How Long Does a Home Renovation Take?

What is the Timeframe of a Whole Home Renovation?

In the high-end construction industry, there’s really nothing that can be considered “standard” when it comes to predicting different projects’ timeframes. That’s because the exact amount of time required to complete a whole house renovation can vary greatly based on several important factors.

For example, things like the overall scope of the project, the square footage of the property, the building permits required, must be considered and handled differently on a project-by-project basis. In addition, during any of the various construction phases, a scenario such as dangerous weather might stall construction, further affecting the original timeframe.

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Fortunately, experienced construction firms will always have plans in place for such scenarios. You’ll learn all about these contingencies – and a whole lot more – in this overview of everything that impacts the timeframes and construction schedules of home renovation projects.

Needless to say, there’s a lot of work involved…so let’s get started!

Common Factors That Impact Home Renovation Construction Schedules

The Size & Scope of the Project

Very generally speaking, a whole home renovation – complete with all details, sequencing, and other features – will take roughly six months to complete. But it’s important to take this number with a grain of salt due to all the potential variables involved.

Even so, any experienced construction partner will be able to look at your home and assess your specific renovation requests to get a better idea of the actual scope of the project based on what sort of structural changes will be required. Even so, there will be variability across different phases and depending on your renovation goals.

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For example, the early research-and-planning stage can take anywhere from roughly two weeks to two months. Meanwhile, the production-run standard is about 12 – 16 weeks for a general kitchen or bathroom renovation (assuming the products and materials are available). That may seem like a long time, but think about the quality and care that needs to go into a luxury renovation. If you’re shipping top-quality parts and materials out of Italy, for example, you can expect something like a 30- to 90-day ship time.

However, determining the true scope of your project also involves measuring the size of your home in square footage, as well as how many separate rooms there are (and what sort of work each room will need). For example, will your requests necessitate a new roof for the entire structure, or maybe just the kitchen? Will you need new flooring throughout the entire home, or just a few rooms? All these things – and many more – will come together to impact the scope on a case-by-case basis.

Acquiring the Necessary Building Permits

A building permit serves as a formal permission to begin construction site work. More than anything else, building permits are required to ensure the safety of work crews and those around them by making sure every part of the renovation project falls in line with local laws and safety regulations.

To acquire a building permit, an application must first be submitted. Then, in the case of residential properties, it takes 1 day or up to many months to receive this permit. The permit time changes based on the work you are doing. Of course, this timeframe can be impacted by various factors such as the property’s location, unforeseen additional steps specific to individual cities, and so on.

Choosing an Aesthetic & Bringing it to Life

A specifically client-centric design-build process allows construction firms to collaborate closer with their clients throughout every stage of the renovation. This unique dynamic gives clients a chance to tell construction firms everything they need about the dream style and aesthetic of their new home.

Using this info, construction teams can then craft plans, engineering drawings, color charts, and more before consolidating it all into a single, comprehensive project plan and timeframe. Of course, some of the more stylized requests might require the help of specialized work crews and specialists such as plumbers, interior designers, electricians, and others. Naturally, all these things will prolong the project timeframe.

Fortunately, any long-standing, reputable design and build company will already have established partnerships with a wide array of these outside professionals, having worked with them on multiple whole home renovation and remodeling projects in the past.

Streamlining & Expediting the Home Renovation Process

When it comes to large-scale home improvement projects, there’s no doubt that working with respected firms with years of experience can reduce the amount of strain and anxiety placed on the homeowner. After all, contracting with a specialized design-build firm gives you a wealth of total home renovating expertise in the form of a veteran staff, but many other benefits, as well.

