Tight inventory in the Portland real estate market and increasing housing prices can make it hard to know what to do when your current home no longer suits your lifestyle. However, one solution is to consider a whole house remodel in Portland to transform your home into the house of your dreams. Here’s everything you need to know about a whole house remodel, including the benefits and challenges.
What Is A Whole House Remodel?
The beauty of home ownership is that regardless of what your home looks like now, it can be transformed to create the home of your dreams. That’s where a full house remodel comes in. A whole house remodel fixes all the sore points that make daily life challenging, whether it’s space, function, or appearance. You can address every issue in one major project, based on a comprehensive design that takes your home from frustrating to stress-free.
What’s Involved In A Whole House Remodel In Portland?
The typical whole house remodel includes several stages. Based on our own process this would include:
● The onsite consultation to discuss the project
● Determining the design requirements
● Signing a Pre-Construction Agreement to determine scope of work and budget
● Signing the final remodeling contract
● Setting up your client portal account so we can provide important details, schedules, material lists, fixture lists, change orders, etc.
● Material selection of all finishes, fixtures, and materials
● The homeowners move out and the project gets underway
● Ongoing communication to discuss problems, make adjustments and submit change orders
● The project is completed with a walk-through to review the finished home
● 9–12-month check-in to make sure you’re still satisfied
The Benefits Of A Whole Home Remodel
We understand the idea of tackling your home renovations one by one might be more appealing, both from a disruption and a budget standpoint. So, why remodel a whole house at once? There are several benefits to designing the entire home remodel and completing the renovations in one big project, including:
● Potential material cost savings: When contractors do one-off projects, they need to order smaller amounts of materials. In a whole home remodel, all the costly materials that add up, from wood to wire and drywall to flooring, are purchased in bulk, saving you thousands of dollars in material costs.
● Potential labour cost savings: Paying trades is another high-ticket item. When you have to recall trades to come and address renovations room by room it tends to cost more than having the whole home completed at once. This includes new wiring and plumbing, but also finishing jobs such as drywall, flooring, tiling and painting.
● Design cohesion: Even if your budget means you have no choice but to tackle projects one by one, at least designing the whole house at once can help create a more cohesive look to the home. That said, things like an open-concept main floor pose an issue if you don’t tackle the whole floor at once. For example, if you were to redo your kitchen and five years later decide you want an open space main floor, you’re destroying part of your investment. A whole home design allows the contractor to recommend where to start and what should be included to maintain a unified look and avoid wasting time, money and materials.
● One job, one disruption: Yes, you’ll have to move out until the project is done, but then you can move back home and settle in for life. If you tackle just one smaller project a year, each of those projects means a new job, a new mess, and maybe even the need to move out again. All at once means the work is done once and for all!
The Challenges Of A Whole House Remodel
There are always challenges to major home remodels, including:
● Moving out: This is stressful. However, what we do differently is that we assess the job and speak with our team and trades so we can provide a schedule that tells you exactly what work will be done and when. You’ll know how long you’ll be out of your home and when you’ll be able to move back in with minimal disruption to your life.
● Budget Woes: Although you’re given a detailed quote, you can still run into unexpected issues that pose financial challenges. This is easy to avoid by including an emergency fund, and setting aside up to 10% of your overall budget to pay for these costs.
● Stress: The older your home, the more unforeseen issues your contractor might come across, including major structural problems, water damage, electrical issues, and more. There’s also living away from home, managing your kids, answering questions, making decisions, and of course the cost. With a knowledgeable contractor who knows Portland homes, you reduce the risk of encountering remodeling challenges.
● Hiring the Wrong Team: By the time you realize you may have hired the wrong contractor, you’re usually well into the job. When this happens, you can be left with a half-finished home and find yourself out of pocket for the deposit you’ll never get back. Hiring the right contractor avoids this problem.
● Bad decisions: If you don’t have a designer on board to offer expert guidance and recommendations, you might make bad decisions you have to live with once the project is complete. You might also make decisions that put aesthetics over function, so your home doesn’t meet your functional needs. Hiring a team with a designer on board ensures you create a lovely, functional home.
● Permits: Understanding the rules and regulations and what permits are required can be a bureaucratic nightmare depending on what Portland neighborhood you live in and the age of your home. A contractor that is part of the FIR (Field Issuance Remodel) program never has to contend with these issues as they have direct access to an inspector to avoid all the red tape.
● Delays: Delays that keep you from moving back into your home can be caused by all kinds of factors, including the late arrival of materials, unforeseen structural issues that require additional work, and the weather. This is par for the course but can be less stressful by hiring a reputable, organized contractor with local connections to avoid late deliveries and find the right sub-contractors for additional work.
Whether you’ve outgrown your home, find it isn’t functional, or hate its outdated look, a whole house remodel provides the opportunity to create your forever home without the need to sell or move.
If you’re planning to renovate your classic Portland home, we invite you to reach out to our team. Call us today at 503-939-9782 or click here to submit your remodeling project details.