Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Welcome to Let’s Build with Armada, the podcast where Washington homeowners learn how to remodel with clarity, strategy, and confidence—on a schedule that follows real projects, not a rigid calendar.
I’m Charlie Carter from Armada Design & Build. After years of working across the greater Seattle area, I’ve learned that successful remodeling isn’t about luck. It’s about planning, transparent conversations, and understanding how every decision—from windows to insurance to material selections—affects long-term value.
In each episode, I sit down with experts to answer the questions homeowners genuinely care about:
- Why your PNW windows cry every winter
- Financing options that actually make sense in 2026
- How to not get burned by a cheap insurance quote
- What adds value in Seattle… and what just burns cash
- How to plan a DADU without turning your backyard into a 2-year construction zone
Whether you’re preparing for a kitchen or bathroom remodel, planning a full-home upgrade, or exploring a backyard DADU for equity or rental income, this podcast gives you the clarity you need to move forward confidently.
Listen here, watch more real projects on our YouTube channel, and visit us when you’re ready to build with confidence.
And don’t forget to follow the show—so you never miss an episode that could save you time, money, and stress.
Visit the Armada Design Center in Bellevue when you’re ready to start planning your own home transformation!
📍 15600 NE 8th St. Suite O2, Bellevue, WA 98008
📞 425-587-8286
🌐 https://armadabuild.com/?utm_source=transistor
Hello, welcome back. Thanks for joining us. I'm Charlie Carter with Let's Build with Armada, our podcast here on our YouTube channel where we talk about all things construction, residential, remodeling, renovation, new builds, whole house projects, bathrooms, kitchens, and the ins and outs of getting you through those different aspects of projects for you and help you understand. And today, I'm very, very excited. We have a real behindthescenes look. We have with us today Robin Briggs. She is one of our senior project consultants and we'll talk about what all that means here at Armada with us. And what that means to you is that she is the first person that you would meet or one of the first people that you would meet at your place. And she would come out, talk to you about the project and understand what you want to do and kind of where you are in that and take you through the whole thing. And we'll talk more about it. But we're very excited to have her here today. um and what really happens behind the scenes in terms of how we get projects through the system as it were from the beginning into the middle of design through permitting during construction and then when it's all said and done. So very lucky to have her. She's taken time out today. She's a great dresser. She's got on amazing shoes. Too bad you can't see those. We love those for her. [laughter] Um, so Robin's background is a lot of kitchen bathroom remodeling kind of thing. Uh, she's been with us here at Armada for four years now. Came from a kitchen and bathroom place or a couple of them prior to that. Um, and I've known her all that time and have learned a little bit and I know there's some interesting stuff in her background prior to remodeling renovation. At one point her job required her to carry a gun. So, why don't you give us the quick rundown, Robin? Welcome. Thank you for coming. Um, on like a little bit about your background and how do you go from carrying a gun to kitchens and bathrooms? It's a Yes. Interesting, uh, path, I guess. Uh, I graduated with from college with an accounting degree. I worked in the accounting department of actually Tacoma Street Products, um, a local company here. And uh from there I worked for the state of Washington for gambling commission. I was a special agent. Right. And that's when the gun came and that's yeah I went to the police academy became a firearms instructor. So I actually taught people how to use guns and see don't mess with her. Right. And then from there um I also have or had it's it's retired CPA. So, I worked for the board of accountancy, spelled B O R E D. Okay. Uh, it was seemed like a good idea at the time. Uh, and I investigated what I said rogue CPAs. Okay. Um, and then I went I got into insurance and did that for a while. Did not love it. Um, loved a lot of things about it, but a girlfriend of mine that worked in this industry said, "We're hiring right now." I think you'd be good at this. Okay. And I was like, "Really?" And so I interviewed with the owner and he said, "Do you like to cook?" And I said, "I do." And he goes, "Well, that helps. That helps." And it does, right? It did a lot. Uh and so that was the beginning. And then uh then you and Alex harassed me for a couple years. We did. We did. Yeah. We chased her for a while. She wasn't an easy convince, but we finally got her. and we're very happy that she's here and on the on board and part of the team and she does a great job for a lot of people. So, we want to talk today a little bit about um you know the process of going through it. We've also want to talk a little bit about when people make bad choices and some horror stories and things like that, things to look out for that she's been through and experienced. Um red flags, you know, things to be aware of those things to look out for like what's happening here. She's got a really interesting sort of transition from ownership to another ownership at a place that she worked where that kind of got sideways and a few homeowners got jammed up in that one. So, we'll talk a little bit about that and kind of how to watch out for that for you. Um, uh, and then best practices, right? Setting up for success, what that's going to look like, crisis management, if there is an issue, what do you do? What has she experienced? How have we helped people in the past? because it's not uncommon. Seems like a couple times a year, right? Someone will call us and they've had to fire a contractor or the contractor's walked off the job or disappeared or whatever the case may be and we have to come in and kind of pick up the pieces. So, I wanted to talk about that a little bit. So, before we dive in, but we're going to get going here. If you would please like and subscribe, leave any comments down below. Let us know what subjects you might be interested in us talking about and explaining, spending some time talking about uh with it. But, thank you very much. O on the podcast. Give us a rating and review, right? The fivestar thing. Hopefully you like it and um get the message out to other people so that they can find us and learn more about getting ready to renovate or remodel their home or potentially build a new one. So, we're doing lots of that. Um all right, Robin. So, let's dive in here and talk a little bit about reality of construction project management, right? So why does it really matter to have someone like you or you know that person that is your advocate and where is the benefit in that for the client? Because a lot of people wrestle with you know how do we go about this? What is the right way to go? Who do we need to call? What should this look like? You know who do we talk to? Do we need an architect? Do we need a designer? Do we need, you know, project manager? How do we find these people? Right? So let's talk a little bit about