Well, it certainly can be done (we're on our second reno as self-GCs) but you'll need to do some research.

A good place to start might be the kitchen-reno books they have at Home Depot, etc. While some of the info in there is just commercial nonsense, many of them have timelines that outline what order everything needs to get done in. There are also some excellent "owner-builder" books at libraries and bookstores. While they are geared towards a whole home build, they have tons of great info about how to hire contractors, timing, permits, and everything you'll need to consider if you GC this reno.

There are also some owner-builder sites on line, but I found them pretty cumbersome.

CG-ing your reno will take a lot of time and effort and research, but it will save you money. Like everything else, you need to decide what your skills are (are you a great researcher and organizer? What about confrontaions? You might have to deal with difficult situations with workers...) and also how much your time is worth. I've spent literally hundreds of hours researching, studying, sourcing, and working on our reno (granted we're also DIY-ing a lot of it) and if I was using that time for my freelance jobs, would it be worth it? I don't know, but since we defintely couldn't afford to hire a general contractor, it was never an option! (Plus I am waaaay too much of a perfectionist to let a GC make final decisions!)

But basically, the timeline is:
1) demo
2) framing
3) rough plumbing and electrical
4) rough-in inspections
5) flooring
6) drywall
7) cabinets
8) counters, sink
9) finish electrical and plumbing, (then inspections)

10. appliances
11. finish carpentry, trim, paint, backsplash, etc.

I am sure I forgot something, but I think that's a good basic outline.

You can save money by serving as the GC. But, there are a few questions to consider. Will you or your husband be available during the day to answer questions by the sub-contractors or run to the local store for supplies? Can one of you be on site regularly? You also need to be aware of the permits and inspections required in your area. A rough order of things would be demo, rough carpentery (moving walls, doorways etc), plumbing (always try to do plumbing before electrical-wires can bend, pipes not so much), electrical, insluation, drywall, flooring, trim, painting, cabinetry, final/touch-up painting and final finishing of floors if you go with wood. Some people install the cabinetry before the floors, I did tile floors so we put them down first.

A couple of unbeatable benefit of a really good GC are: 1. They know good subcontractors (flooring, drywall, electrical etc). 2. They know what the project should look like and what is acceptable (inspection wise) at each step of the process.

Hope this helps!

It depends a lot on how much work you are planning. Also where you live can make a big difference as to whether or not you should take this on. Are you in an area where there are a lot of special requirements? For example, California has earthquake and fire code requirements you won't find in the south. Permit officials are likely to be more patient with a DIY in a small or mid-size town than in a city.

Are you in an area that has a lot of good, reliable tradespeople? Will you be on the site at all times and are you able to handle major project issues? I've had an electrician not show up because he got a bigger job at the last minute. This required that I reschedule everyone else down the line while I found another electrician.

The upsides are that you get to make all the decisions and you will save money, but you will pay for that with your time and stress. Working with a GC isn't always easy either, you can find many posts here were people have had serious contractor issues. If you're not sure how to proceed, start interviewing some of the trades and let them tell you. The electricians, plumbers, and drywallers all know what they need to start their work.

There are a lot more questions you need to ask yourselves:

Are you decisive? You will need to make a lot of decisions while crews are waiting and this could cost you more money in the long run if you delay.

Are you flexible? There are so may unknowns in a project, you will have a lot of changes to make that will affect the final outcome.

Are you organized? You have to keep good records and documentation.

Hope this will get you started.

I sort of did a combo. I didn't want to deal with finding electricians and plumbers and whatnot, so I hired a general contractor who agreed to do all the 'construction' type stuff. He did the following, in this order:

demo
framing (removed a load bearing wall)
rough in plumbing and electrical
insulation
new windows
drywall
some finishing electrical (switches, plugs, pots)
bunch of trim work
tiling bathroom floor

Then, I did the hiring etc. of the following people:

wood flooring
cabinet installer

Then my contractor came back and finished off trim work which couldn't be done until the floor and cabs were in, and he built my island/table.

The rest is up to me from here (countertops, painters, my fiance will do all the finishing plumbing and electrical).

And, when all that is said and done, the GC is going to do my backsplash. It was a mish mash, but he knew a bunch of really great subcontractors for the electrical, plumbing, windows and him and his other guy did most of the rest of the work themselves.

I probably would do the exact same kind of set up again. The initial construction phase he completed so fast it was awesome. I couldn't have coordinated all those people as quickly as he did, since he already had all of those resources at hand. Plus, like you, I had no idea what order things were supposed to be done in.

