You will want to line up a good general contractor. This is a busy time of year for the trades, so if you’re not already on a contractor‘s schedule you may need to wait to do the remodeling until after you move in. I would try to get the flooring done before moving in, before all your furniture is in the way, and the interior painting too. i doubt you’ll be able to get the kitchen done before you move in so the flooring in the kitchen may need to be different. People often say that it’s good to live in a house for at least 6 months so you can get a better idea of how you live in the space and what you would want to change. Good luck!

That’s a 150K-800Klist with 3-6 months of work, with a top GC. It will take 3-5 months just to receive the materials for such an ambitious job. And the materials can’t be ordered until the design work is complete and everything is completely specified. So, you’ll have a 12-18 months for a time frame for this.

Start with finding the designer and doing the design work to get the details ironed out. That can take 2-4 months by itself. Everyone is very very busy. Your designer will have links to good contractors to perform the work. And far more leverage to get them to do it than you will.

The real world is NOT some silly fake TV episode of Property Brothers. The real world has real costs and real time to do that kind of nutso renovation. It doesn’t often happen in the real world either.

Many people paint and redo floors prior to moving in. I would certainly do those before moving in because they are extremely disruptive.

Unless the kitchen and bathrooms are non functional, they can be done after you move in and as posted, you would not be able to do those anyway within your time frame.

You can certainly have flooring and paint paint done by your move in date and you don’t need a GC for those. As posted, you wouldn‘t do flooring for bathrooms and kitchen at this point because they would be done as part of the rehab. However bathroom floors are generally different than other floors in a home.

Go to a good flooring store and select your flooring and arrange for installation or whatever you need to be done. Have the home painted.

Then live in it amd design the best possible kitchen and baths.

Any chance you could rent an RV to live in on site?

I have lived in a house while the roof was removed and a new second floor was created. And while 2/3 of the first floor was redone (kitchen, bath, mudroom, dining room). My God, it was hard. We stayed because we have dogs and temporary housing is not dog friendly. An RV might be a better solution here (we should have done it).

Every house I've ever lived in (including what I'm working on today) has been a remodel that I've lived in during the work. Take care to establish a suite of rooms that are separated from the mess with a temporary door or such. Buy plenty of furnace filters (if on forced air). Learn to do dishes in the bathroom sink. A gas grille is a must. Keep your old refrigerator in the garage and stock with plenty of beer. Go to the beach a lot. Have fun!!

Well, we did it and lived to tell the tale, but it was not a pretty tale!

What we did do before moving in was having my husband arrive 2 days before my daughter and I did, and remove all the wall-to-wall carpeting. The last time we had done this, I ended up in the ER with a major asthma attack, so we made sure I was not there. He opened up all the windows and used some rented big fans to get out all the dirt/dust/mold/god knows what from that carpet.

Then we moved into the house, husband left for summer job two days later, daughter and I spent two weeks unpacking, and son got out of everything, including the drive, as he had finals at his CA school, and then flew to NY where my husband picked him up for the drive to Martha's Vineyard were we stayed for the next 2 1/2 months.

It would be wonderful to say all the work was done while we were gone but alas, not to be. I started talking to GC's when I got home in early Sept (drove home with son, who decided that instead of going directly to his boarding school in MA, that he needed to see his new home, which resulted in yet another drive to and from MA!). There were many ways to go about remodeling this house and our budget was not unlimited. We ended up putting a full dormer on the back of the 2nd floor (story and 1/2 house), and finishing the 1/2 of the second floor that was unfinished attic. We added a bath to that side as well. We also put in a separate HVAC system for the 2nd flr. We reconfigured the master bath, re-using the fixtures and adding a fiberglass separate shower (gawd, I hated that thing!). We added a skylight in DD's bath upstairs. All the knotty pine paneling in the one finished upstairs bedroom was removed. The ceiling was also replaced with a 9' ft ceiling. The attic fan on the stairway was removed as was the door at the top of the steps.

