Before starting a house remodeling project, consider how you use your house and set your priorities. A checklist can help answer questions and guide you through the process. The home remodel process is often thought of as a “rough” phase, where demolition and rough wiring are done, and a “finish” phase, where cabinets, countertops, and flooring are installed.
To plan a successful house remodel, follow these five steps:
Identify your remodel goals: This will help you understand what you’re getting into when choosing a whole home renovation. Boost efficiency by lowering utility and maintenance costs, enhance functionality by adding more light or an open floor plan, and increase the overall cost.
Work out your budget and finance: Conduct property searches, assess properties, hire designers and architects, explore and apply for planning permission, find a builder, assess access and waste disposal issues, and draw up a schedule of works.
Build a detailed home remodel plan: Create a detailed plan that includes planning, design, demolition, rebuilding/framing, mechanicals/plumbing/HVAC/electrical, walls, and flooring.
Make a plan: Assess what you’d like to renovate and set priorities, such as deciding where to start and having the time and resources.
Create a home remodeling plan in 10 simple steps: Planning, demolition, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing, framing and drywall, design and plan preliminary projects, funding permits, demolition, structural carpentry, HVAC, electrical, and plumbing window installation.
Pack up and prepare: Pack up your belongings, create a timeline, and ensure everything is in order before starting the renovation process.
📹 My 20 Steps To A Perfect Renovation
In this video I’m talking about renovation order and the steps that you need to take to be successful with your project. There are …
What is the first step of renovation?
Prior to embarking on a renovation project, it is of the utmost importance to devise a comprehensive budget, identify a suitable property, secure the necessary planning permission, select an appropriate design, builders, and architects, arrange the requisite works, and guarantee the satisfactory completion of the project before assuming control of the project.
What do you renovate first?
The process of house remodeling typically involves stripping out and removing, structural work (floors, ceilings, walls), and first fix work (plumbing, heating wiring). This process is considered one of the most formative and exciting aspects of life, with similar planning efforts required to a wedding or a new family. Purchasing a new residence can be nerve-wracking due to the significant financial stake, uncertainty, and unresolved questions.
What is the phase of remodeling?
The remodeling phase, also known as maturation, is a process where the wound’s water content decreases and the collagen from proliferation is replaced by a more stable interwoven type III collagen. This process is facilitated by the use of cookies on the site, and all rights are reserved for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, with Creative Commons licensing terms applicable for open access content.
Do you install walls or floors first?
Preparing walls for flooring installation is generally recommended, with the final paint job being completed as the finishing touch after the flooring is installed. However, this process is personalized and should be trusted by contractors. Painting is an easy way to renovate a home, and changing the color can add elegance, drama, or freshen the space. However, repainting a wrong color can be difficult, especially with hardwood flooring. It’s difficult to replace the hardwood right away, and it may take years to live with it.
Once the floor color is determined, it’s easier for a professional to ensure the paint color matches the floor’s hue and doesn’t clash. Trusting a contractor’s advice is crucial for achieving desired results.
How do I make a renovation checklist?
The DFW Step-by-Step Home Renovation Checklist is a comprehensive guide for those looking to transform their existing homes into dream homes. It outlines the process, including setting goals, creating a detailed plan, setting a budget, selecting the right materials, prioritizing design elements, choosing which projects to tackle first, and enlisting professional help. The checklist is designed to help individuals stay organized, on budget, and informed about the progress of their project.
It also ensures that no project is overlooked during the process. Whether you’re hiring a professional contractor or focusing on your own renovation, the checklist will help you stay organized, on budget, and ensure that nothing is overlooked. The checklist is designed to help you make informed decisions and stay on track with your renovation project.
What is the first step in the remodeling process?
When starting a remodeling project or home addition, it is crucial to be organized and stick to a list of “must have” features and products. This will help you stay on budget and on schedule, as minor changes can cause delays. Obtain written estimates from licensed contractors, architects, and designers, and ask friends and family about the cost and work done. If you don’t have the cash, consider financing through a home equity loan or refinancing your existing home. Refinancing may be a smarter option depending on your equity and interest rates. Ensure that your project increases the value of your home by more than its cost.
Demolitioning elements like walls, wiring, carpet, and flooring can be costly, but if you do it yourself, you can save money and potentially invest in additional amenities. Prepare your home for disruption by removing breakables from walls and protecting furniture and floors. This may be the shortest stage of remodeling, but it can create havoc if not well prepared.
What is the first phase of renovation?