Now that I know, I could probably pull it off on my own, but I'd have to take A LOT of time off work because you need to be very specific with the sub contractors regarding the work they'll do. My GC, I just handed him a drawing and said, "build this." He knew all the right questions to ask me regarding subcontractor work, and I only had to deal with him, so that just made it easy. Then he would direct me, "find a cabinet guy, here's a good one I know of" and I would call them and deal directly. In fact, every subcontractor I've dealt with was by his recommendation, but I guess he just didn't want to deal with the coordination? I don't know, it might be an odd relationship, but it's working out great =)

We started with a contractor who never showed up after we had the foundation completed on an addition that doubled the size of our house. We continued to do the work ourselves with the help of a $5.00 computer program and a bunch of books from the local library. I was on a first name basis with all the people who worked at Lowes and Home Depot because I was there before and after work and on every day off for what seemed like forever. When we ran out of steam but had no windows or roof, we were lucky enough to find a local builder with 30 years experience and a couple of sons who followed in his footsteps. I did a ton of research on what I wanted and worked with him to get it. Some things he had never done before but was willing to try, others he told me why they wouldn't work my way but suggested other options. I had already found an electrician and a plumber and had gone to the township office to get all the permits myself. Much of the material, I purchased myself. I watched for sales and rebates. I always checked to see if the contractor could get it cheaper with his discounts and if not I bought it myself. His discount was better for the kitchen cabinets and some doors but I purchased insulation,lumber,a complete bathroom, silestone kitchen counter,windows,doors, flooring, moulding and lots more. I started to work with a KD but he wouldn't listen to what I wanted and wanted me to buy whatever he wanted in his own kitchen it seemed. So, I did the kitchen on my own also. So far the only thing that I would have changed is the position of one door and that would only be by about 3". We haven't finished yet but so far I love all that we did. It was a ton of work and took a lot of time on the computer and walking thru stores just looking at house stuff to reasearch what we needed and wanted. But the satisfaction of doing it ourselves and saving a ton of money in the process was wonderful. We were lucky that after a bad start all the people we worked with to finish the house were wonderful.

I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer and my 65+ Mom doesn't have a clue about construction and we managed it. It is time consuming and she was home as she is retired. I think one of the big advantages is you know you are getting good subs because you are hiring them not someone else (we didn't hire anyone who wasn't recommended personally or whose work we hadn't seen - that takes time). It also means they are doing the job to your satisfaction not the GC's because your paying them directly. In fairness her was a condo kitchen with no structural or plumbing changes. I did rip out the old floor myself but beyond that all we did was select the materials. I like to check out the possibilities but we were very disciplined about making decisions - nothing had to be redone because we changed our mind. I don't live there so I can't really say what it was like to live through it (next time).

It isn't a wow kitchen but for less than $22 000 Canadian (so still under $20 000 US) we did OK considering we didn't do much ourselves and nothing from the old kitchen was recycled in the new one:

If you are willing to go slowly then you can certainly do a lot of things yourselves. I would suggest that you start by reading your local building code and zoning regulations to determine what is and is not permitted.

Then, if you are thinking of moving any walls or windows, get an engineer or architect in to tell you which walls are loadbearing.

Now draw up a general plan - this can take months. Do very, very detailed costings of everything - lumber, screws, wire, switches, pipes, fixtures, cabinets, counters, flooring, ceiling, drywall, sandpaper, tools, more tools, even more tools... now make sure you can pay for everything and if not rework your plan until you can.

When that is done, demo your existing room. You don't need to pay anyone to do this - it is very, very easy. Go slowly and you will be fine.

Don't take sledgehammers to the walls and don't rip things down. Unscrew cabinets, pry baseboards off carefully and drill an exploratory hole in drywall to find out where pipes and wires are.

Now that the walls are open and you are sure that there are no hidden obstacles, do your detailed floor plans and start buying your cabinets/appliances/whatevers.

Get any permits you require.

Find an electrician and a plumber that you trust. Hire them for three hours to come in and tell you what needs to go where.

Then go to an electrical and a plumbing supply and run the wires and pipes yourselves. Buy a book at Home Depot and follow the instructions. Don't try to hook up your wiring to your main breaker panel and don't try to hook your plumbing up to the existing supply lines.

Label all of your new lines and pipes clearly.

Get your plumber and electician to come back in for a couple of hours for a pre-inspection. When they have approved your work, get the actual inspectors in for the rough-in inspections.

Now get the plumber and electrician to hook up what needs to go behind walls.

Next you need to hire someone to do your drywalling, or if you want to put the panels up yourselves go ahead but hire someone to do the taping and mudding. It is an art.

Paint the kitchen.

Have the flooring installed.

If you are comfortable with installing your own cabinets go ahead, but if not - get the cabinet supplier to install them for you. (Even Ikea will do this)

Make any final electrical connections that need to be done before final finishing.

Get your counter people in to template and install. Move yor appliances into place. Do final plumnbing and electrical work (or get your tradespeople back in) and then book your final inspection.

