Planning a tub or shower remodel for your bathroom can be overwhelming. There are design choices, safety concerns, timelines, budgets, and tons of information to take in. Plus, you’re getting to know a contractor. When everyone involved in the remodeling decision isn’t present, important details tend to be overlooked.
This is all to say that everyone involved in the decision-making process should attend your tub and shower remodel consultation.
Shugarman’s Bath has done thousands of in-home consultations. The same issues come up again and again when everyone involved in the decision isn’t present. There’s confusion, frustration, and often a second consultation scheduled later.
This article will explain who should attend your tub and shower consultation, what problems show up when someone is missing, how to prepare for your consultation, and why having everyone there makes the process more valuable.
Table of Contents:
- Why Would You Want Everyone in the Decision Process?
- What’s the Difference When Everyone Is at the Consultation?
- Will I Need to Take a Day Off From Work for This?
- How Can You Best Prepare for Your Consultation?
- Know What to Ask At All Your Consultations
Why Would You Want Everyone in the Decision Process?
Consultations walk you through the design layout, how your new tub or shower will function, safety features, materials used, the timeline for the project, information about the company you’re talking with, and what to expect from the finished project.
It gets messy when one person gets tons of info and tries to relay it to everyone else later. Remember the classic children’s game telephone? Information gets distorted or lost with each retelling. And you don’t want a messy process when choosing a contractor for your tub and shower remodeling project.
You can be the most outstanding listener in the world, but you can’t be expected to remember everything. Important details are lost when everyone in the decision process isn’t present.
When everyone is present, everyone hears the same information at the same time. Not to mention everyone has the chance to ask their own questions. Everyone leaves with the same expectations and understanding of their tub or shower remodel. Most of all, everyone involved can make more confident decisions about their project.
Okay, But Who Would Be Considered “Involved in the Decision”?
This would include anyone who will be involved in approving/denying the project, funding it, or living with the final result.
For most homeowners, this would include a spouse or a partner. In other cases, there may be adult children helping a parent or elderly family member, siblings contributing to the project cost, or family members who use the tub and shower space daily.
If anyone needs to be consulted before the project moves forward, they should be present for the consultation.
What typically goes wrong when someone is missing?
Three major problems tend to show up:
First, there will be plenty of miscommunication. This means design details can be misunderstood, project expectations won’t align, the scope of work becomes unclear, and other information can be overlooked. Homeowners tend to feel more stressed about their project when communication and information are all over the place.
Second, there is often a need to schedule a second consultation. When one person attends and then has to fill others in later, it often leads to scheduling another full consultation. That means you’re taking extra time to do the same process all over again. This can stretch the project unnecessarily.
Finally, there are unanswered questions. It’s no surprise to know that not everyone shares the same brain. One person may not think to ask something that another would. When everyone is there, everyone can get their questions answered. And you won't have to hear from the other person, “Why didn’t you ask this question?” Everyone can collaborate and get the questions that matter to them answered.
Does My Spouse Need to Be There? They Don’t Really Care What I Decide.
“My spouse told me to handle it.”
“They don’t really care about this stuff.”
“I’ll explain it to them later.”
We hear these things more often than you might expect. Everyone who wants someone else to make the larger decision “doesn’t care” until the project is finished or agreed upon. Or worse, when they see the project cost. More often than not, everyone involved in these decisions has thoughtful questions and opinions on areas such as safety, shelving, niches, glass, layout, and other features. That, or they want to be a little more educated on the process. Either way, their involvement is important!
And it might be entirely true that a spouse won’t care. It’s our experience that when they’re not part of the original conversation, there tend to be areas of frustration.
What’s the Difference When Everyone Is at the Consultation?
Being there benefits everyone since concerns can be addressed in real time. You might prioritize safety, while someone else might care more about design. And everyone can get their questions answered about the timeline or materials. You won’t be left struggling to remember information and guessing later.
Better decisions can be made as a cohesive unit rather than by one person carrying the full responsibility. Choices are shared and supported by everyone at the same time. It also makes for fewer regrets and a smoother remodel overall.
You also won’t need to take extra time for a second consultation.
Will I Need to Take a Day Off From Work for This?
No. You shouldn’t have to miss a day of work to do this right. Many homeowners assume consultations only happen during a company’s business hours. They don’t.
At Shugarman’s Bath, consultations can be scheduled in the evenings. So if you work a 9-5, you can attend without taking time off. However, if you work evenings or graveyard shifts, you’ll have to coordinate with everyone involved.
There is also weekend availability. You can get more details when speaking with our scheduling team.
For any questions involving consultation scheduling, feel free to contact us. Our scheduling team does an excellent job of making sure you and everyone involved in the decision can be present.
How Can You Best Prepare for Your Consultation?
Before a design consultant gets to your door, we highly recommend you:
- Browse the Shugarman’s Bath website to learn more about us, our solutions, and our pricing overview.
- Go through our educational materials in our Learning Center
- Look through the photo gallery for design inspiration
- Write down any questions you have
- Think about how you want your new tub or shower to function
Know What to Ask At All Your Consultations
A tub or shower remodel is a large project. The consultation is where you learn firsthand about the design, safety features, timelines, more about the contractor, and what to expect with your finished space. When everyone involved is present at the same time, communication is clearer, all questions can be answered, and the risk of scheduling a second consultation is lower.
You and everyone else want to make sure a project feels organized. A simple way to do that is to have everyone there.
Want to know how the consultation process goes? Read our article on our tub and shower consultation process. You’ll learn the step-by-step process and what to expect.
If you’re preparing for a consultation, we highly recommend downloading the Homeowners Buyer’s Guide from Shugarman’s Bath. It walks you through recommended questions to ask any contractor and why they’re worth asking. Even if you don’t move forward with us, you can use it for all your consultations and find the contractor that best fits your needs.
The opinions expressed in the referenced materials are those of the authors only, not necessarily of Shugarman’s Bath. While these referenced materials are useful in answering generalized questions, each bathroom is unique. For a particular question about your tub or shower remodeling project, contact your Shugarman’s Bath consultant.
