Ahh… that is the magic question every home owner wants to know before embarking in a remodel. Rightfully so. I have been in the remodeling industry for 18+ years and here is what I found out and I tell all my clients: It always takes longer and it always cost more, TYPICALLY. It is the nature of this beast we call “The Remodel”.
But why?
Some of the delays are due to unforeseen issues/problems hidden behind walls, home owners making changes and adding on to the scope of work and to poor contractor scheduling their subcontractors. But in defense of the contractor who gets most of the blame, they are typically juggling a few jobs at the time and trying to keep all their subcontractors happy and busy. Subcontractors are oftentimes not employees of a General Contractor but just work with them on a contract basis for a particular project.
Size does matter, most of the time
If your remodel is very big, like a full house remodel and addition for instance, you can potentially get a dedicated contractor crew who will just work on your job vs. splitting time between other jobs. In all these years, I have seen one of those jobs being completed one day before the scheduled date. But it was pretty much a tear down and a new construction of a 2 story 4 bedroom home with a dedicated crew. This General Contractor would take on only one remodel at the time and the subcontractors were all employed by him.
New vs. remodel
Needless, to say, if you built something new vs. remodel it, there will be far less surprises in schedule and budgeting. Also, if you go with a bigger more expensive contractor, you will get a better service, more hand holding and potentially less delays since they tend to have a full blown back office and professional project management.
Final thoughts
I do believe you typically get what you pay for as I have seen in my own experience over the years.
But let me share a detailed study Houzz (a fantastic online resource for home owners) did on this subject. Here is the link:
Houzz Study on Remodeling Cost and Length
Here is one of their many charts:
I found it quite interesting. If you are considering a remodel and have questions, please contact me. I’d be happy to answer them!
Manuela
