ALL 4 of my neighbors have done MAJOR renovations/addition. They all drag on much longer than anticipated. Some contractors are so much more efficient than others. I work at home and I am amazed at the laziness and cr*p some of them pull (none of them lived in the house when it was going on). One of the couples I don't know so well had the largest crew and it was the most expensive and took the longest. These guys used to sleep in a truck in their driveway...sometimes in front of my house..or they'd show up and idle blaring their music directly in front of my house.

Meanwhile- another crew was unbelievable---they were efficient, created no neighborhood chaos, clean, great work and done in half the time.

My final set of neighbors are gearing up this spring for their major renovation. My kids have asked 'when is the banging going to stop?!!!" It is driving us all a bit batty.

Take home advice---be very selective with who you choose to do the work. Get many personal referrals/references and go firsthand and check out their finished work.

Ours was budgeted for 8 months and took more than twice that. When we did a kitchen it was planned for 5 weeks and took 12. No matter how much prep or vetting we did it seems like it always takes 2x as long. For every story of projects finishing on time I have probably heard 10 with delays.

Anonymous wrote:Does it matter how much lead time we have. Our goal is to order everything we need to order months before we need them to allow for delivery delays and get permits in place early. It sounds like three months is unrealistic, but it just doesn't seem like this should take 5 months.

Who is going to put out the cash to pay for those items to sit? Most builders get their stuff a few days before if not the same day they are going to use it. Permits are a seperate deal than the building part. alos builders don't like material sitting around they tend to grow legs and disappear.

It sounds like you muight be trying to micro manage the job a bit too much, let the builder do their work and appeciate it at the end.

Does it matter how much lead time we have. Our goal is to order everything we need to order months before we need them to allow for delivery delays and get permits in place early. It sounds like three months is unrealistic, but it just doesn't seem like this should take 5 months.

Oh, my. No way this is getting done in 90 days. I like 9:38's assesment. The GC is choreographing an opera here. Failure on the timeline is the norm, not the exception.

this is helpful. We've used the contractor for several other jobs, though none this large, and he did manage the schedule well. Our basement reno was done in 3 months and involved adding a bathroom, adding a bedroom, flooring, drywall, electric, wetbar and kitchen. No roofing issues, obviously, but lots of other stuff.

It depends on how big the crew is.

Most of the work will be sub contracted out. Not many builders have a large staff to come in an do the job like they do on TV shows.

Your job requires a roofing company, plumber, electrician, painter, and dry wall crew. If they sub it all out and manage the schedule so everyone is there when they are supposed to be I would say 4-5 months. If not, I would say 8.

The only one who will be able to tell you is the builder. The architecht assumes they know everything but they have no clue about the building part.

We are planning to do a renovation this summer, which will involve major roof changes (adding 4 dormer windows), adding an attic bathroom, renovating currently finished attic space, master bath gut (but no moving walls), and building a mudroom on the back of the house. We are willing to pay a bit more for a reliable contractor if that makes a difference and we are moving out because we have a child who loves her naps and months of living through dust and banging would be awful. Has anyone done something about this scope and how long did it take? Our architect says 3 months should be plenty, but I'm skeptical.