It's easy ...
first you remove everything, including walls if needed
then you install stuff that will be inside the walls or under the floor,
then you put the walls/floors on to hide this stuff
then you put stuff on the walls or on the floors
Then you put stuff onto the stuff you just installed.

Consider "undercabinet lighting": it needs a cabinet to fasten to and it needs power to connect to.
So you need to install cabinet and power first
But you need the wires inside the wall ... and then you need to cover the wall with drywall ... only then can you screw cabinet to wall and then install the lights.

Step #1 is to plant the money tree and feed and water it for enough years to have it bear enough fruit to take care of your wishlist.

Step#2 is to revise the wish list downwards because the money tree won't grow fast enough.

Step #3 is explore credit solutions in the middle of the remodel because you've found bad stuff behind the walls and under the floor that takes away money from the pretty stuff you want.

There are more steps, but they all involve re-aligning your priorities on the fly and finding more funding for the things that you find behind the wall or for the things that it really makes sense to do while the walls are open that you didn't think of until the walls were open.

Determine your absolute maximum budget for the project, everything included, and determine your finance plan: how will you pay for everything. Remember to include what extra money you will spend on restaurants and take out that will increase your current expenses for food. It's very likely that your utilities will go up during the project, too, as you heat uninsulated rooms, lose heat/cool through doors opened (necessarily) all day long, and run lots of power equipment on the jobsite. Will you buy hot or cold drinks, meals or snacks for the workers? Add that all in before you start!

Take 80% of your maximum as your planning budget and save 20% for what you don't yet know about (rotten joists, new beams or headers you were told at first weren't needed, etc.) Most projects consume most or all of this 20% contingency fund, you will need it when the time comes so plan for it now rather than face very painful "what do I cut out and/or compromise that I thought I could have" tears later?

After dollar number, finance, and contingency, you will have a pretty clear idea how much per square foot you have to spend, and you'll see if it will be low-mid-or-high in scope. In other words, can you afford to change room layout, move any walls or windows, move any plumbing or electric, or plan to re-do with your existing walls, windows, electric and plumbing.

The scope of a project can vary in extremes, and can get away from you in what's called "scope creep" if you don't have a solid plan and stick to it. For example, you can change your kitchen by painting the walls. But then the window treatments look dingy so you want/"need" new ones. Then the old hardware looks dated, and it doesn't have to cost that much to update it, so you add that. Oh, and the formica counters have some burn marks, so you can keep the old cabinets but just get new counters. Oops, now the old cabinets look sad, but you can keep them if you just paint them a new color. Unless you can DIY the cabinet painting, you're now WAY over and initial decision to refresh the paint on the walls way back when. This is just a scenario that demonstrates how having a final cost and a contingency can "save" your project before it ever begins.

Know what it costs and have the money in hand before you start. Scope can go all the way up to "gut to the studs", move walls, new windows, new electric, new plumbing, and everything else from the walls and floors outward. Also know what time and skill you have to invest in DIY. I know it seems so obvious that will affect what you can afford, but some folks overspend their budget thinking they're saving so much on DIY. Again, just know the numbers.

Only when all that is set should you start with "design" that lives within your budget. It is entirely possible to have a nice kitchen with a sink, stove, fridge, laminate counters and floors, and Re-Store cabinets, and not go broke in the process. For every upgrade or expansion you may have to make some tradeoffs such as less costly cabinets in order to have more costly appliances. Those compromises actually begin to define what makes it YOUR kitchen, what's more important to you.

Whew, with a firm budget and plan, it is time to talk seriously with contractors. Don't scrimp on the time investment here, this (other than budget) is the single most important project decision you will make. Take the time to interview as many contractors as it takes to find the right one! In my experience, the very best ones don't even advertise, they get all their work through word of mouth from their existing happy clients. You may have to wait some time to get on the schedule on the best contractors. (Note: Best often doesn't mean the most expensive, listen very carefully to the references!) When you're ready, choose a contractor and do a contract. The contractor costs will determine how much remains for you to spend on the materials budget (cabs, counters, floor, lighting etc.)

The contract will set a calendar and who is responsible for pulling the permits. Do not ever start without a written permit, on display on the premises, if your jurisdiction requires one. They have the power to make you tear out every last thing done without a valid permit! Budget disaster that is so easily avoidable.

