If you are the fortunate owner of one of Charlotte’s historic homes, you may be in need of a home remodel. Your goal is to preserve your house’s charm during the renovation process. Find out how to remodel without sacrificing any details.
A mother-in-law suite is a great way to welcome additional family members into your home. Learn the ins and outs of what’s involved with this addition.
Let’s ring in the New Year with our forecast of interior design trends in 2022, shall we? We have taken out our crystal ball (hidden in one of our inset cabinets) to predict the hottest on-the-upwards trends in the upcoming year.
While the essential elements remain the same, there are endless possibilities when it comes to designing a custom laundry room and mudroom space that works best for your unique storage and lifestyle needs. These six ideas are a great place to start but certainly aren’t the only options.
When you’ve got a list of home improvement projects that vary in size, complexity, and level of importance, it can be tricky trying to figure out when to hire a design-build home remodeling contractor versus individual trade specialists or subcontractors.
When considering whether to phase your home remodel into smaller chunks, investment, disruption, and isolation are the three most significant factors to consider.
Learn about Charlotte’s housing history which is rich with a diversity of architectural styles and themes that represent popular trends.
The time has come for big decisions about your Charlotte home – should you remodel or move? Perhaps your kitchen is older than most college kids and is adorned with shades of brown and tan. Or maybe your bathroom is so old that the shower is growing things no amount of toxic chemicals can kill. You just found out that an in-law is coming to live with you AND you’re having ANOTHER baby! Ok, maybe not all of those things are happening to you all at once, but nonetheless, you are faced with the question that so many of our clients ask themselves (and us): should we remodel or move? It’s not an easy answer, but here are some great questions to discuss with your family while figuring out what’s right for you.
One of the biggest considerations when weighing remodeling versus moving is whether you like your neighborhood, the school system, the amenities, and the size of your yard. If you answer no to most of those, then start house hunting! If you answered yes, then focus on making the spaces in your home fit for how you and your family live and aim for a remodel plan. You can remodel your home, but you can’t choose your neighbors (sorry).
Both remodeling and moving require an investment in time and resources. Remember that there will be mover fees, real estate commissions, temporary housing, storage fees, and other moving expenses that could be put back into your current Charlotte house if you decide to remodel instead of move.
There’s also the cost of fixing up your house just to put it on the market. It will be hard to sell your home for top dollar if it needs expensive things like a new HVAC system, roof, or a new paint job. How does the yard look? What about that funny smell in the basement? How about that ceiling stain that’s been ignored for years because it didn’t bother you or you never found the time? All of these things will turn off a prospective buyer and will require an investment to remedy them before listing.
With extremely low housing stock at the time of this writing, it’s also unlikely you’ll find a home that’s in your desired neighborhood, school district, and price point that’s exactly what you want. It’s not uncommon for families to move to meet one need and then to remodel their new home to make up for what it’s lacking. Sometimes that’s the best choice, and other times it’s more effective to stay put and remodel your current home instead.
This is where a little homework will go a long way. Before you begin meeting with Charlotte remodeling companies to decide if your home is worth remodeling, make a list of all the things you want to improve. It may include a combination of minor fixes and improvements or larger ambitions like adding an owners’ suite addition. Now prioritize those needs and think about which ones are immediate and which ones you could stand to postpone if you had to.
A Charlotte remodeling professional can then help you understand all the other factors to consider that will need to be done to meet your goals. For example, to get a larger kitchen with the additional appliances you want, your electrical service may need to be replaced or significantly upgraded.
Or to expand your living room as part of an addiction, you may need to redesign your outdoor living areas. Either way, you’ll either be pleasantly surprised that your project is not as complicated as you feared, or it is going to take more than you had thought. The important thing here is to find someone that you can trust to look at ALL of the factors to consider and not just the individual projects around the home. A comprehensive remodeling plan is important for making the right decision and for ensuring a smooth project with fewer surprises or headaches.
Deciding whether to move or remodel is a big decision that will have long-term impacts on you and your family’s comfort and health. Trust in a Charlotte design and remodeling company that can help you navigate all of the possibilities that your home has to offer before deciding that you need to search for another place to live.
If you’d like professional advice on whether to remodel your current home or start house hunting, we’d be happy to discuss your specific options in more detail. Reach out today with this home remodeling form and we’ll be in touch shortly!
