Full Home Remodel
Most remodels do not go wrong because someone did bad work. They go wrong in the gaps between trades — the flooring crew that arrives before the walls are painted, the countertop that cannot be templated because the cabinets are not set, the electrician who needs one more day that nobody scheduled.
A full remodel is one project, one crew, one point of contact. Ten years of doing every one of these trades ourselves is what makes that possible: the sequence is not a negotiation between five companies, it is a plan.
What “full remodel” actually covers
Demolition, framing, drywall, taping and texture, painting, flooring, kitchen, bathrooms, closets, and the exterior work when the project reaches that far.
Two kinds of clients tend to need the whole thing rather than one trade:
- Owners renovating a property they live in or are about to — where the finishes have to match across rooms and the disruption has to be managed
- Owners preparing a rental or commercial space — where the deadline is the actual constraint, because every week of work is a week without a tenant
The order things happen in
Sequence is most of what a general contractor is for. Roughly:
- Demolition — out first, so the real condition of the structure is visible before anything is committed
- Framing and layout changes — walls moved, openings built
- Rough-in — plumbing and electrical while the walls are open
- Drywall, taping and texture — the messiest phase and the one with the most drying time
- Paint — before flooring, not after
- Cabinets, then countertops — countertops get templated off installed cabinets, which is why that gap exists
- Flooring, trim and fixtures — last, so they are not walked on and knocked around
Some of these overlap. Almost none of them can be reordered without paying for it later.
What we tell you before we start
- Where the schedule is honest and where it is a guess. Demolition regularly reveals things nobody could have quoted: old plumbing, water damage behind a wall, framing that was never right. We tell you when we find it, with what it changes, before we do it.
- Which weeks are loud and which are quiet. Drying and curing time is not idle time, but it looks like it from the outside.
- What you cannot use, and when. Especially the kitchen and the bathrooms.
Living in the house during the work
It is usually possible, and it changes how the job is staged rather than whether we take it. The most common approach is to phase it so at least one bathroom stays in service and the kitchen is not down longer than it has to be. Work areas get sealed off, and dust-producing phases get grouped rather than spread out.
Tell us at the first visit if you are staying. It is easier to plan the sequence around it than to rearrange it in week three.
Across the Bay Area
We take full remodels in San Rafael, Tiburon, Mill Valley and across Marin, in San Francisco, and out through Berkeley, Orinda, Walnut Creek and Vallejo.
The first conversation is worth having early, before the plans are fixed. Call and describe the property, what you want changed, and the deadline you are working against — those three things are usually enough to tell you whether the scope you have in mind matches the budget you have in mind.