One Crazy Simple Tool to Easily Communicate with Your Contractor

You’ve probably heard the stories: a friend or co-worker mid-remodel, waking up unsure whether to

move the car, crate the dog, or flee to Starbucks for a Zoom meeting to avoid a soundtrack of sawing and spontaneous hammer solos.

There’s a rampant epidemic in the remodeling world, and it’s not incorrect tile layouts or backordered light fixtures.  It’s something more maddening, completely avoidable, and somehow, far more accepted than it should be.

It’s a lack of basic communication between the contractor and the homeowner.

You’re living in a construction zone. You’re trying to keep your work schedule flexible and be available for questions.  Yet the only thing you can count on is the suspense:  Will someone show up today? Will they need access to the basement?  Will the water be off?  Is a payment coming up? 

Even worse — should you be making a major decision today that no one warned you was coming?

It’s a ridiculously common scenario: the homeowner pacing the kitchen at 7:30 AM in slippers, wondering whether they can finish that first cup of coffee before the chaos starts. Wondering if today means more demo, or if the electrician is coming, or if it’s just another day of… nothing. No one called. No one texted. No one emailed with a heads-up.  Attempts to reach the contractor go unanswered, and now it’s after 8:00 - they’re on their second cup of coffee and their last nerve.

The absolute bonkers part is that this is not unusual. It’s not even considered bad by industry standards.

It’s just… how it is.

Too many contractors treat keeping the homeowner in the loop like an optional courtesy - something they’ll do if they have time, or if they remember.  The bar for communication is on the floor. The unfortunate reality is that if you don’t take active responsibility for staying informed, it’s incredibly easy to end up in a perpetual state of surprise and frustration.

Considering how much you’ll spend on labor in a typical remodel, this is simply unacceptable. Especially when you’ve already tried to be gracious and reasonable. Especially when you asked what to expect, and have only gotten vague “we’ll let you knows” instead of a clear timeline or list of upcoming requests.

Within my business, I’ve created relationships with some truly wonderful contractors. These are professionals who communicate clearly, show up reliably, and make everyone’s lives easier. They exist. I’m SPOILED ROTTEN by them.

This kind of transformation is only possible when the team is aligned, decisions are timely, and nothing gets lost in translation.

Over the years I’ve also had plenty of projects where we had to beg, barter, and borderline bribe our way to basic information, and that’s frequently still the case today when a client comes to me with the contractor already on board.

And if that’s what it takes with a designer involved - someone who speaks the language, knows what questions to ask, and follows up like clockwork?

Imagine how it goes when you’re navigating it alone.

Listen, most contractors don’t mean to be cryptic. They’re juggling trades, supply issues, and ten other jobs. The truth is that communication is rarely their strong suit, and the net result is that it’s you, the client, who ends up stressed out.

So let’s change the dynamic.

You’re spending five, maybe six figures on labor.  You should at LEAST know who’s showing up tomorrow, which likely means taking matters into your own hands.  Should this be your responsibility?  No.  You shouldn’t have to implement systems to track the people you’re paying to be there, but if you’ve chosen to run your own project - or circumstances have put you in that position - communication is your job now.

You don’t have to be pushy or micro-managey.  You don’t need a complicated app or a fancy workflow (which I 100% promise your contractor is not going to use).  You just need a clear, visible, drop-dead-simple system that even the most charmingly belligerent “good ol’ boy” can’t ignore, in order to get the information out of someone else’s head and into your hands.

(Brace yourself:  wildly anticlimactic solution incoming.)

It’s called the Jobsite Journal, and yes… it’s just a whiteboard.  A dry-erase marker, three columns, and spot on the wall next to the door the crew uses on their way out.  It’s practically free, requires zero tech skills, but you would be shocked how well it works.

At the end of each day, someone - the general contractor, a site foreman, or even a helpful crew member - writes a quick update on the board. Not a novel, just the basics.

You structure it with three simple columns:

Tomorrow	Heads-Up Items	Notes
Drywall in powder room, 9am arrival	Final faucet selection needed by Thursday	Don’t park in the driveway

Tomorrow: What’s scheduled? Who’s coming? Are they showing up at 8:00 AM with a jackhammer? This is how you get clarity on the immediate plan.

Heads-Up Items: What’s coming up that needs your attention? This helps avoid surprise invoices or last-minute “we need this by 2:00” texts.

Notes: This space is for quick updates or reminders that don’t fit elsewhere: supply delays, inspection dates, access instructions, small requests, or general status notes. Think of it as a running log that helps keep you in the loop without requiring a full conversation.

The beauty of this setup is how uncomplicated it is. It takes 30 seconds to fill out, and it doesn’t rely on texts, special apps, or anyone remembering to call you at the end of the day.  The board is there as a visual cue when the crew is on the way out. 

This not only smooths the process for you, but for the contractor as well!  He doesn’t have to chase you down for answers or remind you about payment because he texted you in the middle of an important meeting and you promptly forgot about it.

It’s right there, visible, and immensely helpful for EVERYONE.

Of course, this setup isn’t perfect for every situation. Like most tools, it works best under the right conditions. The whiteboard Jobsite Journal is ideal when:

• The general contractor is on site regularly and working with the crew

• A site supervisor, project manager, or foreman stops by daily who knows the schedule

• You’re working with a small, consistent team of trades who communicate with each other

In those cases, the whiteboard becomes part of the rhythm. It’s a gentle reminder, not a burden. It’s quick to update, easy to see, and impressively effective at keeping everyone aligned without a constant stream of hard to track texts and check-ins.

Obviously, this solution isn’t a fit for every project.  What if your GC is running multiple jobs and isn’t on site every day?  What if the trades are independent subcontractors who don’t communicate with each other?  Or what if your crew doesn’t speak English?

In an upcoming article, we’ll cover exactly how to navigate those scenarios. You’ll learn how to ask the right questions during contractor interviews, how to set mutual expectations around communication, and how to write those expectations into your contract, so everyone knows from day one how the information will flow, and what will be expected from both sides.

It’s all part of setting your project up for success before the first hammer swings. 

If that success can be had at the cost of a $12 trip to Staples?  Even better.  Often the simplest tools are the ones that actually get used.

---

Love what you’ve read? Subscribe to Design Diaries and receive our most valuable articles, behind-the-scenes project reveals, and curated luxury finds typically reserved for the trade delivered directly to your inbox each month.