After permits, it's demo, walls, windows, rough electric, rough plumbing, usually an inspection before walls can be closed up. Then drywall, primer and paint, recessed lighting, (maybe floor unless it's a floating floor in which case it can't go in until after the cabinets). Then cabinets/hardware, final elec, final plumbing, counters, appliances, decorative lighting, upholstery if any, final trim paint, punch list and at last the champagne!

Didn't mean to write so much, sorry! It will ALL be worth it.

Lol..I painted pre cabinet and floor install. But only where I knew cabinets weren't hiding it.. ;)

That way I didn't have to cut in or be careful. :D

Our kitchen/dining room remodel schedule was similar to what you described, except that our hardwood floors were refinished right before the cabinet installation step. After refinishing they covered them with some heavy weight paper/cardboard called Ram Board. Everything in the kitchen sits on top of the finished floors, except for a few main support posts for the LVL beams.

Our cabinets are installed and they are doing the final measurements before they cut the marble counter tops. They have most of the electrical items installed and are finishing up the final coats on the paint. They are supposed to be done the end of next week.

Bruce

As far as flooring goes, it depends on what type of flooring you are going to have.
Hardwood needs to be installed before cabinets.

Floating floor can NOT be installed under cabinets.

Tile, lineoleum, etc is just personal preference. If installed after cabinets, make sure their is enough height that you can still get your dishwasher out.

I have known 2 different people get new tile flooring and then discover that their dishwasher couldn't come out without either taking out tiles or lifting the countertop.

"Most projects consume most or all of this 20%"

That has not been my experience. It is rare,really rare, for me to see any significant overage after signing a contract unless the client makes major chamhes. I have not seen a 20% overage in 14 yrs. For that matter, in most cases I try to help clients nail down a total budget well before contract and work hard to see that we meet it. Sometimes when the client is using an outside contractor we are unable to get good costs on all of the install labor. Sometimes during the decision process choices are made that kick up product costs, but if clients are clear about what they want I can usually hold the budget.

We went 10% over my in-my-head budget and 20% under my contractor's initial quote, which had contingencies built in. So I think that was a good middle ground. The 10% was entirely due to scope creep.

jill, we did about your order of operations. It was important to have the lighting very well planned out to get the electrical in. So the most important part of lighting happened in the initial stages. In our case the electrician came in the day before the plumbers. My contractor painted before the cabs went up and touched up after. We had one final coat of poly put on AFTER the cabs went in on the floors, but most floor refinishing happened before.

So our order was
1. Demo - this was FAST
2. Rip off a lot of drywall to facilitate structural and rough in. This will uncover some fabulous new problems (who needs vapor barrier, not whoever added on to our house 40 years ago).
3. Structural - install beam, install windows and doors. This all happened very fast and I wish I'd ordered my windows and doors earlier.
4. Rough in plumbing and electrical. For us electrical came first, but then the plumber nicked a few (dead) cables so that was annoying. So maybe plumbing usually comes first?
4. Put drywall back on.
5. Final measurement for cab installation when drywall back in place - this happened because some measurements depended on the structural work we had to do. We weren't sure, for example, if our posts would be able to be recessed completely into the wall or not, and we had cabs wrapping a post.
6. Cabs fabricated x 2 weeks. During this time we installed flooring and some more windows and doors. My contractor put a few coats of paint on. Our floors had to get emergency refinished. And I had some scope creep I had the guys working on as well. My contractor also left for another job for about a week at this time.
7. Cab install. Counter install.
8. Last coat poly on floors.
9. Finishes go up - lighting, UCL, sink, faucet, backsplash, etc.
10. Call cab company back for punch list.
11. Call contractor back for punch list.

This post was edited by robotropolis on Fri, Apr 4, 14 at 8:36

Thanks all for the very helpful responses. A money tree would be nice. :) We have taken the approach of deciding what we want first, and then figuring out if we have enough money now or if we need to wait. Also our *ideal* plan does have places where we can cut back if necessary. So I *think* we are okay, budget-wise. I have heard that renovations always cost more and take longer than you expect! So we are somewhat planning for that as well!

smiling - thanks for the very helpful post. :)

Bruce - thanks for sharing your experience.

Texas - right now we are thinking hardwood floors. How frustrating for your friends who couldn't get their dishwashers out! Yikes!

jakuvall - good to know that there are contractors who are able to stick to a budget!

robotropolis - thanks for sharing your experience. It is very helpful!