Once you’ve made the decision to remodel your bathroom, there’s often a growing excitement to get the project completed as quickly as possible so you can enjoy your new space and its enhancements.
However, it’s important when undertaking a home improvement project to have realistic expectations about the timeline so you can plan accordingly. From contributing to the design of your remodel to adjusting family life during construction, the project will consume a considerable amount of your time and focus until it’s complete.
As with most makeover projects for your home in Des Moines, there are numerous factors that impact the timeline for a bathroom renovation or remodel. It essentially comes down to the size of the room and what you hope to accomplish with your project. Doing cosmetic upgrades in an average-sized hall bathroom is a less complex and time-consuming project than reinventing your master bath with an entirely new design style.
Generally speaking, you should plan to spend about three to nine weeks in the construction phase to remodel your bathroom in Des Moines. To get a better sense of the timeline, it can be helpful to think of your project in phases and calculate how much time will be involved in each one.
Designing your bathroom makeover in Des Moines typically takes about one to four weeks once you’ve researched your project and selected your remodeling team. You can help expedite this process by having a clear vision of your project priorities, as well as your budget. However, you don’t want to rush the process since the decisions you make during the design phase influence the cost and efficiency of the rest of the project.
During the design phase, your bathroom remodeling team will visit your home to evaluate the job site and get measurements. Next, they finalize the design of your remodel with schematics, interior elevations, and cabinet plans and develop a professional quote that outlines the scope of work and a list of allowances.
Once you have a basic plan finalized, you move on to specifics. This involves selecting the fixtures and finishes for your bathroom remodel, including cabinets, countertops, flooring, lighting, and paint color. Your design team will get your input for the selections and also provide you with valuable insight to help guide the process. At this point, your design-build remodeling team can finalize the budget and construction schedule.
It may then take a couple of weeks to receive certain materials based on your selections from the design phase. If that includes custom cabinetry, imported tiles or other unique items for your bathroom renovation, it can take several weeks to receive them. They may also arrive in a staggered fashion. However, an experienced remodeler not only has an established relationship with suppliers but can also develop a schedule that involves very few gaps to keep your project moving forward. During this time, your team also works on acquiring any permits needed for your bathroom remodel in Des Moines.
The next phase of a bathroom renovation is construction, which generally takes about three to nine weeks. After an onsite pre-construction meeting with your remodel team, they can dive into site preparation and demolition. Depending on the scope of your project, your entire bathroom may be gutted.
From there, the construction crew and trade partners spend three to four days reconfiguring the new layout, plumbing and electrical rough-ins, and framing and backing.
The next week or so is spent on installing drywall and tile for your backsplash, shower surround, and other features before moving onto the floor. Lastly, the team primes and paints the walls and adds your vanity, countertops, plumbing, and electrical fixtures and accessories. After construction is complete, it’s time to clean the job site, inspect the work—particularly the electrical and plumbing—and touch up anything that isn’t quite right. Your project manager should walk you through the space to ensure it’s ready for use.
Not every home improvement project goes exactly as planned, and there are certain uncontrollable and controllable factors that can impact your bathroom remodeling timeline. For example, once your team starts demolition, they may run into previously undetected problems, such as water damage, mold or structural issues that needs to be fixed before the project can progress.
One way you can help keep your project on schedule is by investing adequate time in planning, researching and designing your remodel so you go into construction fully informed and confident about your decisions. Making changes to the plan after construction is underway not only negatively impacts the schedule but also the cost of your bathroom renovation.
Another important factor when it comes to the timeliness and efficiency of your home improvement project is the quality of your remodeling team. At Compelling Homes Remodeling and Design, we’re continually refining and improving our remodeling process to give you a positive experience and satisfactory results. From design to construction, we provide guidance and consistent communication to help you set expectations and limit surprises and delays.