Hi all you cool hats and mittens out there (ok I’m sorry I’m sorry please don’t leave).

I’m writing to you all from the HQ of construction central, my house. Here’s a relatively quick back story if you are interested. If not? FF >> to the Q&A below.

We bought this house nearly 4 years ago - it had been abandoned and was unlivable, protected by a chain link fence. I drove by it every day and wanted it, and one day there was a homemade “for sale” sign. I called the number, met the owner an hour later, and bought the house right then and there— before telling Josh. (There’s a lot more to this whole thing but that’s my fav part!) We renovated it and on Halloween 3 years ago, we moved in.

The house is only a 2 bedroom and 1 bath home. The living areas are good sized and that’s what mainly mattered to us, but it was in our plans from day 1 to build an addition at some point. We worked out a trade agreement with our contractor and I drew up plans as to what we could afford inside of our allotted trade “budget.” I think we got the plans finalized over a year ago and we were just waiting on some city things, but fast forward through until this year, and we finally got it started.

I only share these things because I understand this is an especially hard and tight time for so many, and I understand it is a great privilege to even be talking about additions, new builds and things. There is a very real gravity to what this pandemic has brought into our lives and I want to be sensitive to that. I also want to share this because it’s a good part of what I do for work (and I would like to keep working) and I want to be able to help anyone else getting started on a project of their own, too! So let’s start in with some questions I’ve gotten.

Q: How the hell do you start?
I left the H-word in there because it does a fine job of evoking the daunting nature of the question.

I would start by making sure you have secured these things:

Financial plan
A savings buffer FOR WHEN it goes over budget (there is no “if” here- plan for minimum 10% overage. And don’t forget about furnishing that new space, too.)
2 lists: A MUST HAVE list, and a wish list.
A great deal of patience, or at least an understanding that this will take time.

Once you have these, you need to start making plans. You can reach out to either an architect if you’d like to design the space with them, or a designer (such as myself) who can bring a good architect on board as they design the space to fit your needs. Naturally I want people to hire me so this opinion is biased, but I also happen to think that hiring a designer can be a great decision as it takes the weight of so much of the process off of yourself, generally, unless you really like to be involved. If this is something that stresses you out then I would recommend hiring a designer. There’s a lot involved - finding, picking, sourcing tile, light fixtures, cabinets, grout colors, flooring in general, faucets, just know what you’re getting into! Hiring a professional is also a smart move because we are used to ordering finishes and know how much overage to get for flooring, tile, etc. You don’t want to get stuck having to go back and re-order - what if the product is sold out now? It happens a LOT more than you think.

Once you have plans, it’s time to bring a contractor on board to bid it out.
This timeline isn’t set in stone by the way - sometimes, you have a contractor you know you want to work with, so you can start with them, tell them what you want, and they’ll bring a designer or architect on board - there’s not a wrong way!

Q: How do you find contractors / how many bids should you get?
Start by word-of-mouth. If you don’t know anyone directly who can give you a recommendation, ask a real estate agent you trust for opinions, or if they have any clients that had a great experience with someone. Nobody asked about the difference between a licensed contractor and an unlicensed contractor so here you go!

Some contractors will be unlicensed. What does this mean to you if they’re licensed or not? If they are unlicensed, they most likely do not have workers comp insurance for their crew and it could leave you liable should anyone be injured at your house. If you’ve found a contractor you love but is unlicensed, ask them to include insurance coverage for their team in the bid and make sure you have that in writing.

Unless you are very familiar with the unlicensed contractor and their work, ask to see examples of their work, interview their clients and make sure they are knowledgeable. You will have to do lots of due diligence either way. If they are unlicensed, at least make sure some of the subcontractors are licensed and insured (ie, electricians, plumbers, etc). Make sure the work you are having done is permitted - this means the city will be inspecting the work as they go.

If interviewing a licensed contractor, ask for their ROC number. Look them up online to verify they are indeed licensed. I met a contractor once and I was excited to use him - he told me he was licensed, and there was no online record of him. He was so believable and friendly, I was shocked. DO NOT go by personality or friendliness, ever. Okay?? Look at the evidence. Get smart! Contractors have such a bad reputation because there are some genuinely terrible people out there, but there are some great ones out there too (both licensed and unlicensed).

Another contractor tip: just as in the freelance world, the rule is— you can only pick 2: Fast, Cheap, Good.

Q: What financial options are there for doing an addition if you don’t have cash?
This is a paraphrase of a few different questions I got all merged into one. I am not a financial advisor, nor do I ever want to be involved in any sort of career in this realm, but in my experience, here are some options:

Call your lender or loan officer and ask what your options would be. These are the smartest people who know way more than I do about how you can finance this by refinancing your house, etc.
Go to Vegas after making an elaborate plan to Oceans Eleven your heart out
That is to say, I know nothing about financial options but I appreciate the question. haha

Q: How do you go about deciding what to save vs. splurge on?
This is such a great question, and the hardest one for me to answer. It changes with every project and is especially hard on your own home. I don’t have an exact formula, but I’ll share some of my thoughts.

