Your Project will take anywhere from 16 weeks to over a year from the start of planning to the final build result. There are a lot of factors that go into your overall timeline, but let’s first look at the piece that will help the Build portion of your renovation run more efficiently, Design and Planning.
The first step to understanding how long your project will take is first understanding the details that comprise your project. This phase is all about getting into the details, developing construction-ready plans, thinking through where you want switches/outlets, and what materials (or selection items) you would like to use in your home. Do not speed through this phase or take it for granted. Spending the time and resources here will pay dividends during your project and impact the final result.
Average Design and Planning Timelines for Projects:
6 to 8 Weeks Designs: Kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms, decks, or straightforward specialty rooms.
8 to 10 Week Designs: Kitchen and bathroom plus, complex specialty rooms, small basements, and covered decks. Kitchen and bathroom plus means kitchens and bathrooms that include wall moves, framing, and/or work in 1-2 additional rooms at the same time.
12 to 14 Week Designs: An entire floor remodel, basements, basic additions, and customized 1-room projects. These projects do not include an outside architect or land survey. Some will require engineering.
16+ Week Designs: Additions, whole home remodels, projects that have roofline changes, any work that changes the impermeable area of your lot, and any projects from above that are extremely custom or require complex build labor. These projects require an engineer, outside architect, and land surveyor to be involved.
It takes a little time to work with your trade partners once you have all of your details, selections, plans, surveys, and engineer letters in place. Knowing and understanding the cost of your project is crucial to your sanity…and your bank account.
This is the phase where items are ordered, lead times are addressed, and permitting takes place. Different remodelers handle this in different ways. Some buy the longer lead time items during the budgeting phase, and some wait until the final plan and budget is put together.
Lead times are a very real thing. Windows are 20+ weeks out as of the middle of 2022. Some materials are selected and in stock but are then discontinued by the time you need them during your project. Some of these lead times can overlap with finishing up the planning and budget phases, but these are all timing items to consider.
Outside of getting materials, permitting takes time. As home renovation professionals, we continue to see the goalposts move in this area. Our local municipalities are required to respond to each new submission within 10 business days. Plan for the full 10 days each time you submit or make corrections, with likely 2 submissions required. However, a large amount of the permitting time can be masked by the time it takes to procure materials.
Every renovation project is uniquely custom, and every single detail matters from a cost and time perspective.
6 weeks: Kitchen or bath with the following general scope of work. Demo down to the drywall. Keep the existing floors (if bathroom, floors would be removed as well). The floorplan for all electrical, plumbing, HVAC, cabinets, and appliances remain the same. Install new cabinets, countertops, backsplash, shower wall and floor tile, bathroom floor tile, and install appliances and final accessories.
8+ weeks: Kitchen or bath with layout changes. Generally the same scope of work as above, but with new cabinet layouts and plumbing/electrical/HVAC moves. This will very likely require flooring in the kitchen as well.
8-12 weeks: Decks. Decks can range from a teardown and replacement of the existing footprint (uncovered) at about 6-8 weeks, all the way up to large-scale covered decks with fireplaces and screened porches at the 10-12 week mark.
8-12 weeks: Kitchen or bath plus. This is the same scope as the kitchen or bath with layout changes, but now we are adding wall moves, an additional bathroom, or a couple of ancillary rooms.
10-16 weeks: Basements. Basements can range depending on the specialty rooms and if concrete cutting is required. A basement with no specialty rooms, no kitchenette, and one bathroom could be 6-8 weeks. A basement with specialty rooms (theater room, golf room, etc.) and a kitchenette or full kitchen can be 10-16 weeks.
12-18 weeks: Whole home remodels. We define whole home remodels as touching almost every room in your home. This would include a new kitchen, bathrooms, wall moves, plumbing/electrical/HVAC moves, and updated trim and paint. The exterior work would be limited to repairs caused by new windows or doors as a result of layout changes.
16-24 weeks: Additions. Additions vary widely based on the difficulty of tying into the existing home, the size of the addition, and if kitchens and bathrooms are a part of the build.
When you add in planning, budgeting, permitting, and the actual build, you are looking anywhere from 16 weeks for a very quick project, all the way to over a year on a large, complex renovation.
The biggest question we ask our clients and one that may help you in determining what path to take in each phase of your project is “When do you want to be done?”