The renovation process involves three phases: design and planning, demolition, and framing. The first phase involves designing and planning, where you own the house and work with an architect or design professional to create a master plan. The second phase, demolition, involves the removal of walls and ceilings, which can be therapeutic but also test your will. The final phase, framing, is the most enjoyable part of the renovation process, as the project moves at a fast pace.
After the demolition phase, framing provides a welcome tonic after the initial shock of demolition. The process of renovating a house can be challenging, but it is essential to keep moving forward and consider all aspects of the process.
How to renovate an old house?
The process of restoring an old house involves six steps: assessing and repairing the foundation, starting demolition, inspecting electric and plumbing, redoing the walls and floors, replacing old appliances, and refurbishing fixtures and ornamentation. Before making major commitments, it is crucial to have a remodeling plan. During the walkthrough, identify major issues such as leaky roofs, cracks in the foundation, drafty windows, and sticking doors.
Structural fixes and roofing repairs are crucial, so allocate enough budget for them. Ensure the property is suitable for your needs, such as having enough square footage for family members. As you walk through the house, consider what you want to change and how the space can better fit your needs. Utilize modeling software or floorplan drawing to visualize your renovation goals and select materials and colors.
What comes first in remodeling?
Starting with the kitchen, focus on the bathroom as it is the most intense room to renovate due to its mechanical, electrical, and plumbing work. Prioritize this area first, as it is notorious for being expensive to renovate. If you have multiple bathrooms, renovate them one at a time to ensure access to a toilet and shower. These high-value rooms can increase the value of your home if completed.
Next, move on to the living room. After completing the kitchen and bathroom renovations, focus on the living room. Create a comfortable space for relaxation and entertainment, serving as a temporary gathering place while other renovations are ongoing. This will increase the value of your home and make it a more attractive and functional space.
📹 How a Pro Carpenter Plans a Renovation
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My top tip is to make sure you get your bedroom done and completely finished and furnished as an absolute priority, so when you are 3 years into a 1 year reno project and wishing you had never started, you always have somewhere clean, beautiful and finished to escape to every evening and wake up in every morning – does wonders for your state of mind and motivation to keep going.
I’m so happy to have been perusal your website for so long that I knew exactly what those clips were about. I loved the flexi buckets full of debris from under the bungalow. I’m doing a Reno on my craftsman style bungalow now and I need to get better control of the time line and will be employing your method soon.
We did a reno in 1999/2000 that doubled the size of the existing house. We lost the kitchen and the second loo early on. An electric frying pan and a Weber kettle substituted for the kitchen. It was interesting climbing out of a window aperture in the new part of the house and down a step ladder in the middle of winter to roast a chook or a leg of lamb in the Weber. It’s amazing what you can survive.
Hi Scott, Just curious to know what you lined your garage ceiling with. I am halfway through a garage renovation 9m x 3.5m and eventually turning it into a workshop/studio at the rear. Roof had old building paper which has basically fallen off. Will have to remove rooofing iron and lay down new ceiling underlay. Notice you have wire mesh to support roof underlay? Did you use unsupported roof underlay? Hope to catch up with all your past vlogs. Cheers
This is THE article that homeowners and investors need to watch. The sequel is how to manage your budget to ensure you can pay all trades and not skimp on finishing 🤣 Afterthoughts, I should actually start handing Gantt charts to customers to streamline/eliminate process queries. I normally just do a sketch in my diary, or small jobs in my head. It might be beneficial to show them that a two or three day delay on a week long job translates to I’ll be back in a month or two to continue, because if you’re on week long jobs, next week equals a whole other site and cashflow is king.
Hey Scott, I love your advice on budgeting time for a job. I recently started my own carpentry business, one question I had for you is how to you account for extra materials. An example being in your article “How to straighten a floor quickly” you had to “sister” the floor joists to make the floor level. How did you account for the extra joists? Did you have a contingency budget for unexpected problems? Thanks for the advice, I love your website and have learned quite a bit from you.
Its usually something barely thought of but temporary lighting and power is a instant moral improver when renovating. I’m a sparky, I have heaps of lights and small temporary boards I like to sprinkle around the job (depends how big it is) it takes extra time to set up because I don’t like to throw extension leads everywhere but being able to walk to any location and have lighting and a power point made everyone so much happier
We renovated the first and second floor of our house (205m2) about two years ago. We little to no prior experience with renovation/building. We used a grant chart with mixed experience. The positive was that we thought through the entire renovation, and had a decent plan. The negative was that we always underestimated the time every step took. We did almost everything ourself, to save money, and that came with some challenges. With a big project like ours, the motivation to GSD became a big factor. Big tip for the budget: make a detailed plan of every single purchase, down to the last screw, than multiply that sum with 3. Then you have a decent approx. of the total cost
For anyone looking to make a Gantt chart you can use Microsoft Project (included with Office) its great for project management. So say you need to do Task #1 before Task #2 but Tasks #3 and #4 can be done unrestricted, the program will organise it all for you to get it all optimized. You could end up with something like Task #3 –> Task #1 + Task #4 –> Task #2. Great advice Scott!
