Renovation Strategies: Two Case Scenarios
Should you renovate your home all at once or one room at a time? This is a question that cannot be answered because there is no one-size-fits-all for every home and every situation. As with all home improvement situations: it depends.
What does it depend on?
Family: You. Your spouse. The people who live with you. Your situation, schedule, and readiness are all important here. Are you ready for a complete upheaval? What is the least impactful strategy for you and your family...read on.
Abilities: Are you doing this yourself? Can you manage the project? Do you want to be in charge? Are you a good leader? Do you know where your load-bearing walls are?
Finances: Can you afford to move out for a number of months? Are you limited to a certain number of months in a rental? Do you have funds in reserve for delays and unforeseen obstacles?
Chaos-tolerance: This is real. You should ask yourself if you can cope with having people in your home every day and many questions all the time. Uncertainty and decision-making are things you need to be able to handle on a regular basis. There will be dust.
Project size: Small projects are easier to deal with. Larger projects can be crazy-making.
Vision: If you have a firm design in place: great! If not, you should get that solidified before you start. The finished product will be better if you go in with decided-upon designs and finishes.
Experts say that it's best to renovate the entire house all at once. We get it. Moving out and renovating all at once gives you an opportunity to update all of your infrastructure (electrical, plumbing, HVAC) at once while also giving you the opportunity to create a cohesive design. Your contractor can schedule everything efficiently and cost-effectively.
However, if you don't want to move or cannot afford to move out and rent elsewhere (or travel, what a beautiful dream!), you might want to consider doing one room or one "zone" of your house at a time.
We have two clients who are very different. They made decisions based on their skills, abilities, and knowledge and are ready to go. Here are their stories that make excellent case studies.
Couple #1:
Mark and Katie have a relatively small home in California Country Club Estates; a single-story, 2,300 square-foot home. They love their original 1952 mid-century home, but feel that they layout doesn't really work for this century's lifestyle.
Mark wants to swap the kitchen, laundry, guest room and bath; basically flipping the south end floor plan of the house. The kitchen would assume the space of the guest room and vice-versa, and the laundry room would swap with the guest bath. This would make a bedroom with an en-suite, something they want for both primary and guest quarters. This renovation would be easily accomplished by zoning off the south end of the home. Once that is complete, the north end of the home could be zoned later, making renovations to that end of the house. Plumbing, electrical, and smart-systems are not problematic, but HVAC will need some thought by the experts.
Katie has experience in renovation. She did a full-renovation/restoration (mostly DIY) of an 1892 Victorian in the Midwest and did it one story at a time. Because of this, she swears by the room-by-room philosophy. Katie has a point when she talks about her zone/room-by-room philosophy: no moving out, and she has complete control of the renovation by being her own project manager or her own general contractor (The California Business and Professions Code (7044) allows for the owner of a property to act as his/her own contractor under certain conditions). Also, she is a self-admitted control freak.
Their plan is to empty the guest bedroom and demolish the bath and build the new kitchen and laundry in there while still cooking and washing in the existing spaces. Once finished, move into the new kitchen and laundry room. Then they will demolish the old kitchen and laundry and create a bedroom with ensuite.
The factors are:
Family: The couple both work from home with flexible schedules. They have no children and are ready for the changes that will become part of their lives with this renovation.
Abilities: They have serious DIY abilities and understand the process of construction.
Finances: The couple doesn't need to move, so they are saving some money, but may need to spend a bit more money or time in scheduling the project.
Chaos-tolerance: Their dust and chaos-tolerance is high and they are used to making decisions.
Project size: While this is a decent-sized project (30% of the house is affected, plus infrastructure changes), it is actually two smaller projects. Daily chores are not interrupted, so there will be less crazy-making in the execution of the renovation.
Vision: The couple have a firm vision and are ready to make decisions on substitutions if necessary. They also know and love their plumber and electrician, so working with them is a breeze.
The challenges are:
HVAC is an issue. The home is a 1952 gem, but with the original ductwork, some asbestos remediation is in their future.
Occasional power outages may interrupt their work if and when electrical upgrades are made.
Plumbing service may be interrupted when supply and drain/waste/vent changes are installed.
Dust is inevitable, but they're okay with that.
Couple #2:
Taylor and Kennedy live in Culver City and decided that they want to do a whole-house renovation on their dated 1965 home. They know that they are going to move out and hire a good general contractor to handle everything. When they started working with an architect it became clear that they were not going to be able to make the decisions necessary to get through the project. The solution: work with a known builder with set plans for new houses. They decided to work with Thomas James Homes and are able to choose finishes, but otherwise the choices are easy.
The factors are:
Family: These two have three cats and work mostly from home. They travel often and are constantly online. When they are recording video, they need silence, so construction noise will be a problem.
Abilities: Decision-making as a couple is difficult as they always want to defer to the desires of the other person.
Finances: The couple is getting a construction loan that includes money for a rental and they have a reserve for delays.
Chaos-tolerance: There is no tolerance for chaos or dust with these two. They are fastidious and really have a problem with dirt in their space.
Project size: As a whole-house renovation, they really don't have a choice but to relocate temporarily.
Vision: There is no cohesive vision for the project. The couple wants limited choices to make the decision process easier.
The challenges are:
Finding an apartment to move to that fits their budget.
Making finish decisions for their new home.
Waiting patiently. Construction and permits take time.
That's our roundup and case studies of remodeling philosophies. What is your renovation dream and how are you going to tackle it? There are many different ways to go about it.
Good luck!