Figure that the whole process will take you between 6 and 12 months.

Good Luck :)

We did a small bath last Nov and are now in the middle of a kitchen remodel. The bath was easy but there is much more to handle with the kitchen. My husband and I are retired and that really helps. I would not have tried this if we were working. I want to be here when the work is being done. Seems even when I'm here and I get on the phone or step outside for a few minutes something goes wrong. We saved about $7,500+ by doing it ourselves. It helps to know what you want before you start and check out prices. I learned a lot from this board. It's taking longer too I'm sure. I suggest when you hire someone to do a job, you get something in writing and specify when they will start and when they will finish. Some workers are so hungry that they will take on more jobs than they can handle at one time.
My cabinet installer is doing a good job but is slow and does not show up everyday. We are getting very tired of each other! He wants to put in our wood flooring and I'm sure he would do it well and for a good price but I told my husband I will pay more if I can get it done in 5 days and not 5 weeks!

Well, you know the old saying: good, fast, or cheap. Pick any two. ;) If you have limited money, then you'd better have pretty much unlimited time (and develop DIY skills) if you want good results. If you want it quality and quickly, you'd better have lots of disposable income. If you want it fast and cheap, then don't expect quality. That's the first thing to understand about a renovation.

The second thing about a renovation is that GC's earn their money. If you act as the GC, then you will earn every penny (and then some!) that you save. But, that comes at the expense of greater time time and effort on your part than a professional would spend on your project. And, you will be responsible for the project and all of it's problems. You can't just tell a GC that you aren't happy with the quality of something and to redo it. YOU are responsible for that quality control, and that means being able to be knowledgable enough about construction elements, including electrical and plumbing, to be able to judge a quality job from a slap dash one.

If you are experienced DIYers, or have a few renos under your belt, GC'ing won't be a picnic, but it's doable. If this is your first reno, I'd highly recommend you finding a good GC and proceeding with the bathroom only first. Get a taste of the potential disasters and headaches that can befall you. But, for a first reno, let someone else assume that ultimate responsibility. No, it won't be cheap. None of life's lessons are!

I thought I knew quite a bit about construction and considered managing the contracting. My graduate degrees are in management and historic preservation. I've managed major preservation/rehabilitation projects that have won state awards.

I am SO glad I didn't do it. At the bi-weekly construction meetings with GC, architect and vendors when needed, all sort of issues come up that I didn't know existed. The GC is gold, and I trust them totally. (no I'm not crazy, just lucky) Their subs are wonderful to work with and very skilled. Where I would have found the subs I have no idea because I would never have discovered these people. I hate conflict and would not want to be the quality manager who needed to deal with an issue. I will do it for my job, but not on my own project. Would the project have been completed with us as GC? Yes. As well done? Absolutely not.

I am here every day, all day. All kinds of questions, suggestions and clarifications arise. I can do that, but GC? no way

GCs do a lot of integrating and air-traffic control, problem solving, working through problems and dealing with inspectors, municipal offices and the people who work in them.

(For example, I know that in my city, it took SEVEN signatures to put a Dumpster in front of my house. That's in addition to obtaining the Dumpster itself. Could you name, for example, even one of the offices you'd need to go to? I know I couldn't. Multiply that by every tiny step of this process.)

If this is your first remodel, I'd really suggest you hire a GC, unless you have a background that lends itself to these issues.

A GC telling an electrician to wait because the is a trusted colleague with a working relationship he wants to protect. You telling an electrician to wait is just another client he can blow off, and you may never see him again, while he makes room in his schedule to wire a whole 16 room house for his friend the GC. Can you blame him, business-wise? That's a big check.

They occasionally also ask fairly technical questions. You have to be prepared to answer them. Like how many amp line you want where. You can learn these things, obviously, but, again, you need to know you need to know them.

A good GC will alert you to problems, like whether he thinks the subs workers are doing a good job, whether there are problems with the design, if he/she thinks an engineer needs to be called in (if there are surprises in a wall or floor).

CAN it be done? Yes.

If it's a fairly simple remodel, just straight replacing a wall or two of relatively recent cabinets, swapping appliances, not a lot of position changes, changing a floor covering where you have good reason to believe the floor underneath is sound, you could do a lot of research UP FRONT.

There is definitely a lot of good information here, and people have definitely done it. People have, in fact done the actual WORK themselves.

I just want you to go in with your eyes open, if you do it. Not just thinking "oh, it's just like calling the plumber a bunch of times".

There were times I could really see the strain on my GC, who does this for a living, getting these guys to behave and do what he needed them to do when he needed it.

But it would be smart to have a handy friend come over and give their opinion on your actual house.