Here are some ways in which industry-leading construction firms streamline and expedite the whole house renovation process:

• Centralized Project Communications – By providing clients with a single point-of-contact in the form of a project manager, firms can make communication easy and transparent throughout every stage of the home renovation project. That’s because this project manager is 100% responsible for managing all facets of the construction schedule while ensuring that the originally agreed-upon home renovation timeline is met – which takes a massive weight off your shoulders as the client.
• Network of Contractors – At a moment’s notice, the best construction firms can leverage any of their pre-established relationships with local interior designers, electricians, plumbers, and other specialists (should the need arise). Again, this is all managed by the project manager, saving clients the headache of having to research, contact and manage relations with all these different parties.
• Building Permits and Legal Compliance – With quality construction firms, there’s no need to worry about local building codes or securing the appropriate building permits. That’s because licensed general contractors with decades of experience can guarantee that every facet of your home renovation project will stay in full compliance with any laws and regulations from beginning to end.
• Design Collaboration with Customers – By allowing clients to collaborate and discuss their renovation vision from the earliest pre-planning stages all the way to post-completion clean-up, high-end construction firms can ensure that every little detail goes according to plan. Whether it be a full kitchen renovation complete with premium countertops, minor tweaks to your master bath or shower faucets, new drywall installation throughout the entire home, or virtually any other home improvement requests, a client-first approach guarantees that your idyllic vision of a dream home will be brought to reality. However, like all other things, it’s important to remember that each and every one of these installments or renovations impact the cumulative timeline, reinforcing the fact that every little detail matters.
• Contingency Planning – Any experienced construction firm should have suitable contingency plans in place to help address unforeseen obstacles or delays during the building phase, as well as various other strategies for proactively managing change orders as they occur. Having such processes in place is critical for any project because they allow the construction team to adapt in real-time to shifting priorities and abrupt changes in the construction schedule without compromising the project’s quality.

With that said, let’s dive a bit deeper into the common causes of change orders and potential delays during construction.

Contingency Planning & Sticking to the Schedule

Once schedules and timeframes are agreed upon, they become incredibly high value. That’s why the best firms will put in a lot of up-front time and effort to understand the needs of the client so they can appropriately define what conditions will be necessary for success, creating the most realistic schedule possible.

Here are some ways that high-end construction firms are able to stick to the schedule and deliver a finished whole home renovation on time (or as close to it as possible).

• Years of experience working with leading subcontractors, suppliers, and vendors leads to predictability and dependability.
• Penalizing subcontractors for falling behind or going off schedule – balanced with a very good amount of pay to these subcontractors – is an effective way to maintain timeliness. If the primary firm hiring these subcontractors pays well, however, there’s usually no reason to fall behind.
• Not charging the homeowner for mistakes also simplifies the whole home renovation process for the client. In other words, if mistakes are made on the part of a subcontractor or the primary design-build firm itself, the client doesn’t pay for these mistakes, no matter how long they take to remedy – the subcontractors do but it’s up to the general contractor to make sure that happens.

Should You Continue Living at Home During the Renovation?

While it is possible for you to live at home during certain phases of the renovation, it’s strongly recommended that you find somewhere else to stay until the completion of the project. After all, a whole home renovation is a major investment that entails lots of massive changes to your house – and simply put, these changes can be very difficult to live with. Throughout all hours of the day, electricity or water might be turned off and on, dust will be thrown about everywhere, and noise from the construction will rise to cacophonous levels.

However, things like this should all be expected since a whole home renovation does entail changing the entire infrastructure and systems of the home. After years of experience on both sides of a whole home renovation, we can confidently say that you should try to find temporary housing instead, whether in the form of corporate housing or other fully furnished options.

After all, there are plenty of luxurious rental spaces in New England, and many of these spots can be found in ideal locations inside or outside of the city. Many of our clients have even found spots much closer to their work and other things-to-do within the city, making for a sort of mini-vacation as the construction crews completed their work.

Let’s Determine Your Home Renovation Timeframe

As you can see, there are countless factors that impact the amount of time it takes to complete a whole home renovation project. Because of this, it’s virtually impossible to provide one definitive answer to the question, “how long does a whole house renovation take?” without taking into account all the little details.

Fortunately, when you decide to work with a respected construction firm with the experience and savvy to expedite processes in a timely and satisfactory manner, then your unique renovation project will always be completed as promptly yet efficiently as possible.

If you have a home renovation project in mind, don’t hesitate to contact us today. We’ll be happy to listen to your unique needs such as the size of your home, how many rooms you have, and any other factors that will need to be taken into consideration. Before you know it, you’ll be well on your way towards your own whole home renovation!