that in terms of the role of the project consultant and how you help people and sort of get them through the process and introduce them. So why don't we start with that a little bit. Okay. Um typically what I tell people as far as my role is I'm the one that's going to be holding your hand throughout the whole process, right? I actually think it was you that described it as as the cruise director, right? And you know, you the cruise director is always there, always on the ship, but sometimes they're going to let you off the ship for your excursions and different things like that, but I'm the constant. Um, you're stuck with me, uh, essentially. Um, which is great because you're there through the whole thing. I feel like my job is to be my client's advocate. Um, if if I feel like whether it's the architect or design or whatever, if if I feel like there's something where they're spending money unnecessarily or things like that, I'm going to I'm going to push back and go and is there a a better solution. Um, that's that's what I feel like my job is. The one thing I do love about Armada, I might be segueing here a little bit, but is from the very beginning, we're putting we're trying to keep the guard rails on the cost, right? We're trying to contain that. Most people want that contained. There's the 5% that don't care, but as a general rule, everyone wants to make sure that the costs are controlled throughout the process. And that's part of my job. Exactly. I agree and understand and realize that that's a super important part. So, how do you from the beginning, right? So, you they people call us or they go online and they schedule an appointment and they talk about, oh, I want to remodel my kitchen or I want to build an addition or whatever the case may be. So, we have a little bit of information, right, that they know they've talked to the Josie or the people here and then you're going out to their house. So, then what does that look like for them at that first appointment? What are they going to gain? What are the, you know, the information? What are they going to learn? Talk a bit about that. If let's in this scenario, let's not really think about necessarily like a new construction. Let's think about remodel, renovation, maybe an addition, because those kind of flow generally the same, right? So, forget about new construction for a moment. But, all right. So, you know, my wife and I are thinking about doing a kitchen remodel, maybe with a little addition or something like that, and we found Armada and we schedule an appointment, and you show up. What happens? Um, obviously after introductions, I want to sit down with them and talk to them about their project, right? And what they I really want to know what their pain points are. Uh, sometimes I feel like, you know, when you think you know what it you want it to look like, I know our architect might have a an idea, something that you just hadn't thought of. So, I really want to know what problem you're trying to fix, right? you know, is the space too small? Is, you know, do you just need a larger or do you just want a bigger kitchen? Uh, it so I want to know what the problem is. I want to know where the pain points are. Exactly. And I I like to say that you know what people don't call us up and say, "Hey, my house is amazing and perfect. You guys should come out and take a look like and we can just revel in the coolness of our home." [laughter] Right? So, I haven't really done any of those meetings. There's always a reason that people get off the couch and do the homework and make the phone call. I haven't had that phone call though, right? It's usually after we're done. Right. Right. After you're done. That's a good one. Yeah. Come take a look. Right. And we have a glass of champagne or whatever the case may be. But that's at the end. But in the beginning, you're right. It's the pain point or a way I like to think of it is what does your house not do for you now that you want it to do? Or what doesn't it do well that you want it to do better? Yes. you know, like, oh, we have a pretty goodiz family and we like to host events and there's really not the space for that, right? So, we need a bigger kitchen, family room, whatever the case may be. Or we're a growing family and we need a bedroom or a bathroom or our kitchen is just too small. We need more storage. We're two cook family and there's just not enough room for two people. Like, what are the issues? And old and ugly can be an issue, right? It can be an issue. It can be like, you know, it's it's plenty big. The storage is sufficient. It's, you know, I like the flow, maybe a little tweak here and there, but it's just out of date, right? So, it might be the real issue is old and ugly, right? It's not a technical aspect of like we don't have enough of this or we're missing a blank kind of a thing. It's just dated and it's time to refresh. Yes. So that can be the pain point and maybe that's it, you know, like really it's just old and ugly and we want to make it more updated and maybe we tweak the flow a little bit, right? So you help them through that and then you know understand what they're looking to do, right? So what are we trying to do? What are the pain points? What are the issues we're trying to address or accomplish? Right. Right. So then we kind of get a list of those things and then how do you work with them on the budget? You mentioned maintaining budget, right? So, how do you get to the start of okay, here's a list of stuff. These are all the pain points, right? And then now, what do the solutions to these pain points cost? Or what does the solution to these pain points cost? How does that work? How do you get to there? Well, if sometimes it can be pretty straightforward like like you said, if it's just a if it's just an ugly and dated and we want to pull and replace a kitchen, right? I can usually give you a pretty good ballpark right in the house. Um, but most of the time it's a gray area. There's there's walls coming out or or we are talking about an addition, but they're not really sure how big of an addition. So, can't even go by square feet. um they don't know what it's going to look like or what it could look like. They they need help. Right. So that's where I start talking to them about how we do we do a feasibility study and that's what we internally call phase one phase one design and I just walk them through that process and uh I use your term often Charlie calls it the tuition bill to smarten up to to get enough knowledge so that you can make good decisions because it's better to spend a little money now to know what you're doing and make good decisions than to make a mistake later. Exactly. Uh a very expensive mistake later. And I have seen that happen plenty. Right. Uh so I explain that and at the end of that feasibility, you know, we we would draw up your house, we get the built. Uh then we start playing around with the layouts. We we that's when that list comes in really handy. Right. Right. What are the pain points? You know, I have a onebuck kitchen. Both of us like to cook. That's a pain point. We want to fix that. The flow, the, you know, my my refrigerator is on the other side of the island and I'm having to walk all the way around to get to it. You know, things that are easy to fix on paper. We want to do that. We want to get the layout um like they like it. And then we can start running some real numbers, right? And