How Long for a Full Renovation/Contractor Suggestions

My wife and I are looking at a full renovation on a 3 story wood frame. All work is interior, no extensions, excavations, etc. We have been working with a contractor and were told the process will take at least 9 months, after design and permitting is complete. We were thinking the renovation itself would take 4-5 months. Perhaps we were being foolishly optimistic. Does anyone have experience? contractor suggestions also welcome.

Thank you.

jazzwalk

in General Discussion 9 years and 9 months ago

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jonbklyn | 9 years and 9 months ago

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We’re 7 months into our renovation (demo/construction only) and are looking at another month or so. I HIGHLY recommend our builder: Curated Design Build. They have been amazing — full service — design/permits/construction… and now helping us with furniture/interior. You can see their info in the services/contractor section of this site.

backeast | 9 years and 9 months ago

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Our experience was 18 months total – 9 months for the planning, permitting, etc, and 9 months for the renovation. Contractor said it would take 6 months, and it took 9 until move-in. I thought the 1.5x was pretty reasonable.

rastermon | 9 years and 9 months ago

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Agree with the comments above – 9-12 months for a full gut renovation, plus 4-6 months for plans and permits. It’s taking me longer for signoffs but we were able to move in at the end of our renovation before signoffs so its not really holding anything up.
Contractor recommendation – Thalal Beer of Beer Construction, 646-358-6118. Reach out to me if you have questions

jazzwalk | 9 years and 9 months ago

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Thank you for your response and your blog. You made some beautiful choices and your detail will be very helpful.

theoperadiva | 9 years and 9 months ago

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I think 9-12 months is reasonable. 4-5 months would only be reasonable if there aren’t any changes in the plumbing or electrical. You don’t want to rush the contractor through things if you are talking about making major changes – I know it stinks to have to pay rent somewhere else during that time, but you want them to take the time they need to get the plumbing, electrical and all other systems right before they close up the walls.

We loved our contractor, Naccarato Contracting. Honest, fair, creative and on schedule, his work is also standing the test of time (it has been 3 years since our renovation). We feel so lucky to have found him. If you’d like to see the renovation, see our blog www.wandernesting.com. The resources page has his contact information.

randolph | 9 years and 9 months ago

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> @resident2
> scheduling decent subs

this keeps being a problem for us, getting on our subs schedules. we were set back almost 3 weeks because the plumber we were going with was delayed on his previous job

resident2 | 9 years and 9 months ago

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Inspections and sign offs as well as scheduling decent subs all takes much longer in New York City than anywhere else. 9-12 months seems reasonable.

CarmenR | 9 years and 9 months ago

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We are finishing a gut with a 3 story extension and will have around 10 months of construction time till move-in (although I imagine we’ll have some punchlist stuff to complete after that.) Total time from when we filed permits till move-in will be around 19 months. Permitting took a long time for our alt-1

obama | 9 years and 9 months ago

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i just finished a complete gut. 9 to 12 months for construction sounds legit. 4-6 months for designs. plan on 1.5 years from signing a contract with your architect/design shop if all goes well.

slopefarm | 9 years and 9 months ago

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You doing totally new mechanicals? that slows it down. Slows it down even more if you are NOT gutting and have to work around details, etc. Wood houses are always full of surprises.

CarmenR | 9 years and 9 months ago

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Keep in mind that even if you’re not planning to do any major structural work (or any at all,) you may end up having to do so. If your house has never been renovated, it’s likely that at least part of your party or exterior walls will need help and repair. This would be a part of the “existing conditions” and your GC will likely hit you with change orders to repair it, which will also take time. Depending on what time of year you start, you may not be able to do repairs until the weather cooperates.

Even if all the wood components of your house are in good shape, you’ll likely find some brick somewhere that needs attention. Masonry is expensive. Plan accordingly.

We added about 2 months to our project because solely of unexpected structural work and our gc is very on-their-stuff.

Guest User | 9 years and 9 months ago

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i’m with the commenters above.

randolph | 9 years and 9 months ago

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just plan for a year to be safe

daveinbedstuy | 9 years and 9 months ago

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    string(54) "http://www.brownstoner.com/forums/users/daveinbedstuy/"
    ["user_registered"]=>
    string(19) "2017-08-10 14:23:53"
    ["user_activation_key"]=>
    string(0) ""
    ["user_status"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["display_name"]=>
    string(13) "daveinbedstuy"
    ["spam"]=>
    string(1) "0"
    ["deleted"]=>
    string(1) "0"
  }
  ["ID"]=>
  int(3864)
  ["caps"]=>
  array(2) {
    ["subscriber"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["bbp_participant"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["cap_key"]=>
  string(15) "wp_capabilities"
  ["roles"]=>
  array(2) {
    [0]=>
    string(10) "subscriber"
    [1]=>
    string(15) "bbp_participant"
  }
  ["allcaps"]=>
  array(4) {
    ["read"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["level_0"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["subscriber"]=>
    bool(true)
    ["bbp_participant"]=>
    bool(true)
  }
  ["filter"]=>
  NULL
  ["site_id":"WP_User":private]=>
  int(1)
}

Not enough information to speculate (which is all it would be). But i would say a safe bet is to take what your contractor says and ADD at least three months unless you have actually found one of the very few super efficient, honest and organized contractors.