Photography by David Hughes/Front Door Media
Jimmy Rohrbaugh and Ignacio Lopez-Costa’s kitchen renovation was past the tipping point when they decided to continue construction work.
Becca Medler, her husband, Andrew, and their two daughters planned to share a makeshift shower in their basement and eat most of their meals outside the house during a renovation of their Richmond Heights home.
In mid-March, the family traveled to Florida for spring break, timing the trip to coincide with demolition. But when they received news that schools were transitioning to remote learning and employees would begin to work from home, the challenges of confinement to one room in the lower level, with construction on a new kitchen and bathrooms overhead, seemed untenable.
Within hours, the Medlers changed course and decided to remain in Florida, knowing that it would be “impossible to learn and work from home during construction.” They haven’t been back to St. Louis since, but work on their home never stopped. The family monitors its progress from afar, checking in with the crew via text message and email three times a week.
“We’ve been joking that when we get home, there will be a big reveal, kind of like an HGTV show when you pull back the blindfold and say, ‘Are you ready to see your new home?’” says Medler, who’s been staying with her family at her mother-in-law’s Florida condo.
Medler, like other local homeowners, has found new ways to press on with major projects during stay-at-home measures implemented to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. She credits preplanning and a good working relationship with M. Dinzebach Construction, which is spearheading the project, for the ease of renovating during a pandemic. “There has been trust throughout. It could have been a nightmare, but it’s been great,” says Medler. “I’ve also given them rein to do their job, which I know is appreciated.”
Jeanne Dinzebach operates M. Dinzebach Construction with her husband, Mike. She says most of the company’s current projects involve unoccupied homes, making social distancing easier. But they’ve had to be flexible and adjust the work schedules of some of their older tradespeople who don’t feel comfortable going to work. The company is limiting the number of workers assigned to multiple sites and requiring that they wear protective gear.
Photography by David Hughes/Front Door Media
“The guys don’t use each other’s equipment anymore,” Dinzebach says, “and, of course, if anyone is even remotely not feeling well, they’re not allowed to come to work. We normally take people on a shopping day to pick out cabinetry, countertops, and hardware. Even though people do a lot of online shopping, they still want to experience how that fixture feels in their hands,” Dinzebach says, “so the selection process is more challenging.”
That’s been the case for Randy Munton, who’s renovating the kitchen of his home overlooking the Lake of the Ozarks. Some showrooms have mailed samples to him and taken orders by phone; others, including the flooring retailer where Munton made purchases, are limiting store access.
“She only lets one person in at a time, and you’ve got to glove and mask up,” says Munton who, with wife Sandy, used the extra time created by COVID-19–related delays to do much of the demolition work themselves.
“Basically, I do the unskilled labor,” he says. “We saved a fortune.”
Jimmy Rohrbaugh and Ignacio Lopez-Costa’s renovation was “past the tipping point where the destruction part was done and we were well into construction,” says Rohrbaugh.
They were confident about continuing work because crews had direct access to the kitchen and pantry, which were easily sealed off from the rest of the home. Rohrbaugh was also able to set up a workspace quiet enough to allow him to work from home; Lopez-Costa, who’s in the medical field, worked at the hospital on most days. The couple had already set up a small kitchen in an unused bathroom, relying heavily on Instant Pot recipes, which proved good training for cooking in the time of coronavirus, says Lopez-Costa.
Luckily, their new full-sized appliances were delivered in time for them to add more frozen foods and perishables to the stockpile and cut down on trips to the store. “In a way, this remodel was preparing us for quarantine—preparing us to have to cook with limited resources,” says Lopez-Costa.
Their designer, Dana King of Dana King Design Build Remodeling, says that keeping clients safe has been easy, given that her firm is LEED-certified, which requires many of the same precautions taken to stop viruses. Crews regularly seal off areas under construction and have augmented the cleaning routine.
“So, as far as keeping it contactless, that’s the nature of our work,” King says. “Noiseless it is not.”
But, in most cases, the firm has found a way to work around schedules and delays, and with the help of tech tools like the 3D design platform Matterport and a deep bench of trade partners and suppliers, even going as far as designing new projects digitally.
“Our biggest hurdle is having clients take a leap of faith that we can do this virtually,” says King. “I hope people are looking positively toward the possibilities and know that they can be allowed to dream at this time.”