give them a pretty good budget. You know, they haven't picked out anything yet. They have, but it's just conceptually, you know, quartz countertops. They want painted cabinets. They want, you know, hardwood floors. We we know specifics in general specifics, right? Stipulating to some finishes like, so when we start running the numbers, what do you want me to include for flooring in this space as part of the preliminary or the first pass at the budget, right? and you say hardwood floor, you say LVP or you say tile and we can plug in a number for you know a tile and installed a certain way and how many square feet and go okay here's your flooring budget for that because now we have all the measurements we can get we can get a really good number in terms of the amount for sure like there is exactly 768 square feet of whatever floor going in this space it might not be a number you like right yes at the end of the day but at least we know and And and this is what I tell people, you know, at that point at the end of that phase one, there's usually two paths you take. We either either the number's ugly and we need to work on that. So we do some value engineering. Do we reduce the scope? Do we change the materials? What do we you know, how can we get this to a number that is workable, right? Um, uh, sometimes the first number is workable and then we just go to phase two and that's when we're working on permits and everything while you're picking out all the finishes. At that point is when Yes, there's Well, so it's important to know that what she talked about in the tuition bill phase, right? That feasibility study where we're trying to figure out something specific about what we can do. Here is a solution, right? Like we've drawn a solution. We may have a couple of solutions. And then we stipulate to those finishes, quartz top, painted cabinets, hardwood floor, good guy lighting package, full height backsplash, tile, you know, those kind of things. And then we can give them a number and say, "Okay, this project done this way. This is a pretty good idea." And then if we're good, then we keep going. We can get into phase two. And phase two is where now we're spending time picking out paint colors and all of the details, which there is no point doing in the phase one to spend the time or the money to worry about what color we're painting the east wall of the bedroom until we know we're building a bedroom. Right. Right. So that's how we kind of break it up to get you as much information as quickly and inexpensively as possible to determine this is in fact something that makes sense for us to do that you have enough info, you have a plan, you have a design, you have a number. Then we can start talking about the other part of now how do we live through this, right? [laughter] What is this going to be like during construction? Do we have to move out or can we stay here or like what is that going to be like? What's it like without a kitchen? How long are we not going to have our kitchen, Robin? Right. Like those are all So, how do you navigate that with people? Like, how is that experience a little bit? What What's that like for you? Obviously, it depends on the scope of the project. You know, sometimes people want to put a second floor on. They can't live there. It they've got to move out. Uh we part of the reason we do so much planning is to make that construction part as expeditious as possible. Absolutely. We want that because that's going to be the most expensive part because you might have to be living somewhere else and paying rent somewhere else. So, we want to get that done as quickly as possible, right? Um, so it does depend on the scope. Sometimes, you know, I had a customer that had basically another kitchen, another wing to their house and they just moved over there and, you know, we sheed off. We we we close everything off. We put plastic uh partitions up with zippers. That does not keep the dust out. Yeah. It's dust mitigation. It's not dust minimizing the dust. dust removal or people think it's this hermetically sealed shield and it's not. It's there is going to be dust. There's no way we can stop that, but we try to minimize it as much as possible. Um the other thing I do is client expectations. [laughter] So, and that's one of them. People think, you know, that it's it's going to be quiet and it, you know, they don't realize how loud it's going to be, especially people that work from home. Yeah, that's a big one. people working at home. We have to we have to address that. What are we going to do? What's that going to be like for you? There are going to be days where it is really loud and if you are on Zoom calls and things like that all day, you're it's not going to be conducive to that. We had I don't know if you remember this, we had customers here on Zoom calls in our conference room uh because um it was too loud at their house and their project manager said, "Hey, why don't you call the showroom and see if the conference room's available? You could probably do it there." And they did which you know we try to be very accommodating. Exactly. Yeah. Whatever we can do because you are living in a construction site, right? And do you stay or can is it feasible to stay? And that depends on your personal circumstance, right? If you have a couple of little kids, it's going to be much more difficult to stay in a home that's sort of turned upside down. If they're if your kids are older or they're no kids or whatever, then you're dealing with adults and that's a different scenario. And I always say this is my little line and people ask me like, "Oh, can we stay here during the project?" And my standard retort is little flippant smart butt me often is like, "I don't know. How much do you like camping?" Yeah. Right. Cuz it can be a little bit like camping in regard like, "Oh, particularly if your kitchen, right?" Like your lady that's got the kitchen gone right now. Oh yeah. Right. Doing the addition and got a sink. Yep. Got a sink and that's it. And she's like, "I might not have done this if I'd have known I wasn't going to have a countertop next to the sink." And I was like, I could get you a table. Yeah. Well, we can get a top. We can do a temporary thing. We can help you through that. So, we'll we'll work with you on that. But that's important. That expectation setting and that budget development. Um, so let's talk then for a second going back to the project scope and then budget development. Those kind of really go together, right? So, what happens and you know what's the percentage? I want to would ask you is like people give you this big long list of stuff. We want to do this, this, this, this, this, and this, and this, and our budget is this really low number, right? You're like, "Oh boy, that's not near enough." And then and then but the but you know the budget number is three or four times that. Like so how how do you have how do you have that conversation, right? What is that like when people and they just sometimes they have no idea? They don't, right? And I might be the first person they talk to, right? So, they haven't uh haven't gotten the shock yet, and I am the one that gets to deliver that. The bearer of bad news. I always I I usually I'll say, "Look, based on what you're telling me, your budget is a little low, right?" Um, and I tell them what I think, you know, where I think it's more likely going to land. Um, that's when I