Home Renovation and COVID-19: Your Health and Safety Questions Answered

It’s been almost a whole year since the coronavirus pandemic first emerged, altering daily life as we know it and propelling the world into a dark time marked by stress, separation, and grief. With the encouraging news of effective COVID-19 vaccines on the near horizon, we can finally see light at the end of the tunnel.

But until those vaccines are widely received, we’re still traveling through that same restrictive tunnel. That’s why, as we head into the holidays, it’s more important than ever that we continue to do what we can to keep our families — and our community — safe.

As a state-designated essential business, HDC has been adhering to the CDC-recommended guidelines and protocols to remain safely operational since the earliest days of the pandemic. 

While our COVID-19 Action Plan has been in place and posted on our website from the start, we’d like to underscore the steps we’re taking to protect the health and well-being of our clients, employees, and trade partners as regional cases rise and local mitigation efforts evolve. 

HDC Follows CDC Guidelines

In the office and on the job site, our team has always been committed to maintaining a safe and healthy work environment for everyone. In the era of COVID-19, that means taking the utmost care to follow CDC recommendations to help limit the spread of the disease. This includes:

Limiting outings and in-person meetings

• Our team continues to meet virtually, not in person, and will for the foreseeable future
• Whenever feasible, we conduct client meetings virtually via phone, FaceTime, or Zoom; we also offer virtual design services
• Our team continues to limit store runs, office visits, and other forms of unnecessary contact / potential exposure

Masking, social distancing, and handwashing

• HDC continues to supply all staff with masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer
• Our team wears masks and practices social distancing in the office and at the job site 
• Our team is willing to conduct client meetings that are masked and socially distanced
• Our team wears masks and practices good hand hygiene when making store runs
• We are not stacking trade partners within confined spaces in order to expedite schedules

Continuing daily health checks

• Our employees and trade partners are required to monitor their own health every day 
• Any signs of illness or potential symptoms of COVID-19 must be reported immediately
• We do not allow anyone who is experiencing symptoms in our office or on a job site

Adhering to these proven health protocols has kept our clients, trade partners, and family members safe throughout the pandemic, and we’re dedicated to maintaining them as long as necessary. 

HDC Goes Above and Beyond

Open communication, exceptional craftsmanship, and unparalleled service have made HDC a stand-out design/build firm for two decades and counting. 

A key component of the outstanding service we provide is impeccable job-site cleanliness, and our “leave-it-cleaner-than-you-found-it” reputation has only increased in the time of COVID-19. To that end, we:

• Label each point of entry at every job site with clear COVID-19 Health Check signage 
• Restrict staff and trade partner access to living areas that aren’t under construction
• Install plastic barriers whenever possible between the workspace and living space
• Cover vents within the workspace to keep dust from escaping through the HVAC system
• Provide hand sanitizer for all job sites; provide hand-washing stations when bathrooms aren’t available
• Sanitize high-touch surfaces on a regular basis, broom-clean and tidy at the end of each day, and professionally clean the job site upon project completion 

At client request, we can offer an even greater sense of security by installing a BuildClean Unit that automatically filters the air within the job site. 

HDC Cares About Your Health

Additional steps and protocols may be established on your particular job with your individual project manager to ensure that everyone involved feels comfortable. 

If a COVID-19 case occurs within your household while a project is underway, your project manager will work with you to develop a plan that ensures work can continue without putting anyone else at risk of infection. 

At Hogan Design & Construction, we remain committed to keeping our clients, our staff, and our community as safe as possible, today and always. If anyone from our team doesn’t comply with these measures when they’re on your job site, we want to know about it — contact our production manager, Doug Panozzo, at (815) 530-0808 or doug@hdcbuild.com.

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