01
The envelope first, always
Roof, flashing, windows and doors before anything decorative. Every finish inside depends on the building being dry, and there is no order in which that stops being true.
See this in a finished kitchen
Whole-home renovation
The house should change as the people inside it do.
A whole-home renovation is not many small jobs bought at once. It is one sequence, planned in an order that keeps the house standing up and keeps you living in it.
Most houses are asked to hold a life they were not drawn for.
The house was built for somebody else, decades ago, with different assumptions about how many people would be in it and what they would be doing. A whole-home renovation is not an upgrade - it is the point at which the building finally matches the people in it. It is also the largest disruption a family will voluntarily invite into their own home, which is why the plan matters more than any finish in it.
Featured project
A roof stripped to the sheathing, and the deck back in use
This is the only job on the site photographed properly at both ends, and it is the one we would point at first. The roof was stripped to bare sheathing rather than layered over, which is the decision that separates a roof that lasts from one that is sold cheaply: you cannot inspect what you cover, and a second layer hides every soft spot underneath it. The new bundles were staged on the roof before the tear-off began, so the house was open for hours rather than days. The finished photograph is taken from the deck of the same house, which is back in use.
- Scope
- Full roof replacement on a hillside home, as part of a whole-home renovation
- Materials
- Architectural asphalt shingle - new underlayment - full tear-off to plywood sheathing
- Location
- Tuolumne County
What changes
What you actually get back.
02
A floor that runs through
One flooring material carried across the whole level, without a threshold at every doorway, is the single change that makes a chopped-up house read as one house.
See this in a finished kitchen
03
Rooms that connect
Usually one or two walls, not many. Which ones can move is a structural question we answer before it becomes a design one.
See this in a finished kitchen
04
You keep living there
Sequenced in zones so the house always has a working kitchen or a working bathroom - rarely both under construction at once, and never without telling you which weeks those are.
See this in a finished kitchen
How it goes
Five steps, and you will know which week is the hard one.
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01
A conversation
What the house gets wrong, how long you plan to stay in it, and what the budget actually is. Whole-home scope is decided here.
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02
We walk the whole house
Roof, crawlspace, panel, and every room. On a renovation this size the surprises are structural, and they are cheaper to find now.
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03
Scope, sequence and estimate
In writing, and phased - so you can see what happens in which month, and which rooms are out of use when.
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04
We build it in that order
Envelope, then rough trades, then floors, then rooms. Changing the order is how a renovation doubles in length.
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05
You get the house back
Room by room as they finish, not all at the end - so the house becomes liveable again in stages rather than on one distant date.
Materials & craftsmanship
One house, and the year around it.
Questions homeowners ask
The things people ask before they call.
Can we live in the house during a whole-home renovation?
Usually yes, and most families do. It depends on sequencing rather than on luck: we work in zones so there is a functioning kitchen or a functioning bathroom at almost every point, and we tell you in advance which weeks are the hard ones so you can plan around them.
How long does a whole-home renovation take?
Months rather than weeks, and the honest range depends entirely on scope and on what the walls turn out to be hiding. We would rather give you a phased schedule after walking the house than a number on the phone that we both know is a guess.
Why do you start with the roof and the exterior?
Because every finish inside depends on the building being dry, and because a roof replaced after the floors go down means covering new work or redoing it. The envelope is not the exciting part and it is not negotiable as a starting point.
Do we need to move everything out?
Not everything and not all at once. We work room by room where the scope allows, and we will tell you what needs to be out of a space before we start on it rather than on the morning we arrive.
What happens when you find something unexpected?
On a house-wide job something is always found - old wiring, a soft subfloor, a roof that has been patched rather than replaced. We show you, price it, and get your decision in writing before we carry on. Nothing gets buried and nothing gets billed as a surprise.
Can we do it in phases over a few years?
Yes, and for a lot of families that is the sensible answer. The thing worth planning centrally is the order - doing the envelope in phase one protects everything you spend in phases two and three.
Also completed — Tuolumne County
New floor going down while the old kitchen was still standing
A kitchen that finally reaches the hallway
Often part of the same job Kitchen Remodeling Bathroom Remodeling
Start a conversation
Tell us what is not working.
No obligation and no sales visit. We will look at the room, tell you what it involves, and put a number in writing.