Whole House Remodeling

What starts out as a small project can lead down a road to a whole house remodel. First it begins with deciding to paint an accent wall…but the old trim doesn’t look good with the color now…and the ceiling needs some patch work…and why don’t I replace all my cabinets, those are 30 years old and now they don’t match! You were going to do a little weekend DIY and the next thing you know, you’re in the middle of a 6-month second story addition project! R.L. Rider Remodeling has heard countless tales similar to this one – and we know how to work with you to get your dream remodel completed by planning ahead. Read on for a definition of a whole house remodel, what to consider for your project, and when it makes sense to go all-in and do a complete revitalization of your home!

What is a Whole House Remodel?

A whole house remodel could have different meanings depending on who you talk to. It’s kind of a fine line but we usually consider a project “whole house” if there are three or more rooms with substantial work to be performed. The modifications must be pretty robust and/or involve an addition or total reworking of a space e.g. knocking out a wall or relocating a stairway. Another useful line of distinction is that whole house work will affect all other parts of the house, even if work is not directly performed there. For example, we would deem a project with two total bathroom remodels and a couple of bedroom updates “whole house” because the project is over three rooms and the bathroom updates may require plumbing modifications that affect the rest of the home. A project with five minor bedroom updates (painting, carpet) is not “whole house” however – it affects a lot of rooms, but the work is contained to each room individually and will not have a greater impact on the home at large.

Cohesive Designing, Planning, & Scheduling

A holistic, cohesive design is the single biggest factor if you want your whole house remodel to be successful. There could be 10 different ways to achieve the goals you have for your house, but how do you choose the best option for you and your family? Because we are a full-service design/build firm, we have full control over the process and have the invaluable experience of working through hundreds of remodels. This gives us the ability and accuracy to tell you exactly what is going to happen, when it will occur, and how that impacts the other pieces of the project.

A recent example for R.L. Rider Remodeling was a family who needed more space in their kitchen, but who had no obvious space to expand into. After brainstorming some initial ideas, we narrowed it down to three possible avenues: building a bump-out addition, stealing space from an entryway, or relocating a set of stairs to a spot in the little-used rear office. For each of these options we advised our clients on budgetary impacts, potential schedule differences, and the sequence our subcontractors would perform the work. The bump-out addition ended up being the right choice for this particular client because despite a little higher cost, it was the fastest way forward, which was the client’s most important criteria. Someone who held budget as the most important factor may have gone with the entryway option, but every family is different which is why we give options in the first place!

What is Design/Build?

When and Why You Should Remodel an Entire House

Every whole house remodel will have a unique schedule and path to completion. That being said there are some general rules that always apply. When thinking about when to start the remodel, the rule that normally applies is “the sooner the better.” Big projects take time, and if there is any outdoor component to the job then the time of year must be considered. There are countless variables that go into projecting an accurate schedule, and then countless more to make sure that schedule is delivered. See our page ‘Scheduling & Timelines’ to get a better feel for how long your project will take or give us a call and we can discuss a potential timeline over the phone with just a few details about your project.

Change in lifestyle is one of the main reasons we see homeowners starting a whole home remodel. Empty nesters have a large amount of new space to use that probably wasn’t available for 20+ years. We also see kids inherit property from their parents or extended family that might need some intensive TLC. Desire for a more open layout has obviously been hugely popular in recent years, and it appears to be a strong trend moving forward. Sometimes an interior is so dated that it is time to call in the experts, tear it all down, and start from scratch! While these are all great reasons to get going on a whole house project, we cannot professionally recommend renovating with the sole purpose of selling. You will never see immediate return from selling than what you put into the remodel itself, so unless it is just a room or two that needs an update a whole home remodel may not be the best option.

Why Whole House Renovations Make Sense

Let’s think about why whole house remodeling makes sense – after all it is an expensive and time-consuming undertaking. This section’s logic assumes that you have already made the decision to perform extensive work on your home and want to know the most efficient and cost-effective path to completion. R.L. Rider Remodeling will provide you with estimates, price breakouts, and head-to-head comparisons of project timelines to help you make the choice on whether to do all your desired work at once or tackle it piece by piece as your budget and schedule allow. Here are the reasons why doing all the work at once makes sense.

  1. Enjoy your improvements – a project completed sooner allows more time to enjoy the new space as well as the removal of all the annoyances you had with your old house.
  2. Less overall working time – construction preparation and completion which adds up over time. Items such as site protection, dumpster delivery, and final cleaning take time and effort like everything else. As the job gets split into multiple phases, these “set up times” will multiply by the number of phases total.
  3. Minimal time living with construction – there’s no way around it, construction is noisy and messy, that’s why you have the pros do it. The faster and more efficiently we complete your job, the faster you get back to normal day-to-day life.
  4. Simpler overall job – doing a job all at once will make life easier on every trade. If you divide into phases, then there might be some awkward stopping points or having to “redo” work that was affected by a previous stage. A whole house remodel avoids such issues.
  5. Less overall cost – you may have been doing mental math looking at the above items, and you’d be correct if you felt that each item would add cost. Any time we can avoid setting up a job site or going over previous work, that is a direct savings to the client.


Whole House Remodeling Considerations

Some additional items to think about when remodeling your entire home involve updating and modernizing your infrastructure. One advantage, as mentioned above, is getting to remove any of the annoying things that drive you crazy about your living space. A common example is adding extra insulation to interior walls to better sound-proof rooms from each other. You won’t have to be interrupted by whatever sounds the washer and dryer decide to make anymore.

We’ve found that a whole house update is the perfect time to upgrade essential systems such as your HVAC, water heater, gas meter, and electrical panel. If there is an addition or extra bathroom being added, then calculations must be made to account for the additional loads on your existing support systems. Is your water heater up to the challenge of a large bathtub, does the heat reach the new living space effectively, fireplaces can demand a better gas supply, etc. Whole house remodels offer a good opportunity to revitalize the exterior of your house as well. Doors, windows, siding, roofs, and trim can start to feel dated and may not match your new style or scheme.

If you are ready to get the process started on your remodel, then R.L. Rider Remodeling is the right choice for your contractor. We provide the best scheduling and management of subcontractors, advise on the best pathway to completion, present accurate budgets, and expertise on how to plan around your busy life. Please give us a call today at 517-487-3713 or fill out the contact form on our website.