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Making Renovation Happen… in lock-down

By April 1, 2020Events and News

Here’s a look at how team APM are working;

Working from home

We’ve got our chic home working environments set up, we’re cultivating at-home jungles to rival the one in our office, and we’re video-calling (nearly) like naturals.

The home jungle in progress chez Cat
Leah’s home-working set-up
Jo – ready for the morning team meeting
Anu (with thumbs-up from her brother)
Katherine working from home
Liz’ practical and glamorous living room desk

Even with some work paused or blocked on site, we are busy;

  •   Starting the planning process on new projects.
  • Continuing to design beautiful homes.
  • Finalising the details on projects that are nearly ready to go (so that everything is lined up for a smooth start whenever we can get on site)
  • Rearranging work that has been disrupted – for example by deliveries being stopped, suppliers not working – as this is constantly changing, that’s a big chunk of each day…

Work on site

Some of the contractors we work with are continuing to work on site – travelling by car and arranging their work so that they can maintain suitable distancing. We are monitoring and managing progress;

  • Cat is making site visits (by bike or car) where it is safe and practical to do so.
  • We are in regular phone and video-call contact with the teams on site. By the time a project is on site we are so familiar with the detail of the property we can do a surprising amount by video…
  • Contractors and specialists are sending regular pictures and footage from site.

Below, from L-R: Cat out on site visits, modelling mask chic / Footage from site showing beautiful decorating in progress / Bespoke joinery being built on site.

With the situation changing daily, there is lots for us to juggle. Examples of practical issues:

  • Tile supplier temporarily closing down (with one day’s notice) means a client’s shower room can’t be finished
  • Kitchen fitter unable to work for health reasons – kitchen units can’t be fitted, so decorating/ tiling can’t happen
  • Work surface supplier shut down – this means that the sink and hob can’t be fitted so the new kitchen is not much use!

Keeping on making it happen

We’re really impressed by the hard work and flexibility of our contractors and suppliers.  Where they can, and despite the difficulties caused by lockdown/ social distancing across Europe, they are working tirelessly to overcome these issues (and their own anxieties and health concerns).

We’re doing all we can to facilitate this and keep clients updated and, where possible, reassured.

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