On the first floor, we replaced two double-hung windows with one huge bay window, and added cabinets. A large 50's style picture window in the DR was replaced with french doors. It all was an unholy mess. DD had to move from the upstairs bedroom into a small guest room on first floor. Thank goodness DS was at boarding school. At that time, we had 2 dogs and 5 cats. Dealing with them and contractors was a MAJOR challenge everyday.

I left town for the two weeks that demo began. I went to London for 2 weeks. I needed to be out of the house when walls were opened etc - my asthma. Besides that, the pound was $1.10 against the dollar and I spent those two weeks selecting wallpaper and fabric for much of the house. Yes, I DID bring all that wallpaper and chintz back with me on the plane! That God for People's Express Airlines - $1 @ pound excess luggage, with allowed luggage being 90 pounds! I also bought a lot of small antiques and had a container shipped home with those, but the two cast iron/brass grates for two small fireplaces, came with me on the plane!

No, the GC will NOT allow one to do things in stages. They want ALL the plumbing and ALL the electrical done at the same time. Also ALL the HVAC work. Flooring? All at once. So, yes, most of your house will be torn up. We could not have lived in the house if we'd also been doing floors.

All the painting and wallpaper removal and re-hanging of the new took place, done mostly by ME, over the next year. Curtains took a few months - at least I had my ones from CA to immediately hang in the LR, and had even had a new slipcover made for one chair in that room, while we were still living there. It was the one room in the house that was "done".

Over the years, more and more has been done. It's why I cannot bear to leave my house now - it took 32 years to FINALLY get it the way I wanted it.

If we could have afforded to rent someplace and live elsewhere, it would have been far better. But we could not and we did survive, but I would never recommend doing this, and absolutely not with small children or a baby. My DD was 12 at the time so she could adapt.

I suppose we could have insisted on doing it one area at a time, but the cost would probably have been significantly more if we had, and with a budget that was not an option. Years later when I upgraded 3 bathrooms (not gutting any of them), I did insist that the plumber do one at a time. I had to have a useable bathroom in my house! The tile guy was able to do both the ones getting new tile at the same time as the 3rd bath as not having its tile changed. Even then, it was a challenge.

When my DS and his wife did a huge amount of remodeling of two different houses, they stayed in her NYC apt during the first, going to CT for the weekend and staying at her parent's house. The 2nd time, they lived in her parent's pool house. My son, now divorced, lives in an apt complex in CT that is mainly filled with people who rent there while their house is being remodeled. He's been there now for 4 1/2 years and is nearly their only "long-term" tenant!

Thank you for the inputs. You surely gave me hope that it is possible to remodel in stage. After painting and flooring are completed, I prefer to move in with my small dog. I don't mind leave most furniture and belonging in storage, I understand it would take several months just to get the basic done.

The house is in a highly sought after guard gated community, a reputable builder built the subdivision in the 90s. Good houses, some are over million dollars, tend to get snatched up in a couple of weeks if not days.

From outside, no one would guess the house is in such a sorry shape. The long list of defects from house inspection screaming defer maintenance, it is hard to identify pride ownership when viewing the house. Fortunately, the house is well built, no structure issues. The owners replaced roof and AC recently.

There will be no structure change, I want to keep existing kitchen and bathrooms' foot print. The house is a 2700 -2800 sqft, single story. I like simple, functional, no frill designs, my budget is $150k.

Could anyone please advise how I could find a good kitchen designer?

Hello - I am not a pro and have not undergone any major renovations, but have considered it. I got preliminary quotes of $100-150k just to do part of the downstairs: kitchen, family room and bath. About 900 sq ft, wood floors, paint, lighting, appliances etc. Plus Small bathroom - replace everything, same footprint. This price did not include a kitchen designer which I would definitely have hired -about 15-25% of reno cost, I was told. Time frame was given as 3-4 months. I’d say my choices were moderate quality, not basic builder. But also not changing any footprint. I think your budget is too low for what you want, even if you choose cheap budget material.