usually find out that I'm the first person they've talked to, right? And they really had no idea. Um, I one of my colleagues, Ryan, his first thing out of his mouth is whatever your budget in your head right now is, just double it. And I would say probably nine times out of 10, that's pretty accurate, right? Uh, unfortunately, yeah, you know, we'd want to try and educate. That's part of the thing, the reason why we're trying to do these podcasts is so people can get educated a little bit ahead of time and um figure out what's realistic. You know, it's like, oh well, this guy on TV did his kitchen for $32,000. You know, like that's and maybe not here, not in the Pacific Northwest. You know, there are places that you can do things and and it's interesting how much different things cost regionally in the country. Yes. Right. It's very dramatic. You know, I hear stories about people in Texas able to buy a 3 or 4 acre property with a 3 or 4,000 square foot twostory brick house and a pool and a thing for 350 or $400,000 here. And you know, everybody in the Seattle area knows what you can get for three or $400,000. You know, not very much. And the same is true for remodel and renovation work. Yes. Um, and a lot of that comes down to the labor market. Yes. Right. Is that because Colar or American Standard or Window Acme window brand doesn't sell their product any less in Texas than they sell it for really I don't think much here. I think those are kind of consistent. I think where the differences lie is in the labor cost. You know, here we have a very high labor component where we've got plumbers and electricians making4 or $50 an hour, right, in this part of the world with benefits. And we always use, you know, legitimate companies that are licensed and bonded, insured, and you know that there we're not using fly by night. And so, yeah, could we save a little bit of money in that regard? Probably, more than likely, but long term, that's not great for the client. It's not a great business practice. So, we're using legitimate. So that labor cost is a little bit higher versus in some of these other places where oh sure the plumber might be making $15 an hour versus $45 or $50 an hour. And I think that's a lot where that huge price discrepancy comes in. And I mean you're from the Midwest Oklahoma girl here, right? Yeah. She said that. So things are different there, right? Very in terms of what they cost. Like you can do a kitchen remodel there for a lot less than you can do them here. Yes. Absolutely. Right. And we're always always trying to keep the cost down. Like Robin said, help you contain your cost. Thinking of ways to cut cost, you know, like we understand what that line means on the paper in terms of the cost of that. Like, well, if we change it a little bit, I can save you three or $4,000 or 10 or 15 sometimes and get the gist of the idea without the expense, right? Would that be something that you'd be interested in? Most people are, yes, I would definitely. You know, how can we save that money? So that's one of the benefits of having someone like Robin as part of the team is that she's not just doing the design part, which she does and understands very well and brings a lot of ideas to the table, but she takes that design skill and background and then now also understands after lots of work with me, understands what the cost of those pieces are so that you can like, oh, that's an expensive option like, you know, I'm good with it, but just be aware type of deal. So helping them get through. So you educate them early on. You get them into the design phase, that preliminary phase, the feasibility study, what we refer to as that phase one design, which is the education piece to figure out what we can do, what it's going to look like, uh, and how bad it's going to be to live through. Right? Those are kind of the big three. And then if we're all green lights there, then on to phase two, the next round of design, which now we're worrying about paint colors and knobs on the weeds. Yeah, we're getting in the weeds. Like what color specifically is the grout of the tile going to be? Alabaster or oatmeal, right? you know, I mean, whatever it is, all these little tiny million details, which is exactly what you were talking about in terms of the extensive preconstruction planning that we do beyond just the design component, but it's the planning phase to try and scrunch down the timeline of construction. Yeah. that we have taken as many variables off the table as possible and made all these decisions so that the things we can control are covered so that we're down to just the surprises, right? And the stuff that we weren't able to anticipate. Like we're not going to be standing around with the tile guy here going, "Okay, how should we install this tile?" Like, we've already talked about that. We know what the tile pattern is going to be. We've decided what that's going to look like, what the spread is, and where they go. So, that's all done. So, we're only worried about the surprises at that point, which we're trying to mitigate as much as possible, right? Which is a good segue then into some of the horror stories and the things that you have come across that didn't go so well. Yeah. Right. So, let's talk about that a little bit. What happens then when? Right. We've done all this work. We've done all this planning. We know what our knobs are. We know what our countertop edge detail is, our grout color, our lights, everything's figured out, we're under construction, and then something goes wrong. So, like a when do we find out this stuff happens? Like, okay, what is that like? And then how does that work? And what do we do? And you know, what's that look like? So people understand it's not going to go perfect, but what happens when Yes. Right. So talk to me about that. Um, I I when I explain those types of things to people, I say demo day is also discovery day because usually when we're ripping everything out, that's when we find if there's a problem. You know, bathrooms, there might be some dry rot underneath that carpet. What that was in there? You mean there's rot in a bathroom? Oh my goodness. and and pipes running through or duct work that we just couldn't have anticipated, right? Um my project going on in written right now. We took out one of those corner pantries. We take those out all the time. That's sheetrock. And then what' you find? Venting. Venting in there. Yeah. Fun. So we had that for upstairs. Yeah. So no, it's a plumbing vent. Plumbing vent. Okay. So, we had to relocate that uh unexpectedly outside of the scope sadly, you know, and and there's we've got to charge you for that. It t it's real time. It takes time, but we try to minimize those as much as possible, but you just can't see everything. You cannot you cannot. Yeah. So, we want to try to mitigate all the stuff that we can anticipate and then be prepared for the surprises. And we often like to talk about like, okay, what are the things we may find? Right. Right. and handicap those for you. Um, and for you out there that I would say that the older the house is, and you can speak to this, I know that the older the house is, the surprise coefficient goes up, way up, right? Yes. So, if I'm living in a house that was built in the late 80s or early 90s, you know, suburban style thing, those surprises are less, right? But what happens if I have a house that was built in the city in the 