What does an accessibility consultant do that my contractor doesn't?

Fair question, and the short answer is: less. The contractor builds the whole project. The architect draws it. An occupational therapist, if you have one, assesses what your body can do. What I do is narrower than any of those, and it sits in the gap between them.

Here's the gap, what I do in it, and how to tell whether you need somebody there at all.

What each person is tracking

Your contractor is tracking what gets built: the schedule, the trades, the materials, the price, the permit. That's a full-time job and they're good at it.

Your architect, if there is one, is tracking what gets drawn: the layout, the structure, the code, the stamp.

Your occupational therapist, if there is one, is tracking your body: what it can do, what it will be able to do, what equipment helps.

Nobody on that list is tracking two things at once: how the house will work for you on a bad day, and which of the decisions being made this week gets expensive to change next week. That pair is what I do.

An example

You want a shower with no step. Your contractor can build one. Your architect can draw one. Your OT can tell you that you need one.

What none of them will necessarily say, because it isn't their job, is that the shower with no step is decided by where the drain goes, that the drain is decided before the plumber arrives, that the plumber is booked for the week after next, and that after that week the step is either there or it isn't for the life of the room. Or that the wood behind the wall for the grab bar goes in the same week for a few dollars, and costs a second renovation the year after. Or that the bathroom door on the drawing is 30 inches and the walker is 26 and the difference is the price of a wider door if you say so before the doors are ordered.

Each of those is a small thing. The work is knowing which small things close this week, and putting them in front of the people who'll build them, in writing, before they close.

What that looks like in practice

I ask about your day before I ask about your house. Which rooms you avoid. What you do when both hands are full. What's hard on a bad day, and what nobody else in the house notices. You show me the rooms on camera.

Then I tell you what to change, in what order, and which of it is cheap now and expensive later. It goes on one written page you hand to your contractor: what to change, the measurements and the standard they come from, and the questions to ask each person on the job. If you have drawings, I mark them up.

After a contractor has quoted you, we talk again, because new questions turn up once there's a number on the table.

That's the whole thing. Three calls and a page.

What I don't do

I don't draw plans or stamp them. That's an architect or an engineer, licensed in your state. I don't answer questions about structure, exits or fire; those are life safety and I'll tell you who to ask. I don't visit houses, manage your contractor, or run the project. I don't assess your body. If a therapist has written what you need, send it to me and I'll work out what it means for the building.

The credential behind this is Certified Environmental Access Consultant, through VGM Live At Home. The training is about looking at a house and working out what it lets a person do and what it stops them doing. It isn't a license, and it doesn't make me an architect. When I give you a measurement, it comes from a published standard, and the page says which one, or it's my own practice, and the page says that too.

How to tell if you need this

You probably don't if the renovation is small, there's no drawing, and you already know what to ask for. Read the posts on this site, take the list to your contractor, and keep the money.

You might if a drawing exists or is about to, and somebody's body has to be part of it: yours, a parent's, a partner's. That's when decisions close fast and nobody's job is to notice.

Two ways to get the same list. On your own, the course, Before the Walls Close, asks the questions in writing at your own pace, for $297. Together, the consultation is three video calls and the written page, for $1,197. Either way, the list exists before the drawing is final, which is the point.

And if you're not sure which, or whether either fits your project, send me two sentences about it and I'll tell you.