Home project planner: plan renovations and repairs without a spreadsheet

A home project planner does not need forty columns and a colour code. Most renovations and repairs do not fail for lack of a spreadsheet. They stall on a decision nobody made, a delivery nobody chased, or the last few small jobs that never quite get done. A plain list per job, with a clear state for each item, handles all three.

Why home projects stall

Home projects are unusual. The work itself is often the easy part. What slows them down is everything around it:

• Decisions. Which tiles, which paint, which tap. Until you choose, nothing moves.
• Other people. An electrician who will "come by next week", a quote that has not arrived.
• Deliveries. Parts on back order, the wrong size shipped, a pickup window you missed.
• The last ten percent. Skirting boards, touch-ups, a missing handle. Small enough to ignore, visible every day.

A good home project planner makes each of these visible, so you can see what is actually holding things up.

One project per job

Make a project for each job with a clear end: "Bathroom renovation", "Fix the garden fence", "Paint the hallway". Avoid a single project called "House". It never finishes, so it never feels like progress.

Before you start a bigger job, write down what finished looks like and what you are deliberately not doing this time. The guide to a simple project plan has a one-page template that works as well for a bathroom as for anything else.

A ticket for every task, decision and purchase

Inside each project, give every piece of work its own item. Three kinds show up again and again:

• Tasks: "Remove old tiles", "Patch the wall behind the sink".
• Decisions: "Choose floor tiles", "Decide on shower screen or curtain".
• Purchases: "Order grout and adhesive", "Buy new tap".

Writing decisions down as their own items is the part most people skip, and the part that helps most. A decision is work. It blocks other work. Seeing "Choose floor tiles" sitting open for three weeks is a much clearer signal than a vague feeling that the bathroom is taking a while.

Waiting on a tradesperson or a delivery

When an item cannot move because you are waiting on someone else, mark it blocked and write down exactly what you are waiting for: who, what, and when you last asked. "Waiting on quote from the plumber, called Thursday." "Tiles on back order, supplier says two weeks, checked on the 3rd."

Across all your home projects, the blocked items are now your list of calls to make. Once a week, go through it and chase. It is dull, and it is the single thing that keeps a renovation moving.

Keep the details in the notes

Home projects are full of small facts you will need again, usually at the worst possible moment in a hardware store. Write them in the item's notes instead of trusting memory or scrolling through old messages:

• Measurements, including what you measured from.
• Paint names and codes, and which wall got which.
• Model numbers of appliances, taps and light fittings.
• Quotes: who gave them, the amount, and what was included.
• What the electrician said about the old wiring.

A year later, when a tile cracks or a fitting fails, the answer to "what did we use?" is written down.

Money: keep the numbers where numbers belong

Budgets are one place a spreadsheet genuinely shines. If you want totals, keep a simple one for the numbers. Use your home project planner for the work and the decisions, and note the price on a purchase item when it helps. Two simple tools beat one complicated one.

Finishing the last ten percent

The final stretch of a home project is a different kind of work: lots of tiny jobs, none urgent. This is where projects quietly stop. Do a walk-through when the main work is done, and add one item for every small thing you notice. "Touch up paint above the door." "Fit the missing cupboard handle." "Seal around the bath."

Star the few that bother you most and do those first. Then work down the list. When it is empty, close the project, properly, and enjoy the room. If you have several half-finished jobs around the house, the guide on too many projects helps you decide which to finish and which to park.

It is still project management

None of this is special to houses. Planning a renovation is personal project management with sawdust: outcomes, small steps, clear states, and notes you can find again. The same habits work for a garden, a move, or a wedding.

Very Simple Projects is a simple personal project management app that works as a home project planner: a project per job, numbered items, a star, labels, notes on every item, and statuses including blocked, which asks what you are waiting for. It costs $0.99 a month, and the first month is free.