We’re gong through a reno on the house we’re living in now (full DIY), with 2 kids (4 and 2). We cut the kitchen sink cabinet and adjoining cabinet out of the old kitchen and re-installed it on our balcony, and plumbed it to the garden hose. It ain’t pretty, but it’ll get us through the 4 weeks it takes to do the kitchen!
Great article. I run houses flips in the US. The hardest part at the beginning was learning the flow; what trades should come before which. Nothing worse than a trade showing up on site only to realize they can’t start because something isn’t ready. Once you understand the flow, the next practice is estimating how much time each trade needs, which of course is highly dependent on the scope of the project. Lastly is learning where and when trades can overlap on site, to maximize your turnaround time without interfering in each others work. Anyway great article for someone new to the concepts 👍
Chimney… I am guessing with age of property this structure is built in lime mortar… you have an opportunity few day before Demo to reduce dust significantly take a hose up onto roof, set to spray, pop into top of flue and leave running for a morning or so, Most importantly when stack is removed the bricks below roof line Scott… are worth a fortune to be cleaned off and stacked for future use in project Malcs in Perth WA ♥️ 😎
Question, how come you guys in Nelson don’t need consent to insulate exterior walls? Down here in the South we need it for only exterior as it’s to stop the cowboys injecting liquids that don’t solidify. I’m using Earth wool for insulation, not as itchy as pink stuff. Ceiling has 200mm thick, hold’s nicely between Timbers, then another 200 the opposite way of which you can cut a bevel when it comes up against rafters and paper to give you the 25mm clearance. Great articles.
Hey bro, yet another great article man. I’m also a qualified builder – I would give you a few days for free just to learn and better my skills if I were there in NZ!!! If you got in touch with the local polytechnic/tafe with an “educational” offer for young apprentices I’m sure there would be heaps of people keen to help you out and perhaps save on some of that budget… especially with the big stuff (beams, chimney removal etc) just a thought 😃
Microsoft Project is probably the most accessible way to create a Gantt chart. But if you don’t have access to that software package, there are free and open-source programs which are basically the same. ProjectLibre is one and OpenProject is the other. These will allow you to drill down in more detail than Scott gave you as an example, listing the specific tasks in each sub-project. Never underestimate the power of a Gantt chart… Trust me, I’m an engineer!
I wish you’d done this in March. I’m just nearing completion of a new kitchen, bathroom, toilet and laundry in my own place. Nothing structural and all inside. I didn’t have a written plan but it all worked out. A week for demo, a week for new framing where needed, a week for plumber and gas fitter, a week to fit gib, a week for stopper, a week for painter, a week for kitchen and bathroom install and then a week for floor sander. Generous timelines as I was working full time as well.
I’m currently in the middle of a school renovation that is 2.5 years long and the school has to remain in use during that time. We will end up demolishing about 80% of the existing building when complete. We have a schedule manager that we meet with every 2 weeks to make sure things are staying on schedule and adjusting the schedule as required due to weather or other delays. We also meet weekly with all the trades currently on site and those starting soon to go over schedule and how each trade will affect the work of others.
One thing to remember is that all the little detail bits at the end seem to take the most time. Towel rails, door stoppers, toilet roll holders… It is especially bad if you chose porcelain tiles for your bathroom, kitchen and laundry. Takes ages with specially drill bits to get through them! (Save yourself the headache and get ceramic tiles in stead!)
It’s interesting to see how others think of planning as I have doing planning in various ways for 25 years, including some multi-billion $$ projects…. The hardest part of any planning is identifying all of the components with enough detail to be accurate and not so much detail that you can’t understand anything. It’s also fascinating how planning is so common & similar across industries….
Very good run down of the process. You got a good start by getting a design professional involved early on. I have been designing homes for over 30 years and getting all or as many of the questions and decisions out of the way before the first nail is driven is always the best idea. Cheaper to change it on paper than on the job site, is what I always tell my clients. Depending on where you live and the complexity of your build, you may not need a registered architect, and that will be a great cost saver for you. Some locals require sealed drawings from a professional or at least some coordination between the designer and an architect or engineer. Looking forward to seeing your progress. Cheers.