There are three ways to turn your deck or patio into additional living space in your home: a screened in porch or a three season room or four season sunroom.
Whether you’re moving into a rental property while you remodel your home, or you’re setting up a temporary kitchen in the dining room while your kitchen is being redone, the remodel construction schedule can be disruptive. Our homes are the nucleus of our lives, so it’s only natural to want to know how long your remodeling project will take. While we can apply the law of averages to give you a realistic expectation based on past experience, how long it will take to remodel your home is dependent on a number of factors.
Most of the time when a homeowner asks, “How long will it take to remodel my kitchen?” they’re referring only to the construction portion of the project – the messy, loud, inconvenient, and disruptive part television shows depict to be the absolute worst. We get it. That’s the time you’ll have to rearrange your house, your routine, and live in some state of mess. What’s important to note — the construction phase is only one part of the entire process and it comes at the very end. When speaking with our clients about timing, we find it gives them a better idea of the true time commitment when we talk about the process as a whole.
While most design-build remodeling firms are likely to have a similar process, we can only speak for ourselves. Here’s a brief outline of our process, and the steps that have to happen before the hammers ever start swinging:
The Planning Agreement is exactly how it sounds – an agreement between you and ReVision to begin the design portion of your remodeling project, based on a specific scope of work. Once you’ve set up a call to schedule a complimentary consultation with one of our Project Developers, they’ll meet with you at your home to take a look at your existing space, and discuss your goals and design ideas. Afterward, they’ll present you with a high-level outline (Planning Agreement) of the scope of work that it will take to remodel your home, including typical budget ranges appropriate for your goals and presumed level of selection. The timeline for this initial step depends heavily on the availability of both parties — typically, it takes 2-4 weeks to schedule the consultation, meet, outline, and present the Planning Agreement.
The length of the design phase usually comes down to four things:
The amount of time it takes to design and specify materials for a cosmetic update versus a custom redesign is significant. Most of our clients fall somewhere between the pull and replace and custom redesign levels, so we refer to those timelines most often.
Most of our clients average 9-12 weeks in the design phase. Smaller cosmetic projects may take considerably less time, just as remodeling your whole home may take longer.
The final design, including plans and all materials selections and images, will be part of your contract documents and approved prior to ordering. Keeping everything organized in one document means never having to remember all the details. Many of our clients like to use their selections images as a handy reference for choosing new furnishings or window treatments while there’s downtime prior to construction.
Before we can begin remodeling your home, all of the materials needed to complete your remodeling project will have been approved, ordered, and delivered. This may include cabinetry, plumbing, lighting, tile, hardware, doors, and windows, lumber, etc. We typically shy away from beginning the demo until all the parts and pieces are in and accounted for. This helps to prevent an opportunity for an unexpected delay and further disruption should something arrive late or damaged. While it doesn’t happen often, it is possible, and we’d hate for a project to come to a stop because a critical piece needed to be reordered.
All of the cabinetry we use is made to order and usually takes 6-8 weeks to be built and delivered. Most remodeling projects we do contain cabinetry, but for those that do not such as screen porches or living space additions, other materials with longer lead times may include custom or specialty windows and doors. Even without long lead times on materials, it still takes a couple of weeks to work out the logistics, so plan on anywhere from 3-8 weeks from contract signing to demo day, with 8 weeks being most common.
Just as the design phase timeline varies based on what type of remodel you’re pursuing, so does the construction timeline. A Cosmetic project could be done in as little as 2-4 weeks, while a Pull and Replace project will take 6-8 weeks. Depending on the scope and complexity, a Custom Redesign may take 8-10 weeks. This number can rise if a large addition is involved.
Whether you have a specific end date in mind for remodeling your home or not, we’ll work with you to create a timeline that suits your schedule. Some of our clients plan well in advance so they can coordinate their vacations around the messiest stages of construction (mainly demo and floor refinishing). Others don’t have a specific construction schedule in mind, and just want to take their time. If you want to figure out the ideal time to remodel your home, it’s best to start with the end in mind and work backward from there.
Curious to know what a remodel would look like in your home? Give ReVision a call or schedule a conversation to speak with one of our Project Developers about your goals.