Lighting is something that you can always find budget-friendly versions of. You have a chandelier you’re obsessed with but it’s $1000? Keep looking, we will find one under $300 that’s just a good. Very rarely do I splurge on lighting (And keep in mind: “splurge” is a relative term. I don’t pay more than $300 for a light fixture ever, because most nice chandeliers would be more than that. But you can set your ceiling lower than that and still find great lighting). Lighting DOES make a space though, so definitely don’t skimp on it, and for the love, don’t shop at big box stores for lighting. I like Lulu & Georgia, West Elm, CB2, Sazerac Stitches, Lucent Lightshop, and even AllModern for affordable, unique accent lighting.
If you have limited resources like most of us, you’ll want to do your best to save across the board. Make a game plan. So when we started our addition plans, I was able to start with an amount, and then break it up with a tentative budget on a spreadsheet. So let’s say I have 10k to plan a small bathroom - I would estimate for your fixtures first (put down like 4k for toilet, shower, tub, sink) and that leaves 6k for faucets, tile, mirrors, lighting. If I give myself 5k for tile, and my square footage is 100 square feet for the floors, and 150 square feet for the walls, then I know that my max price I can afford for tile is $20/ square foot.
When you know your game plan, you know what you can splurge on. So let’s say with the bathroom plan above, I found the solid surface soaking tub of my dreams, but it’s $3k. I’ve only budgeted $1k for the tub, but I need an extra 2k!! Bring your tile budget down to 3k, so now you can spend $12/ square foot on tile, and still get that tub. You get that solid surface tub, girl. Does that make sense? The opposite is true too - like if you found a dream tile but it’s $25 a square foot, do that math and you’ll have to up your tile budget to $6250 and find $1250 somewhere else in your budget.
Simplest advice I can tell you for splurge vs. save is follow your heart. Try not to overthink it. Plan to save on everything so that when the splurge item comes on your radar, you’ll either know where to find it in the budget, or you’ll have enough left over for it.

Q: How do you manage decision fatigue and the subsequent bad decisions?
It happens to everyone. It gets overwhelming when you see all the options! I guess my advice is to not go into the process without a plan or inspiration. Maybe at the beginning phase, keep a pinboard that can serve as your home base. If you ever find yourself questioning colors or styles, or changing directions and wondering if you should, take a break and go back to your original plans or inspiration. You might find yourself back on track and renewed with the certainty you had when you first made your plan! I can’t stress enough - don’t get started without a design plan. Ok?

Q: Who designs a remodel? Interior designer, contractor, architect?
I sort of went through this in the first question, but any of these can technically design a remodel. Look at any of their past work and see if you like their style. Sometimes contractors will tackle a remodel for a client, but when they’re not really familiar with all of the options available… I mean, it can just look like dude on a budget / pressed for time designed it. Most contractors are really focused on the quality of the build and you need to let them focus on that rather than the small details of design (especially when it’s not their forte).

Architects can also design (especially layout) but you don’t need to have a license to do design work. I personally work alongside an architect on most of my projects so we ensure the overall design is functional and thoughtful, and the interior design is personal and cohesive. When you let each person do what their specialty is, you end up with the best results.

Q: What city hoops do you have to jump through? Zoning, permits, etc?
This is going to be unique to each property in each city, county, state etc! So kind of a tough one to answer. You need to know what zoning your property has and you can find that online in your city records. For instance, our house is zoned R-4 which is a multi-family residential zoning. Click here to read more about this particular zoning in Phoenix, for instance, and you’ll see that your zoning places specific guidelines about how you can build on your property, how high the structures can be or how far set back from the perimeter your structures have to be, etc.

Our house is also designated historic, which in Phoenix, means we can’t alter the front facade at all. We can’t bump out the front for an addition or anything crazy. You can do a little independent research on your own home, or you can contact someone at the city and make an appointment to talk with them (or send an email).

Your contractor or architect, whoever you first hire, will also be able to go through all of your particular guidelines and limitations with you!

Q: What is a good timeline to expect from start to finish? What has caused you delays in the past?
This is hard to answer for everybody because literally every project is different or has its different delays. I’ll give you an idea on some of the additions I’ve done or managed in the past few years:

House 1: We added a major master suite to the back of the home (maybe about 800 square feet?) while renovating the entire home at the same time. From beginning to end, the home took about 10 months. Minimal delays, passed inspections promptly. It’s not unusual for an inspection to fail FYI - if they find one small issue, they’ll fail it - they just ask you to fix the issue and half the time, they’ll come back tomorrow and check it and pass it. It’s not like on TV where EVERY UNFORSEEN ISSUE is going to cost thousands more or take way more time. In fact, there are few things that pop up like that, that you would NEVER SEEN COMING. Not to spoil the fun, but those shows are for entertainment!! They gotta doctor in some drama somehow. :)
House 2: This is a client project we are currently working on for an addition! We’ve had lots and lots of push back from Historic Preservation on this one - the architect Justin Novak started drawing up these plans like, maybe a year ago? We have changed it about a million times to comply with the city, and literally today we finally found out we passed our hearing and are able to move on to the next step. This is an exception though, and not the rule - but if you have a historic property, be prepared for pushback.
House 3: Addition took about 6 months, minor inspection hold ups.
Our House: currently going on about 2 months, with inspection hold ups, delays for holidays and COVID, and honestly I’m not super surprised! Just when the contractor says “8-10 weeks,” prepare for double. (Hope for the best but plan for the worst! With this mentality you’re never disappointed, haha!)

So there you have a whole bunch of info on starting to plan your addition! Did I cover everything? Did that bring up any more questions? Let me know in the comments and I’ll do a part 2 if I need to. Happy house planning!