1910s? Yeah. Right. What does that look like? And how does that, you know, because it's probably been added on to it's probably about the plumbing. I want to know about the electrical panel. I want to know what's been done if I can. And sometimes we can look that up. We can go on the county website and look at the property and see what permits have been pulled, if they were pulled, right? And so you can get an idea of of how much updating's been done. But older homes are are scary fun. All right. So, give me your worst little horror story. Something that you got into that was a total surprise or maybe like a a flood issue rot like what did like something like how what was it and then how do you overcome and manage that? Um well, I think I've mentioned this to you before. We were taking a drop ceiling out of a kitchen. We went over we're flushing toilets. We're running water. were trying to figure out where the toilet stacks were because that's the biggest and the most expensive to move. Um what didn't hear any uh well we figured out where the toilets were running and everything like that and it wasn't in the ceiling. So uh we took the ceiling out mad plumbing running through there. It was all the other water going through all the supply side. Yeah. So we had hot and cold. Yes. So we had to relocate that. Um which um thankfully when we were there uh doing our recon mission to begin with, the husband was home and we're like, "Okay, we think we're good." He goes, "Well, I guess we'll find out." Right. And we did. Right. So that those surprise things and it's I guess the one good thing about it is that like you said, it's demolition is discovery day. And so you're going to find out what those surprises are typically right in the beginning of the project when we come in and do the demo. We open up the walls. We take the drywall, the plaster, whatever down. And then we're like, "Oh, there's something in this wall that we needed." Like, "This wall is supposed to go away. There's a thing." And there's the pivot. I always tell people it's it's not about what we find, it's how you pivot and how you deal with it, right? And I think we're really good and very collaborative here because there is a lot of knowledge under this roof on how to address whatever is [clears throat] going on. Right. Yeah. One of the things Robin has said before that I really like and I think it's a perfect sort of setup for this in terms of we find that solution. A lot of times it's this I think is more appropriate when we find uh some rot. Right. Cuz if you if your house is 40 or 50 or 60 or 70 years old, there's a good chance in and around a bathroom that something was leaking at some point prior to when now is. Yeah. That you might not even have been aware of. The bathroom was remodeled. It was all covered up. and we open it and we find dry rot and clear signs of prior damage that wasn't addressed and and then how we go to fix that. And Robin's statement that she used is like the rightest right way to do it, right? Like we can take all of this rotted wood out and replace it and cut it back till we find to the good wood. But then that might be a little invasive, right? So that we would start with telling you what's the rightest right way to do it and then like we could go this far instead of that far and that would save you a little bit of money or we could go this far but we want you to understand as Robin said the rightest right way. Here's like the total pure perfect fix but we get that that might be a little bit too expensive too invasive so we could come back to here and be okay and it would be okay and it would be okay. It's not the rightest right way, but it's not we're not just covering up a really bad situation, right? But we want to, and Robin's really good about this, explaining that coming out going, "Okay, this is what we've got. Here's what we would do. Here's how we could do it." And you know, then therefore balls on your side of the net. What do you want us to do? How do you want to stress? And that and that rot wet prior wet issue is often moving that vent stack or the thing electrical typically not a huge thing, right? not a huge thing. Um, but sometimes this rot stuff can get real um if it's really bad and it's been covered up and that's a problem. Um, so we want to make sure that you understand what that's like and how we can help you get through that. [music]
Okay. So, you come out, you help people see the vision, understand it, you get them educated in terms of what things are going to cost, and you've worked through that. you've gotten into um the later phases of design, but then what about some just educational because you've worked for a number of different contractors, been around the industry here in the Seattle area for a while and and then worked with people who went with other people and then you as well. So, what are some of those just red flag things like we want to talk about and bring out? Like what should things be people be aware of that like they want to be cautious of? Right. Right. Right. So, give me a rundown on that for a minute. Um when the numbers too low when when I ballpark somebody and then they come back and say, "Well, this other contractor told me it was going to be this." and it's tens of thousands for not that big of a project when you're talking about an an addition and huge it the that gap can be there but when you're talking about just a kitchen um and it's tens of thousands less I my response to that is that's a really scary number right that's a scary number because that's barely covering materials uh it just it and it doesn't make sense right silly low Yes, silly low. I always say it's scary low, right? Compare. That's one of the things, you know, get a couple of sets of numbers, right? You know, understand like if you know, you've got a clustered number, then you got someone way down here and maybe someone way up here, then the cluster is probably more where reality is, right? And I guess it would come to some degree on [snorts] what you're looking for from a contractor, right? you know, someone who's working out of their basement or their garage and, you know, has a truck and no people and stuff like that, then yeah, they may be less, but there's a higher risk there that are they going to be around and what happens if there's an issue a year from now? And I Well, now I I have a girlfriend that used a guy that worked out of his truck. He had one employee. He actually does beautiful work. Uh but in the middle of their uh master bathroom remodel, he was in a really bad car wreck. Uh-oh. And they were dead in the water for 6 weeks. It [clears throat] did not affect them as much because of the size of their house and they had already moved downstairs and had a full bathroom right there. But anybody else that's usually grandly impactful especially if you know in some cases especially with the Seattle houses sometimes that's the only bathroom and for you to be dead in the water for six weeks is a lot when that might be how long the project was going to be to begin with. Right. So things like that and we we always have backup. We can we can pivot pivot and send, you know, another crew in to, you know, there might be a day or two, right? Lose a little bit. Yeah. Lose a little bit of momentum for us, of course, you know, uh trying to juggle things around. But that is one of the things that I really appreciate about Armada is how we