Cally Reyes

The kitchen renovation was supposed to be done before Thanksgiving. It wasn’t. Not because anything went catastrophically wrong – no floods, no structural surprises, no contractor disappearing. It ran late because the timeline was built on best-case assumptions at every single phase. The permit took longer than expected. The cabinet lead time was longer than

The contractor is sitting across from you, or on the other end of a call, walking you through the bid. The number seems reasonable. They seem experienced. They showed up on time, said all the right things, and you’re almost ready to sign. But in the back of your mind, there’s a growing quiet discomfort

Six weeks into a kitchen renovation, a homeowner realizes the number they started with was never real. They built a budget around a single contractor’s estimate that had five line items and left almost everything to “allowances.” They didn’t price the tile themselves. They had no contingency. The first change order wiped out what little

Picture this: something goes wrong with the plumbing right after the project finished, so you call your contractor. He says, “that’s the plumber’s call.” You don’t have the plumber’s number. You don’t know the plumber’s name. You hired a contractor, not a plumber — so who exactly is responsible here? This confusion is almost universal

You’re three weeks into your kitchen renovation when a message comes in from your contractor. Something came up during demo. There’s more to deal with than expected. The cost is going up by $4,800. You didn’t budget for that. You’re not sure what “something came up” means exactly, or whether $4,800 is reasonable for whatever

Something feels off. Maybe the contractor took three days to respond to a message during the estimate (when he still wanted your business). Maybe his bid came in $8,000 lower than the others and he couldn’t quite explain why. Maybe he seemed annoyed when you asked about his insurance. Whatever it was, you noticed it,