Watch the full episode: Answering Homeowner’s Questions — The Mazzamuto Method Ep. 5 Most homeowners walk into a remodel asking two questions: how much will it cost, and how long will it take? In this episode of The Mazzamuto Method, Gino and Mario Mazzamuto of Mazzamuto Construction — whose family has been building since 1938 — answer the questions homeowners sent in, and explain the questions you should be asking instead. As Gino puts it, “there’s a thousand and one questions that should be asked between those two main questions.”
How long should my remodel really take?
The honest answer: it depends on your job — but a contractor should be able to tell you before work starts. The brothers explain that a real timeline only exists when there is a real scope of work. “Before the schedule is even done though you needed to find scope of work and that’s a very thorough scope of work,” Mario explains — the full scope first, then each individual breakdown, and from that you build the schedule. At Mazzamuto Construction, every project is broken out week by week in an online calendar that clients can check through their own portal. “They can get in whenever they want… They can see what’s going on for the week. They can see what’s going on for the day. And they can see if it’s on or off schedule.” The schedule runs from pulling the permit and the lead carpenter walkthrough all the way down to the final walkthrough with the customer and a professional final cleaning.
If you have a diligent estimate and a scope of work, you can come up with a timeline that should get you 90% there. You’re never going to be a hundred percent there.
What separates a smooth project from a nightmare project?
One word: preparation. Before demolition ever starts, the Mazzamuto team builds the estimate, builds the schedule, signs the contract, and then begins what they call pre-operations — ordering long-lead items like cabinets, windows, and doors that can take four to six weeks, and pinning down details like paint colors, sheens, trim, and hardware. That is why they warn against contractors who rush to start. A job that begins before materials are ordered and decisions are made is a job that stalls mid-stream. When there is time before a start date, they pair clients with a designer and a project manager so those decisions are made in advance — “that’s why it’s super important never to rush into a project.”
What delays remodeling projects the most?
Design decisions. Not the big ones — the hundreds of small ones. “There’s a lot that goes into it that you don’t think about — types of baseboard, paint colors, door handles, grout, thickness, all kinds of stuff. All the details.” Their fix is a field package for the install crew with cabinets, layout, and even mounting heights for showers, levers, and mirrors — signed off by the customer before installation, so nobody spends “eight hours on a mirror” moving it up and down two inches. Their designer takes it further with 3D renderings using the exact countertop colors, cabinet colors, ceiling heights, and room dimensions — “ratio wise, it’s 100% accurate” — so the customer sees the finished room before it exists.
How do I know if a contractor is organized?
Look at how they show you the plan for your job — not just what they will do, but how, how long, and what it will cost. A detailed estimate for a $233,000 job should not be two pages. As the brothers joke, “if your estimate is written on a napkin, probably not going to be too organized” — and an estimate written in a text message isn’t much better. Organization shows up in three places: a line-item estimate with materials and labor calculated (theirs runs around 150 pages, down to cubic yards of excavation and how much of a dumpster it fills), a published week-by-week schedule, and a client portal with weekly photo updates showing what’s done, what’s in progress, and what’s coming next.
