Whether you began your remodeling project before COVID-19 safety guidelines were mandated or you need someone to fix your leaking toilet right away, you’ll probably have to let contractors inside your home.
With this in mind, should you decide to push through with a repair, renovation, or installation of your home air purification system in your home, you must be extra cautious for your and the contractors’ health and safety.
Open Communication IS Key
Ask the contractors what safety precautions they’re implementing. Start with these basic questions:
- What specific precautions are you taking to ensure my family’s safety while you’re working inside my home?
- Do you have a written procedure or policy for conducting work at private homes?
- Who enforces those policies?
Companies have likewise taken additional steps to keep homeowners and contractors safe. For instance, paperwork is now sent and received online, and payments are cashless, whenever possible. They also mandated daily screening processes to make sure they’re feeling fine and don’t have COVID-19 symptoms.
However, keep in mind that it’s also your responsibility to provide the contractors with a safe working environment. This means that you should also inform them of your own cleaning and sanitizing protocols. You must respect the people coming inside your house and ensure their safety as well.
Keep Things Online Whenever Possible
A lot of homeowners stopped repair works and remodeling when the pandemic started. For some homeowners, however, initial meetings, walkthroughs, and consultations continued online. So speak to prospective contractors to check if they are implementing any online workarounds for giving quotes, sharing design ideas, or providing estimates. A simple video call would help limit personal meetings.
Make Sure That Safety and Cleanliness Bases Are Covered
Everyone involved in the project should strictly follow the guidelines that the CDC recommends. As a reminder, this includes wearing the proper masks, social distancing, and frequent hand washing. Also, high-contact surfaces such as doorknobs and counters must be regularly disinfected. It’s also nice to have hand sanitizer or alcohol ready at entry points.
It’s also crucial to keep in mind that you wouldn’t want someone sick working in your house, so you should also inform the contractors if someone is sick in your home. Put simply, contractors shouldn’t enter your home if there are ill people inside or if one of them is sick.
Whenever Possible, Leave Your Home
A remodel is disruptive and intrusive, even pre-pandemic, so if you can leave your home and stay somewhere safe, take the chance. If this isn’t possible, which is a reality for many people, only go to the work area when needed and keep any immunocompromised family members far from the work areas. Wash your hands every time you visit the worksite and consider designating just one entry point to your abode.
Remember That Patience Is a Virtue
Understand that plans can change in an instant and be understanding when they do. A worker scheduled to work at your house tomorrow could’ve come in close contact with a COVID-positive person. This means that you can expect your contractor to send in that worker, but they will most likely send another worker to continue the work.
You might also find that the contractor you really want to work with is already booked way in advance. Also, take note that lead times for certain items like doors, windows, and cabinets have doubled because of the pandemic. So you need to be patient and flexible.
In a nutshell, make sure that everyone involved in the project is doing their best to protect those around them to ensure a COVID-19-free home remodel.
