How to Uber-Manage Your Home Remodel Project

It's pretty cool that you can use the same software to manage words and... garage door hardware. That's quite a range of uses.

Last year my wife and I wanted to finally get some hardware on the garage doors we'd been holding closed with a bungee cord.

So we did what most people do: We got onto Google and started looking for hardware we liked.

But how to you manage information like that? I guess you could:

1. Print out a picture of every piece of hardware you like.
2. Make sure that you can remember which website each piece of hardware was from.
3. Keep track of any communication you've had with the vendor.
4. Find a way to group different styles of hardware you get from different sites.

I guess that now that Pinterest is around, you could pin the different hardware options so you could see them all at once.... show them to whoever is going to install them to make sure they'll work and work together. But that's kind of a clunky solution.

That's why we created a mind map for the project:

(Click on image for larger view.)

As you can see, ConceptDraw enables you to put a whole bunch of info on one screen:

• Name/Skew, dimensions, finish, and price of product
• Link to vendor website
• Picture of each piece of hardware
• Contact info for vendor
• Record of communications with vendor

This kind of info makes it much easier to keep track of your options, vendor promises, and decisions. And this is just a simple map for a very simple project.

Imagine how useful it would be to have a map like this to help you keep track of the kind of appliance choices, woodwork styles, lighting options you have to consider for a larger project. You can even build a map to help you compare your choice of contractors.

As with all other projects, from coming up with blog ideas to putting on an addition, being able to mix images, web links, ideas, and information all on one screen just makes life easier. And heaven knows that when it comes to remodel projects, you need all the "easier" you can get.