Table of Contents
Renovating your home is an exciting process, but with that excitement comes a great deal of stress – especially if it’s a very large renovation project. Although you’re excited to see the final product, cook a meal in your brand-new kitchen, stretch out and watch a movie in your expansive basement living room, or finally have peace and quiet as you work from home in your shiny new home office, going through the dust, noise, and upheaval isn’t much fun. It’s perfectly normal to wonder, “Just how long will my home renovation take?”
Unfortunately, there is no cut-and-dried answer to this question beyond, “It depends.” It depends on the size of the project. It depends if you’re working with a reputable and experienced contractor. It also depends on whether or not they run into any unforeseeable emergencies during the process.
How Long Will My Home Renovation Take?
First Things First, Remember That Planning Takes Time
When having the “How long will my home renovations take” conversation with yourself, stop and consider that the nuts-and-bolts construction phase is only one part of the process. Before you even get close to knocking down the first wall or cabinet, you need to do extensive planning. This could take anywhere from a month or more and involves choosing the best contractor for the job, having them come out and look at the area to be updated, and working with them to create a design.
Although this sounds tedious, it can actually be fun imagining the possibilities. Your contractor will even be able to give you a “real life” view of what the finished project will look like by laying it out using 3D renderings. This will not only help fuel you through the stress and mess of the construction process; it will also give you the opportunity to suggest changes before the building begins.
Average Times for Various Projects
While contractors know the amount of time a project should take, homeowners who have been through various renovation projects know how long they did take. If you’re wondering how long your home renovation will take, you likely want the numbers that reflect reality. That’s why Houzz interviewed a cross-section of homeowners to find out, on average, how long specific projects took from start to finish.
On average, a complete gut-and-renovate kitchen project took around 5 months, while a master bathroom renovation took 3.9 months. Keep in mind that changing the room’s footprint and moving plumbing around makes a project more time-intensive than simply doing cosmetic updates like changing out flooring or updating fixtures and cabinetry. Completely renovating other interior rooms such as a bedroom or living room took on average around 3.5 months. These timelines are for larger projects. Smaller updates like refinishing hardwood floors can take as little as a few days to two weeks. Exterior projects such as replacing vinyl siding or redoing a backyard deck tend to move along quickly and cause much less disruption.
Tips for Dealing with Renovation Stress
In some ways, a major renovation project can be just as stressful as selling a home. You have to pack up all of your belongings, disrupt your daily routine, and spend every waking moment looking forward to the process being over.
One of the best ways to keep stress levels down while renovating your home is to choose an experienced contractor. In addition to keeping the project moving along as smoothly and quickly as possible, they’ll be communicative with you so you always know exactly where the timeline stands. No renovation project is mess-free, but working with a professional team can help cut down on the chaos a bit, as they’ll generally try to put up drapes, tarps, and temporary walls to segment off the dust and noise as much as possible, as well as being respectful while coming and going in and out of your home. Most of all, just breathe and tell yourself that it’s all temporary. Flexibility is the best tool when going through a home renovation project. Keep in mind that in a few month’s time, “How long will my home renovation take?” will be replaced with, “Doesn’t our gourmet kitchen look fabulous?”
