Remodeling is a big event whether it’s a room or your whole house and most projects require similar steps. We have compiled this outline in order to help better prepare you for what to expect along the way.

Pre-Construction

Dream – What would you like to have done?

Collect your thoughts and ideas before our first meeting. We like to know as much as we can about how you currently use the space your considering remodeling. What things do you like about it and what don’t you like and of course why. What are you trying to accomplish with this project. Is it an updated look or do you need to change the way you interact with the space. What are your tastes? Do you like dark or light colors? What kind of surfaces do you like? How does traffic flow through the space? If we’re talking about a kitchen, is cooking a hobby or a necessity for you? Do you currently use your formal dining area?

Look through magazines and the internet to find things that you like; maybe it’s a cool door knob or cabinet hardware you can’t live without, a tile pattern that really catches your eye or you gotta have the latest solar roof shingles, etc. Keep all these little gems in your remodeling project folder and write notes so you know why you kept a specific item when you pull it out weeks later to share it with someone.

Discovery Phase – Is this project feasible?

Set-up that first meeting to start sharing your thoughts about your exciting project with us. We would like to get some idea of what you want to accomplish along with your tastes so we can develop that preliminary estimate. This step can generally be accomplished within 1 to 3 weeks depending upon the size, the complexity and of course everyone’s schedule.

Design Phase – Let’s fine tune the scope and the budget together!

If the project passes your feasibility test, then we start getting down into more details. We will do some investigation with the City to see if we can readily obtain a building permit or will we need to be thinking about a zoning variance or area exception for your project. We’re quite familiar with both processes and know how to usher your project through the necessary steps.

Some projects will require that we order a site survey in order to produce a suitable site plan of your existing lot before we can obtain a building permit. This is generally a $400 to $600 expense.At this point we like to engage our designer to prepare some drawings of your potential project. Depending upon your specific project, this could be an iterative process and we generally will provide multiple layouts.

We have several designers to choose from and the specific designer we bring to your project is based upon what we learn about you and the nature of your project during the Discovery phase. Drawings can also take 1 to 3 weeks depending upon the workload and complexity of your project and can cost several hundred to thousands depending upon the size and complexity of your project.

During this phase we will also get our critical subcontractors involved to investigate the high risk areas and make sure that we have all the bases covered.If at this time you can make some product selections like plumbing fixtures or cabinets, then we can also have more accurate pricing for those items in our proposal rather than allowances.

With all the above work completed, the final step in this phase is for us to present our Scope of Work document along with our refined proposal. This document will tell you what we expect to be doing and what your project will cost. We can generally prepare these documents within a week or two after we have received your approval of the drawings.

Agreement Phase – Let’s reach a common understanding

Our standard agreements will include the specifications that we finalized together during the Design Phase as the heart of the agreements. In addition we will provide you with expected start and completion dates along with all the contractual terms and conditions for your review.