can make those adjustments pretty quickly, right? So that so the takeaway there, the red flag at least that or the caution I would say, maybe not a red flag, maybe a yellow flag if that's a thing, um would be is how deep on the bench is this company or contractor that you're talking to, right? And so if they're very small, it's a owner operator kind of thing and something happens, right? they, you know, they go on vacation, that happens, life event happens, you know, sickness, car wreck, who knows, whatever the case may be, and there's no place for them to go to get help. You could be left holding the back, right? And maybe that's okay. You're all right with it. Like in this case with your friend, it didn't really affect her a ton. She was fine over there and I'm sure it got finished and the guy got better and all that and project was done. But if you're the only bathroom and that you know so something to think about in terms of a yellow flag is what is their bench like? How you know if get sideways what can we do? What happens if you guys just don't get along after it's all after you get going and there's no one else. We've got five six project managers. You have a little bit of a personality clash. I can get a new one in there for you and the project can keep going. So thankfully with our guys that doesn't happen very it doesn't happen but it could. It's actually very rare. And one of the other things as project consultant I will say I get to know you and know your personality and I have a lot of say so on who your project manager is going to be and a lot of that is a personality thing. I I'm going to I'm going to tell their boss who I think would be the best fit and and I'm usually right. Pretty good. Yeah. [snorts] Because you know them and them. You know the client. You know you know the homeowner and you know our team. and then you know that oh this person would be a good match with this with this couple and I think that's going to flow well. Yep. Right. And so that's that's helpful to pair them up correctly. Um obviously then right what about like licenses insurance like you're come from that world? Yes. I used to carry around cards that LNI gives you. They'll give them out at the home show uh that you can write down the license number and it has the website you it has the LNI website where you can go and look up the contractor, right? You can see if there are any complaints against them. To that end, it's really hard to not get a complaint against you because you cannot keep if you're working, you might have a complaint, right? You're going to have a complaint if there's multiple multiple multiple. And one of the other things that's very frustrating is a lot of people [snorts] um a lot of unscrupulous people will have an LLC, they'll get a few complaints against them, they close that LLC, they open another. So history matters. You want to see how long they've been in business. Uh you want to look at the owner of the company and see if they're if they owned other companies, right? Um because sometimes there is a pattern. Uh another girlfriend of mine asked me a ton of questions about her kitchen design. Mh. Uh, didn't ask me a single thing about her contractor. She didn't think I could help her. She lives in Texas. Um, didn't think I could help her or, you know, because of where she was. But there are still signs that you want to look for like being licensed and bonded and things like that. The other thing she did, which I could have killed her, she paid him 100% upfront. Don't do that. Don't ever do that. Don't do that. That's not a good thing. It is. If anybody's asking for all the money up front, red flag. That's a red flag. Not even a yellow flag. That's a red flag. That is a red as that. It's on fire, right? Uh there's there because there's no motivation to finish. There's it's just and it's just bad practice. You know, the contractors need a certain amount of money up front. They're buying they're buying stuff, right? They're buying a lot of stuff sometimes and you've got to have the purchasing power and the labor to start, right? Um, so that's legit. Some money, but not all. Right. But not all of it. Not by a, you know, I mean, and normally what are we doing from a 20 to 30 depending on the size of the job? It's usually 20 to 30% down and bigger ones even less. Yeah. As a percentage, but it's, you know, if it's a if it's a million, $2 million out. Yeah. We're not We don't need $600,000 to get going. You know, that's not a thing. But it might be two. It might be, you know, it might be 10 percent, you know, couple couple hundred thousand to get rolling kind of deal. And that the payments are staged out over time. Correct. Right. And have they done projects like this? Yes. Can you see them? Do they have photos? I want to see past work. Yes. C are there customers you can talk to? Are there customers that are willing to, you know, to give their uh opinion? And we have a lot of those, right? And Robin does a great job like with her clients. They become more than clients. they become multiple time clients. We do the upstairs, we do the downstairs, we do the kitchen, and then she's out dancing and going to the bar with them and hanging [laughter] out. So that's actually it's more it's more than just that client relationship, right? Or just the client. So it becomes more than that because it's like a family. Um so insurance, payment upfront, pressure tactics. Oh yes. I actually had one of my customers trying to call me. It was on a Saturday. I just missed the call and I asked her later what what was up. She said I had a window salesman in my house. I could not get them to leave and she was calling me to ask me how to get them out of her house. Right. Um we don't do that. No, we don't. And they shouldn't do that. And just as a note, if you're in Washington state, I know this to be true. Not every state has this, so I don't want to speak for all states, but if you're in that situation and they're in your house, it's different if you go to their place of business, but if they come to your house, you can sign the contract just to get them out of your house. And then there is the right of recision cancellation policy. Make sure that they give you that. They are required to give you this three-day like if you get a mortgage, you can cancel the mortgage, buyer's remorse kind of thing. And it's three business days. So if it's a Saturday in that instance you were talking about you would have Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Yes. To send them the thing that say I canceled this contract. So you can get them out of the house and then send them that. So if that's a solution for you in the state of Washington and other states have it as well, but I don't want to speak about that. But a way to get them out of your house in the state of Washington for sure. I have actually advised people of that. Pressure tactics, unrealistic timelines, suspiciously low bids. You said that already. um communication like if you can't get them to get call you back or give you a email shoot you email response before you're working with them what's it going to be like once you paid them right that's a that's a yellow going red flag there right talk about the red flags talk about the process a little bit and then what about just a little bit to wrap up here things that people should be looking for some best practices to look for with other people that they're