Most homeowners have a big vision for upgrading their home but only consider doing the work room-by-room, gradually advancing toward their ultimate goal.
In this post, I'm going to lay out another approach: a whole house remodel.
Instead of a handful of smaller projects, you can complete a radical transformation of your home through one comprehensive remodel. When construction ends, you can walk into what feels like a brand-new home without worrying about when you're going to have time and money for the next remodel.
Of course, remodeling your entire house is no small job. It requires diligent design and craftsmanship. But there's no arguing that it's the most meaningful way to overhaul your home.
To introduce the general idea, I'll go over the basics of whole home remodeling, including its benefits and when it's most advantageous. I'll also get into practicalities, like how much these projects cost, how to find a great remodeling company, and why design-build firms are your best bet for a major renovation.
When you hear about taking a house “down to the studs,” that’s a whole home remodel. As the name makes clear, it involves just about every part of your house.
A whole house remodel is the most direct way to transform your home. Some of the work may include:
Revamping floor plans and layouts
Adding a second story or a bump-out addition
Installing a new kitchen with features like a kitchen island and brand-new flooring, appliances, and cabinets
Finishing a basement or attic
Building a deck or creating an indoor-outdoor space
Reworking the electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems
Upgrading the roof, siding, or windows and trim
This type of renovation typically requires structural remodeling, such as moving walls or other changes to load-bearing structures. For this reason, whole home renovations demand careful planning and a skilled construction team.
At the same time, a whole house remodel involves attention to your home’s aesthetics, so things like painting, tile work, and other final touches have to be included in the planning, design, and execution of the project.
A whole house remodeling project offers distinct benefits relative to smaller, piecemeal remodels.
Most impactful changes: There's no better way to create your dream home than with a whole home remodel. You can overhaul just about every space in your home, dramatically improving functionality, flow, and visual appeal. This type of project can turn your vision for your home into a reality.
Setting a consistent standard: By integrating all of the work, you can ensure that every room is updated to the same standard and style. From the walls to the flooring to the light fixtures and other final touches, you get consistency across the board.
Consolidating the work: Whole home remodel projects take longer, but they consolidate everything that needs to be done into one construction project. This reduces the frequency of disruptions to your family life, and the work itself can proceed more efficiently, especially for things like plumbing and electrical wiring.
Property value: While not normally the driving motivation behind this kind of home renovation, you can expect a huge increase in your house's value after a whole home remodel.
Whole home renovations aren’t for everyone. They make the most sense in certain situations, such as:
You love where you live but your home isn’t working for you. For example, you may love your neighborhood and school district but need an addition to create more living space for your family.
You’ve bought a fixer-upper in a great location, and the house needs a total renovation. Unlike house flippers who typically do only cosmetic changes, you want to really overhaul and upgrade.
You want to make significant layout changes within the existing footprint of your home. This could be for accessibility and aging-in-place or simply making multiple rooms and spaces more functional.
You want to avoid a life of constant construction. By unifying multiple projects in one whole home remodel, you can complete everything in one fell swoop.
You need to remodel large sections of your home, so it makes sense to go whole hog. I’ve found that this is often the case when a home needs remodeling in both the kitchen and master bedroom or bathroom.
As you can tell from these examples, whole home renovations are usually done by homeowners who have found their “forever home” and want to make it reflect their vision, ideas, and needs.
There’s no standard budget for whole house remodeling since the budget is always dependent on factors like:
How big your home is
The condition of your existing home, which can influence things like how much plumbing and electrical work are necessary
The extent of structural changes and additions
The materials, appliances, fixtures, and finishes you choose for the renovation
Of course, the average costs for a whole home remodel are higher than for any single-room remodeling project.
Working with one company that can coordinate the entire project from start to finish usually reduces costs relative to trying to carry out the remodel by hiring one contractor after another.
Even if your home needs a lot of work, you might not want to jump into a whole home remodel. Projects can still deliver meaningful results despite having a smaller scope.
One example is a home addition, which can create a new space without a complete redo. With a bump-out addition, for example, you can create room for a new kitchen or a new bedroom and bathroom for guests or for a growing family.
Another alternative is to remodel your main level but leave the basement and upper story untouched. If you have a finished basement with a kitchen, you may even be able to stay there while the work is done on the main floor.
While these approaches aren’t quite as transformational as a whole house remodel, they may be a better option if you are unable to stretch your budget for the project.
Hiring a top-tier remodeling company is essential to a successful remodel. But home renovation projects can frustrate homeowners who often aren’t sure who to hire for the job. The pressure of finding the right remodeler feels even higher when the project involves your entire house.
As a first step, I always recommend asking around among friends and family for remodeling company recommendations. Word-of-mouth is generally your most reliable tool.
That said, you can also get plenty of information online, especially since you can search for local remodeling companies, see their portfolio, and read reviews of their services. I would caution anyone against depending completely on online research, but it’s a great way to find companies to meet with and further evaluate.
When you meet with specific remodelers, ask questions to find out about their experience with large-scale remodeling projects. Beyond their expertise and abilities, you should assess their listening skills and communication style. These are high-touch projects that take time, which means you should only hire someone who you can see yourself comfortably working with for the entire project process.
In my opinion, the design-build process is perfectly suited to whole home renovations. With the design-build approach, you hire one company to manage the entire project. Their in-house designer works directly with you for planning and design, and then their own construction team carries out the remodel. A project manager coordinates communication and timelines to keep the project on track.
With a design-build firm, you get one contract, one price, and one point of contact. That convenience is extremely valuable in a project to overhaul your entire house.
There are a lot of parties involved in a major renovation. During the design phase, structural changes may require consultation with an architect or structural engineer. Different permits may be needed to comply with local building codes. During construction, various builders and contractors are brought in for things like electrical work, plumbing, painting, tiling, cabinetry, and all sorts of finishing touches. For each step, the proper materials have to be procured and available on-site at the right time.
In other words, it’s a complicated dance, and it makes a huge difference if you have a single firm organizing the choreography from day one with a dedicated project manager.
The alternative to design-build is design-bid-build, which means you hire a designer to create plans, then get bids from contractors, and finally hire a general contractor to manage the construction work.
As the founder of a design-build company, I’ll be upfront about my bias here, but I strongly believe that design-build just works better. It’s a seamless experience for our clients, who don’t have to worry about losing momentum in the transition from the design phase to construction.
In addition, because there’s collaboration between all parties from the get-go, far fewer budget problems arise in the design-build approach. I’ve seen countless design-bid-build projects go off the rails when the contractors’ estimates come in way higher than the independent designer predicted. That forces homeowners into a corner: either they accept the higher budget, or they have to go back to the drawing board and modify their design.
On top of that, our design-build firm works on a fixed-price contract, which means that we’re responsible if costs increase. In contrast, a general contractor will usually give you a line-item budget, but the money comes out of your pocket if their estimate is off (which, let’s face it, is not a rare occurrence).
My firm, Compelling Homes, is dedicated to offering the highest-quality remodeling services in and around Des Moines. We don’t do cookie-cutter projects. We work closely with our clients to tailor our services to meet their needs, and you can see the results in our portfolio.
In some cases, that means doing a more limited renovation, such as a bathroom or kitchen remodel. In other cases, though, a whole home renovation is exactly what’s needed, and we take great pride in helping our clients bring their ideas to fruition.
If you’re planning a remodel and have questions or want to schedule an appointment, please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.