Alice Riffee

before after

May 5, 2009

When Alice Riffee remodeled her kitchen. she drew on her accounting skills to tackle the ordeal that would disrupt her domestic scene for three months.

In her professional life as a CPA and a financial consultant with AXA Equitable, Riffee knew from long experience that design and control are essential to every successful project.

"You need to know your client," she told Putnam Rotarians today. "You need to know your business -- how you can provide the best advice -- to know the tax laws. Impress upon your client the need to talk to you before they make any major changes.

"When change is done, you hold your peace, good or bad. Due diligence, confidentiality -- those are a given."

A big part of the plan is the budget. "It's easy to say, 'You need to do this,' and, 'You need to do that,' but don't spend more than what you have.

"This kitchen remodeling was no different. After years of looking at kitchens, after talking to real estate agents, and reading up on what you can do to fix up a house, and where you'll get your best return for your investment, set aside some money -- we started planning. Figuring out what we wanted to do, how much we wanted to do, what it was going to encompass.

"And it came out from just a simple kitchen counter and maybe new floor to new flooring for the kitchen, living room, dining room. Tearing out walls -- maybe.

"We had lots of ideas, but we were not experts at this. So we found the experts. Just as in my work as a CPA, I know other people who have expertise in certain [financial] areas, I will send my clients to those people -- because that's the right thing to do."

The experts came in, said Riffee. "They looked at our little nine by nine kitchen, and I said, 'This is our budget.'"

The experts looked at some adjacent areas. They began suggesting ways to improve the plan on the available money. "Their final plan included every 'high-end' option.

"Just as it is as a CPA with my clients, they had a wish list. But you have to get back down to what you really need and what you can afford.

"So we started looking at all the materials and the labor. And we knew that if we really wanted, we could put five to ten years into kitchen remodeling. But we knew that if we wanted it done in a reasonable period of time we'd better hire someone."

Riffie and her husband contracted with a business which could handle all aspects of the job. The contractors considered options and came back to their budget. "Occasionally we just had to say no. That's the most difficult thing for my clients to do. It's just as difficult for me to do.

"Then we looked at the labor costs. They were going to do everything, from the tear out to the reconstruction. [Husband] Larry and I looked at each other and said, 'no, that's one thing we're really good at -- destruction. It doesn't take much to take that crowbar and that sledge hammer and start pounding away. (And it's extremely cathartic and you can have a ball.) And we have done drywall. And I can paint -- the roller kind of paint. So we started checking off all the things they had listed that we thought we could take care of in the reasonable amount of time that we had before they came in to start their work

"So we went back to them and -- going back to our budget -- said, 'How much will the labor be if we take care of all these things?'

"They worked it out, and, lo and behold, it was something doable."

An adjacent laundry room would be part of the remodeled new kitchen, and in preparation Alice and Larry moved the laundry room to another space. They used some of the cabinets from the existing kitchen into the new laundry area. And the new laundry room also served as a makeshift kitchen. "We had a sink, and we had a microwave that we tore out and put on a little stand, and an electric skillet. And we were able to live out of that place for about two or three months."

The project was completed on schedule and within budget.

And for all the domestic disruption, work and frustrations, Larry and Alice remain happily married.

And they perhaps find themselves more of a team than ever for a major project successfully completed together -- and helped along by the special planning skills of a professional accountant.