talking to. Of course, you can call Armada, Armada Design and Build. You know, that's us, Armada Build. Give us a link, you know, check us out, give us a call. Um, but if you're talking to somebody else, like the keys to success, setting them up for a successful build, right? Because you got the planning, the design, the get ready stuff, and then the build. So, what are some keys they should look for or want to have set up for to have that successful build if they're not working with Armada? They're Oh. Um, I want to know what they do if there's a problem. How, you know, and I want to know their timeline. I want to know how they pick their subs. I want to know uh what, you know, what they think the timeline is. I want So, you want a schedule. I want a schedule, right? And a construction schedule. A construction schedule. I want to know how I'm going to communicate with my project manager. I want to know uh what time are they going to show up at my house in the morning? How late are they going to stay? How late are they going to stay? Yeah, this is a good one. Like people stay like want to stay till 11 o'clock at night sometime. Like no, you can't stay. No. If there's if if there is a an event, if you have an event coming or something, we'll stay longer, you know, because we're trying to meet your timeline. You're going to have a wedding in the backyard and you want this all done. We're going to do extra steps, but it's going to be a pain point. But as a general rule, you know, normal construction that shouldn't be happening, right? That shouldn't be happening. So, schedule is important. Are they going to give you a schedule? And what does it look like? You know, what is that schedule like? How quickly or how up to date is that? Is it a dayby-day schedule? Like schedule is huge. We do a day by day. It's posted on your project website. You can log in and look at it anytime and we keep it up to date. And that's what it should be like. schedule. I think it's a great point you make about running the conversation with them. Okay. So, what happens if there is an issue or a surprise during the project? What is that like? How do you handle that? Right? Ask that question. If there's a surprise, how do you handle it? What are we going to do? What does that look like for me? Does it slow me down? Does it cost a gajillion dollars? What is your process specifically like for that? Um, change orders, permit delays, that we don't really have that, but inspections. Inspections. I was going to say on our on our schedule when they have inspection, it's usually a little three-day period because they're not sure when the inspector is going to get there. So, they're not sure what work they're going to be able to do, right? If the inspector comes the first day, then they might be able to squeeze everything in a little shorter, but you know, there's going to be some downtime, right? Um, but yeah, I want to know how they're scheduling everything. I want to know how often they're going to be there, um, and what my role is. Like we don't really want our subs, [snorts] I don't mean this in a bad way, but we don't really want them talking to the homeowner per se. If they have a question, we want um we don't want them to go outside of the scope. We want to make sure that everything's being communicated properly. And if something's wrong, we need to know about it, not the sub. We need to deal with it. That's the other thing. Part of our role is if there is a problem, I don't even want to talk to you about it until I have a solution. At least half I acknowledge the problem and we're going to go figure out a solution or a couple of solutions potentially. Right. Yeah. One of the things that I really don't like and hearing the story of and we don't have this I really don't think at all with our folks but I've definitely seen it in the past is you know you've done all this work you're doing all this stuff is prep prep and planning and then some guy walks in and goes hey lady where do you want me to put these towel bars you know like that's that we already talked about that we like I don't know where they go they're on the drawing like that is the kind of thing that you that's what we do on the front end y is then it's just execute on the back end, right? I don't mind them confirming. Well, confirming is one thing. I don't mind them confirming. Uh especially because some of these guys, this is what they do every day. Tile guy might see a tile layout and go and I like them to do what they do best and they may come and go, you might want to consider what if we tweak this kind of thing because they're they're going to see a problem. I have no problem with that. But otherwise, it shouldn't be I don't know where this is supposed to go. It's already it's in the drawings. Yeah, exactly. What it's What is the tile layout? Where do these knobs go on the cabinets? Where where the towel bars go? Everything's done. Where are the lights supposed to go? Right. Now, we run into that a lot cuz we'll do an electrical plan and we're going to draw what we want the lighting plan to look like. But then once we open it up and there's a pipe there and that light can't go there, now what are we going to do? Like that's when we get Robin designer involved to go, well, it can't be here, so we got to move it. So now, how are we how does that impact the layout? So the electrician doesn't just willy-nilly start putting stuff in. It's like, oh, we got to re remap it a little bit. Take pause. Yeah. Um, here's one for you as we're wrapping up. Thank you. We're kind of running along here. Robin and I could talk about this all day. Um but I think one of the things people ask a lot is what should I have as a contingency set aside right is that a thing should I do that what would be your thoughts what do you tell people do they ask you this kind of how does how do you address that question with people do ask I you know ideally the number is going to be zero right but it realistically I want them to think 10% I don't think it ever quite reaches is that unless there's something really wrong that you know nobody could have anticipated but I think 10's real estate. We normally don't bake one in but I tell people that the the older the house right the older the house the bigger the risk. Um and the first place typically that we have it is electrical. Yep. Right. We get surprised about electrical because the electrical code changes so frequently mid jobs sometimes that what was legal 10 years ago is now no longer legal and we have to do another thing to deal with that. And so electrical is the I would say the most common outside of potential wet rot issues. Right. Right. Would you agree? Yes. Yeah. And then maybe plumbing and HVAC for the surprise things. And then a little bit on um framing structure stuff occasionally. Yeah. But that's not very run into that very oft. And then rarely when we're doing an addition or we're digging that we find something in the ground, right? You find a buried tank or you know a pipe or something that nobody knew was there kind of thing. But those are low frequency occurrences. you know, one or two every couple of years maybe, you know, not anything huge. So, it's not impossible, but not highly probable, right? That's kind of the way I would characterize that. I would say it's highly probable you're going to run into some electrical cost, you know, beyond what we've already listed. Yes.
