, taking care of all of that low-hanging fruit in the planning stages will free up your capacity to address unexpected issues that happen during the course of the project, or review samples and mock-ups as they come in, or manage interior design or landscaping.

Fight the urge to micro-manage.

If you are the type of person that has trouble delegating tasks or decisions to others, try to recognize this and fight the urge to micro-manage. You will make more work for yourself and more work for others. Unless you work in the construction business, you will be the least experienced person on your team. While you understandably will feel that you are the only one who can truly understand your unique needs, recognize that visualization is difficult and is a learned skill that only comes with long practice. Delegate as much as you can and trust who you delegate to, it may feel uncomfortable at times, but remind yourself that you’ve put together a capable team that has the skills to do the right job, and you are paying them to do it. If you insist on doing their job for them, you won’t be getting your money’s worth. It’s like the old saying in the legal trade “If I were to represent myself I would have a fool for a client”. We have done several projects where the Owner insisted on making every single material and fixture selection in the finishing stages and the Architect, being dismissed on every decision, eventually became disengaged from the project. When this happened, it increased our workload because we had to be the one to review every one of the Owner’s selections. It also increased errors and re-work because the Owner, being a non-construction-professional, would inevitably make a lot of mistakes in their selections or change their mind once they saw an item installed.

Take breaks.

At some point early in the process of a major renovation or custom home-build, your Architect is going to dump a lot of information on your desk for you to review. Lists, schedules, plans, details, permit applications, it’s going to be a lot and it’s going to keep coming. If your Architect is experienced and well-organized, they will present information to you in a way that’s easily manageable, but it is still going to be a lot. For a project to be successful, as the Owner you will really need to take your job seriously and take the time to review all of that paperwork. Split it up into manageable chunks, take it step-by-step, and when you feel yourself losing focus, take a break. Don’t rush, ask your Architect or Contractor how much time you have to respond, and have them help you prioritize which approvals are needed first. Many times, Owners will skim over everything and then put a rubber stamp on it, maybe with a few comments related to whatever is at the top of their mind. I don’t recommend this method unless you want to increase the likelihood of change orders and budget overruns. Above all, remember that this is marathon, not a sprint. You are going to be working on this project for months, maybe a year or more. Some of the worst decisions I have seen Owners make in my career have been towards the end of the project when they are burnt out with decision fatigue. Planning well in advance and pacing yourself is the best way to avoid this.

Accept that you will make mistakes.

Visualization is a learned skill. Architects and Builders go through years of training to develop this among other skills. If it’s not something you do for a living, accept that you might change your mind about an aesthetic decision once you have seen it and lived with it for a period of time.