What Does Managing Your Own Home Renovation Entail?
- Jayme Walker
- Mar 17
- 5 min read
Managing the construction of your home renovation can save you thousands of dollars. Here’s what you can expect to take on when acting as your own General Contractor:
THE PLANNING STAGE
(we call this our Pre-Construction Phase)
Plan Review & Order of Operations
Let’s assume you have construction drawings/plans for your home remodel.
Review your construction drawings.
List out every action item that will need to take place to successfully complete your project.
Group and order that list of action items into an “order of operations”
If you don’t have construction experience, it can be difficult to know the order. So plan to also be doing lots of research.
Trades & Scope of Work
Go through your order of operations and determine what construction trade it is (example: tile, finish carpentry, paint, etc.)
Create an itemized scope of work for each trade.
Find 2-3 companies that perform each trade on your list.
Some contractors are single-trade contractors (ie electrical only), others perform multiple trades (ie electrical and HVAC). You can choose to work with several single-trade contractors or find one company that offers multiple trades. Research the pros and cons to each.
Verify the contractors are properly licensed, bonded and insured per your state’s requirements. In Washington, you can look this up on the L&I website.
Materials Takeoffs
Materials Takeoffs is a comprehensive list of every material and its quantity required on the project. This includes building materials like lumber and trim, as well as the finish materials like flooring, tile and door knobs.
Itemize every building material needed for your project in a spreadsheet. Your spreadsheet should include columns for the material, unit type (LF, SF, EA, etc.), unit quantity, price per unit, total price, etc.
Itemize every finish material required in the same way.
Note on Finish Selections: If you did not work with a designer, you will need to decide on the finish materials. Creating a mood board is helpful. Start by looking online to find products you like, price them out and add them to your spreadsheet.
Request / Collect Bids and Quotes
Now that you have your scope of works and your materials takeoffs, you are ready to start requesting bids from contractors and quotes from suppliers.
Reach out to each of those contractors you identified previously to set up a meeting in your home to go over the scopes of work. Depending on the size of your project and whether you are hiring single-trade contractors or multi-trade contractors, you may have many meetings.
Request materials quotes from suppliers.
As you start receiving bids and quotes, organize them in preparation for the next step.
Prepare your Budget
For homeowners, a simple budget method is to create a spreadhseet in excel or google sheets. Create a row for each trade (concrete, framing, electrical, etc.) and a row for each material grouping (lighting, framing materials, flooring materials, etc.) The total of the Lighting row, for example, would come from your finish materials spreadsheet you created during the Materials Takeoff.
Once your budget framework is created, start plugging all the bids and quotes in.
Important: Add a contingency line item for unexpected or unforeseen costs. If you’ve never managed your own constrution project, you might want to include a larger cushion like 10-15% of the estimated total cost.
At the end of the planning phase, you should have a completed budget for every trade and material needed on your project.
THE CONSTRUCTION STAGE
Hiring
Now that the planning stage is complete, you can start hiring contractors.
Reach out to the contractor(s) you would prefer to hire.
Ask about their availability and timeline. Do they have other jobs they are working on? When would they be available for your job? How long should you expect them to take performing the work? What do they need?
When you’re ready to hire, get the contract in place and sign. Make sure you have agreed in writing on the scope of work, price and expectations.
Collect their Certificate of Insurance.
Scheduling & Coordinating
Now that you have your order of operations and your contractor timelines, you can start preparing a schedule.
We won’t go into depth on all the ways to manage your project’s tasks and schedule. There are so many apps and software and systems, so you will have to find what works best for you. This is such a critical part of any project management. At bare minimum, you should have a task list and a calendar.
Find out when you will need each material on the job. For example, your plumber will need the new tub much earlier than they will need the new shower head, so make sure you know it all.
Get everything on the schedule. Get everything on the task list.
Coordinate all work in writing. Even if you have a verbal agreed upon date for your cabinet installer, follow up with text or email to confirm.
Expect delays. Plan for it.
Place Orders & Make Sure Everyone has What they Need
With your schedule, task list and materials list in hand, place your building and finish materials orders appropriately.
Shop online for specific finish materials.
Know the lead time for each material/product. Some products, especially speciality items, have a longer lead time and can completely throw off your schedule.
Timing is important here. Delays can happen if you aren’t prepared.
Check in with your contractors regularly. Make sure you are getting them what they need and when they need it.
If you don’t have your framing materials onsite for your framer, they might go start another job that is prepared and not be able to get back to your job for a week.
Paying Bills & Collecting Lien Waivers
As construction progresses, you will start to receive bills from contractors and suppliers.
Deposits are often necessary to schedule contractors, especially if they have to purchase materials for your job.
Aside from the deposit, pay for the work done to date. And pay in a timely fashion. This keeps the contractor happy and on your job.
Important: Get signatures on lien waivers, which is a document that the contractor and supplier signs to acknowledge they have been paid and will not file a lien against your property.
Make sure the amount you are billed matches the agreed upon amount. (there will likely be change orders, so get those in writing)
Budget vs Actuals
Always, always, always be tracking your construction costs against your budget.
Your budget should include an actuals column to compare against the budget column.
Regularly update your actuals with the amounts you have paid out.
Knowing your numbers in real time can allow you to make better decisons. Maybe you were under budget on your countertops so you want to spend more on your tile. Or maybe you are too far over budget that you can’t actually do the custom built-in.
Never guess. Trust the numbers. And follow the plan.
Permits & Inspections
You as the General Contractor of your job will be required to pull permits and coordinate any building inspections.
Troubleshooting
If anything goes wrong during the project, you are the responsible party. You are the leader of the entire project, and you will be the one that has to figure out how to solve the problems that arise.
CONCLUSION
It’s possible to manage your own construction project. It could potentially save you thousands of dollars. But what you might save in money, you will pay for in your time.
Or you can hire a professional to do it all for you!
Have a home renovation project in Bellingham, Washington?
We do whole home renovations, kitchen remodels, bathroom remodels, basement renovations in Whatcom County.
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