Here's one for you. Okay. What is your most controversial home design opinion? Oh, I have one. I know. I know yours, right? [laughter] I hate farm sinks. Farm sinks. Okay. Too trendy. That No, it's not that. It It's They can be problematic. They can and usually they're a little shallow so they splash on the cabinet and that and your sink cabinet's already the most vulnerable. Yeah. And and unless you're, you know, pretty aggressive uh at cleaning that and drying it off afterward, it's going to get destroyed. And I and because of even installing, they've gotten better about the design on the farm sinks and and covering the sides, but even uh installing them and the way they had to cut the um cabinet would be problematic, right? Yeah. [snorts] So be perfect. Yeah. So step one to installing one of these farm sinks is we're going to take a sawzall to your brand new cabinet and cut a big giant hole in the front of it. Right. That always makes me nervous when we're doing that. And I just I'm I'm just not a fan. I think because of the problems, right? And that would then kind of go to my next one is what's the trend you secretly hope disappears would be far. Right. Okay. Same. All right. So then here's one for you. So if budget didn't matter at all, what's the dream thing you'd put in your own house? Oo, nano wall, nano windows. Okay. The big folding wide open 20ft door. Nana is a brand name by the way, but the folding door accordion glass accordion style door and window. Okay. Um, here's another one for you. What is the most ridiculous client request that you've had that you can recall off the top of your head? Anything. Okay. I had a customer that, and this is not a a small deal, told me she was going to sell her home in under five years. and she wanted Cambria Sky. And I will explain that one. Cambria Sky is a bright blue uh quartz countertop with white veining. It looks like a smashed bowling ball. I'm not kidding. She wanted that in her kitchen. Her kitchen wasn't small. It had an island. And I said, "I cannot in clear conscience get behind let you put that in your kitchen." And we picked a a whitish countertop that had some blue in it. She was a big blue fan, right? And then we put the sky in her powder room where it belong. All right. Very cool. What is one thing that homeowners almost always underestimate besides the total cost of the job? Okay. Uh um I think how messy and dirty and loud it can be. Okay. The living through it part. Yes. Okay. Yeah. [snorts] What's your favorite room in a house and why? Oh, the kitchen. The kitchen. Okay. That's I think that's I I don't know if the why matters. I I mean there's so many that's the gathering place. That's I to me that's nerve center of the home. Yeah. Exactly. Okay. And if you weren't doing design build stuff, now you've done a few things, but if you weren't doing that, what would you be doing? [gasps] Traveling. Traveling. [laughter] Okay. I really, it's so funny because when I fell into this, I realized this was where I was supposed to be, right? Yeah. And we agree with that. Okay. Rapid fire style. Modern or traditional? Modern. Modern. Dark cabinets or light cabinets? Dark. Open shelving, yes or no? In the kitchen, uh, sparingly. Okay. Mix some. Yes. Matte black finish or brushed brass or chrome or like has that change? I'm kind of on a I it has I'm kind of on a gold kick right now. Gold kick. Okay. Especially with matte black cabinets. [music]
What else am I thinking? Anything else you can think of? Last thing. Parting shot. helping people understand looking around who should we engage with? What do we do? Like what would be your one message to the people out there that you know if you're thinking about doing this? These are the things to look for, be aware of and find your right fit, right? Because you might be good with the small guy that's just, you know, working out of his house. or you might need something with a little bit more structure and and you know impetus that you know Armada has or a bigger company more deeper bench find that right spot but what would you say is the top two or three things I I I don't know of so much top two or three things it what my what first when you first started saying that what came to my head is this is a relationship it is a relationship and it's not short you I mean, in the grand scheme of things, I might come in, we do your project, and you never see me again. Uh, and that's okay, but it's a relationship, and I we get repeat business all the time because of that. Um, I have lifelong friends because of that. Uh, but I think if you're dealing with somebody and something doesn't feel right, you need to trust that, right? There's usually something else going on. If something seems wrong, you need to question it. Question it aggressively. Uh because it you need to know it's a lot of money. We're we're asking for a lot of money, right? It's supposed to be it. It's an experience and it's supposed to be a good one, right? And I think that's it can be it can be a good experience. I Well, and I think most of the time it is. It's pain doesn't mean it's not painful and loud and messy and dusty, but man, when that's done, it's so great. It's just so great. And and I will say eight times out of 10 people go, I wish I'd have done this sooner. I would say that's a very common thing. And I guess maybe the other one that I would add to that is if you're on the fence about the thing, you know, whatever it is, that bigger window or the extra two feet on the addition or whatever is that I would say most commonly the regret is the thing they didn't do. Right. I agree. Oh man, I'm so I wish we would have done the thing that we floors heated floors. It's the thing when people start pulling things out of the job because of cost. I I always say I we need to put a pen in this right now. I need you to sleep on it for a few days because you're undoing the things that are going to make this special, right? And I think sometimes they just need to wrap their head around the number a little longer. Yeah. Get comfortable with it. And she can help you get connected with people about financing. Right. So we have a whole component of that. We have podcast dedicated to it. We have videos on it. So you could talk about that as well. But we have to go. Thank you very much, Robin. Thank you. I appreciate it for coming in, taking some time today. I know you've got projects and clients to get to and go deal with them. Um, but your construction project, your renovation, your remodel does not have to be a horror story. It doesn't have to be a nightmare. Um, they certainly can be, and there are plenty of examples of that out there in the world. We're trying to eliminate that. Um, it takes planning. It takes um deliberateness and and intention to have a plan and to understand what it's going to look like and be through the project. We want to remove that is that we have no concern about the finished project and what it's going to look like when it's done. We're going to stipulate to excellent work, excellent craftsmanship, and very tight fit and finish. But for us, we really want to focus on the process and living through it. you know, it's different like, oh, you go buy a new house and it's over there and you don't have to live there and go through the thing. It can still be long and arduous, but you're not in it, right? And so, we want to make sure that we've thought about those issues to contain that as much as possible to mitigate the surprises as little as possible or to as as few as possible. And so, it doesn't have to be that. So, give us a call, talk to the people you're talking to, look around, ask them the questions, you know, what's your scheduling like? How do you do uh surprises, change orders? What do you handle that like? What are the payments? What's the payment structure like? Licensed, bonded, insurance, prior clients, history, show me that you've done this kind of work. Um, right. So, if you're considering a major project or a not so major project, check us out. Website, come into the showroom. Right? Give us a call. Have Robin out to your house to talk to you about your project, your kitchen, your bathroom, your whatever it is that you're thinking about doing. Learn more. Those first meetings for us, no charge. You're going to get pretty good education for no cost right out of the gate and then a little bit further. And then if you really want to get into it, obviously there's some cost associated with that, as she said, the tuition bill. But you're going to learn a lot um in a little bit of time about what you can do, get a sense of it, how much it's going to cost, living through it, all that, and get a and take it from what would this look like, what could we do to some real, you know, definitive objective. Here's the thing, you know, kind of a deal. [snorts] So, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Let's build with Armada podcast. Armada Design and Build in Belleview. Stop in, check us out on the website, our YouTube thing. We got all that stuff going. A lot of podcasts getting out there now. So, find out more, learn. We're here to help. We want you to have the home that you want and you need for your family now and down the road. And we can make it happen. It can be amazing, as she said, the finished product. And boy, we wish we had done this sooner. Yes. You know, kind of thing. Don't let that be you. [laughter] Give us a call, check it out. We'll come see you. Talk about your project. Thanks very much. Signing off. See you next time.