Renovating: Should You Tackle Your Project All At Once or In Phases?

Once you choose to remodel, it seems like an unending list of tasks always follows. As a diligent homeowner, you do your research. After scrutinizing reviews and speaking with past clients, you vet and choose your design and build teams. You and your family have spent hours contemplating design inspiration, taking elements from rooms you like and combining them to reveal your ideal dream home. So now, you let your teams get to work, sit back and enjoy the ride, right?

Not so fast… You still have to make a huge decision about the logistics of your project. Are you going to do the entire remodel all at once, or in phases? This seems like a small detail, but there are huge implications to consider.

Many families decide to attack their remodel all at once. This provides the benefit of their being one master plan for the remodel and one permitting process. There is also the benefit of contractors and subcontractors coming to the job site less times in total, ultimately costing you less money. For example, demolition in a kitchen might cost close to what it would cost to do demolition on the entire house, so if you’re able to provide enough money upfront, completing your project all at once will save money in the long run. An additional benefit to consider about completing your remodel all at once is less time spent with your home torn apart. Concentrating the noise and construction vehicles to a lesser span of time is also a kind gesture to your neighbors.

There are also many reasons completing your remodel project in phases could make sense for your family. Remodeling is already a time and money consuming ordeal, and some projects simply can’t wait until the family saves all of the money necessary for an entire home remodel. Spending less cash upfront on your project frees up substantial amounts of cash flow for other things. Additionally, sometimes families don’t want to budget even more money for temporary housing, and phased remodeling is the best way for them to occupy the space while it’s being worked on. Contractors can work on one room at a time and families can occupy other rooms, creating makeshift cooking and living spaces by bringing portable appliances and some necessary foods and supplies to other rooms temporarily.

Experts warn that if you do choose to make your project a phased remodel, take care of things that might not seem as glamorous first. Things like leaks from the roof or issues in the foundation may not be the most aesthetically exciting thing you planned to spend your remodel fund on, but try to remember they’re necessary for the health and safety of your family and your structure. According to Brick Underground one place where people often go wrong during a phased remodel is not saving the flooring for last. If you plan on replacing your flooring, doing that first and then allowing the other trades to be completed, risking scuffs, scrapes, and paint damage, could find you paying for brand new flooring that you don’t get to enjoy until it’s already quite damaged.

So, now that you have a few more things to consider, will you be completing your remodel project in phases or will you bite the bullet and do it all at once? If you have questions about your specific project and whether it would benefit your family to do your remodel at once, contact us.