Decisions to Make Before a Whole Home Renovation Starts
Most of the pain in a whole home renovation does not come from the construction. It comes from decisions that were not made before the first wall came down.
A whole home project in Springdale touches framing, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, drywall, flooring, cabinets, tile and paint. Those trades run in order. Each one builds on the one before it. When you change your mind in the middle, you are not just changing one thing. You are undoing finished work and resequencing everyone who comes after.
Here is what you need to settle up front, and what it costs you if you do not.
Decide whether you are living in the house
This is the first question and it changes everything else.
If you move out, the job runs faster. Trades can work in multiple rooms at once. Dust control matters less. Tools stay where they were left.
If you stay, the job gets phased. One bathroom stays usable. The kitchen gets a temporary setup. Work gets stopped and cleaned daily. Phasing adds time, and time adds labor cost. It can also add temporary plumbing and electrical work that gets torn out later.
Neither choice is wrong. But pick one before pricing, because the two versions of the same project are not the same job.
Decide the layout before anything is priced
Walls, doors, windows, and the location of the kitchen and bathrooms are the decisions with the most weight behind them.
Moving a wall is usually not the expensive part. Moving what is inside and under the wall is. Drain lines, vent stacks, supply lines, panel locations and duct runs all follow the original floor plan. A lot of Springdale homes built from the 1960s through the 1990s sit on slab. Moving a toilet or a sink on a slab means cutting concrete, rerouting drain, patching, and then rebuilding the floor above it. That is a real line item.
Before work starts, you should be able to point at a plan and say where every sink, toilet, shower, stove, refrigerator, washer and water heater is going to be. Not approximately. Exactly.
Decide the scope boundary
Whole home does not mean the same thing to every homeowner. Write down what is included and what is not.
Common items people assume are included and then find out are separate:
- Windows and exterior doors
- Roof, siding, soffit and gutters
- HVAC equipment replacement versus duct modification only
- Electrical panel upgrade and service size
- Insulation and air sealing in walls that get opened
- Garage, attic, crawlspace and exterior concrete
- Landscaping repair after trenching or access damage
Decide which of these are in. If the answer is no for now, say so out loud, because some of them are far cheaper while walls are open.
Decide your finishes earlier than feels necessary
Homeowners usually expect to pick tile and paint colors somewhere in the middle of the job. That is too late for several items.
Cabinet layout drives electrical outlet and switch locations, plumbing rough locations, and appliance sizes. Tile choice drives substrate thickness and floor height transitions. Shower valve brand and model drives what gets installed inside the wall before tile. Lighting plan drives framing and wiring. Flooring choice drives door heights and subfloor prep.
All of that gets locked during rough in, which happens early. If the selections are not made, the trades either stop and wait or guess. Both cost you.
What a change actually costs after work begins
A change order has four costs, and the price of the new material is usually the smallest one.
First, there is removal of work already done and paid for. Second, there is the new work. Third, there is the schedule gap, because the trade you need next is already booked on another job and may not be back for a week or two. Fourth, there is the ripple into every trade behind that one.
Timing is what determines the size of the hit. During demolition, most changes are cheap. During framing and rough in, moving a wall or a fixture is moderate and manageable. After drywall, the same change means cutting open finished walls, reworking the rough, repatching, retexturing and repainting. After tile, cabinets or flooring are installed, you are often paying twice for the same scope, plus demolition in between.
As a rough rule, the same decision made during planning, during rough in, and after finishes are set can differ by a factor of several times over. A relocated outlet is minor before drywall and a real repair after it. A changed shower valve is a parts swap before tile and a tile demolition after it.
Build a contingency and decide how it gets spent
Older homes hide things. Rot under a tub, failed drain lines, aluminum branch wiring, undersized panels, past work that was never permitted, and framing that was cut through for ductwork. On a whole home project, something will be found.
Set aside a contingency and decide in advance who approves spending it and how fast. A decision that waits three days can stall every trade on site.
The habit that saves you the most money
Make the hard decisions while the house is still intact. Walk the plan room by room. Confirm fixture locations, appliance models, cabinet sizes and finish selections before demolition.
If you want to change something, say it early. Early changes are conversations. Late changes are invoices.