What a wealth of information, and even though I'm not the OP, thanks to all of you. Since we've had to scale down so much, I have no structural changes, and much less plumbing and electrical than most. Small kitchen, so not much drywall. I'm now getting quotes from "subs", and will compare it to the GC's for the same stuff. If it' substantial, I may be taking quite a few vacation days!

Any way one on a budget can keep clear of the grossly inflated prices of the kitchen industry is good. If I couldn't find a small reputable general contractor to do the job, I'd definitely do my own kitchen. A main thing to keep in mind is that learning by experience is waaaaay too late. Learn everything ahead of time and plan everything out ahead. You'll still goof, but fortunately, the web makes learning from the experiences of others possible as it never was before. One thing above all you absolutely do not want to learn from your own experience is whice subs are skilled, dependable, and do quality work at reasonable prices. Any who haven't built that reputation should be avoided like the plague. A good place to start finding the ones you need is at the building materials stores that supply your local area (not big box stores). And other good tradespeople. Perhaps you already have a lead to a desirable electrician. Chat him up. People who've worked locally in construction for a long time will have information you very much need.

I did it. I was at home, I did a tremendous amount of research including reading this site religiously.

I don't agree with those who think it takes longer. Once things get going, you have control. There are many more stories here of GCs who take forever to finish.

GCs don't have the same priorities as we do. They have a business to run, and your needs can't always come first. If a better job comes along, they can cut and run, and come back to finish you up in their spare time. It happens a lot.

I used subs from small companies that are big enough to have phone book ads and have been around a while. I talked to several HD/Lowes cabinet people until I found one with real smarts, and I made her my best friend for a while. I went with granite from a large company that does the whole job for local builders.

It wasn't without problems, but they were nothing like the stories here about GCs who screw up.

I do have some project management experience, but no experience whatsoever with construction. It's all in the details.

A lot of good advice here. I "supervised" my kitchen and bath remodel also. I used a contractor who did the electrical, plumbing and subcontracted the hot mop (bath), all tile work and the shower door.

I used IKEA cabs, so I measured and purchased those and hired the IKEA-referred contractor to assemble and install them. I hired the flooring company, and I purchased all the appliances, toilets, vanities, tile and accessories.

I didn't like the granite guy the contractor wanted to use, so I hired the granite contractor and chose the granite at a stone shop.

I scheduled everything myself. I kept a couple of spreadsheets to help me keep everything organized. I purchased and made sure everything was on site when it needed to be, and my kitchen and master bath were done in 8 weeks, including a 2 week delay on the granite.

Even if you hire a GC to do everything for you, you will find that they may not be that great at organizing and scheduling. I would be very involved even with a GC.

If you and your husband are game, it can be a very rewarding, exciting and certainly educational experience. Even fun! If you do it together, make sure you can work well together. If you get in each other's way or can't agree on things, it is best to have one of you be the lead person and the other sit back.

Of course you can do it, and you can save a LOT of money by doing so. I did it, and while it's more like a second job than a hobby, I'm sure glad I did.

Do your homework. Hire a designer for an hour or two before you start, and select someone who doesn't mind working an hour here and there as needed. She'll likely have ideas you'd never think of.

Ask for referrals from friends who've been happy with the tradespeople they've used. Don't be afraid of craigslist.com. There are many well-qualified, licensed tradespeople looking for work there. Post an ad telling what you're looking for, provide details to the responses you like. Ask for a bid, a pic of their work, and references from the last two jobs they did. Check their license online through your state licensing board, and call their references. Anybody can come up with one or two decent references, so insist on the most recent jobs. Do this and you'll know a lot more about them than you would using a phone book.

These days, you shouldn't have trouble finding people who'll work weekends if that's what you need. It can be frustrating sometimes, but so can working with a general contractor.

Good luck.

So many good points here.

I do think the work of a contractor is not as rarefied as we are often led to believe, which isn't to say that I think I could do it w/o any help -- not at all. At the end (the ever-lasting end, which is still in progress) of our kitchen reno, we have concluded that our GC -- who came highly recommended -- is great at tearing things down and making big structural changes, but not so good at dealing with the finer points (among which I would include electrical, which many might reasonably argue is more than a fine point). Detail-oriented -- not. This led to delays and "misunderstandings" that would have been avoided had I been dealing directly with the trades.

One advantage being your own contractor of certain elements gives you is control, esp. should stuff go wrong: for example, the electrical -- if you have done your research and know what you want, then dealing directly with a good electrician will enable you to trouble-shoot, if/as needed, directly with that person at that time.

Going forward, I'd probably hire a contractor to deal with the structural and dirty work, including drywall, and then work with subcontractors on everything else.

I want to thank all of you for these very detailed insights. Since I discovered this website, I am absolutely struck by the wealth of information and good will. All of you are great. I hope you have terrific projects in the future!