Typical span 4–8 months
Whole-Home
Renovating a whole house is a logistics problem before it is a construction problem. The scope is phased, the systems are assessed as systems rather than room by room, and the sequence is written around one question: whether you are living in it while it happens.
A single-room remodel can be improvised around. A whole house cannot. Once several rooms are open, the decisions compound: the electrical work in one room depends on panel capacity that is also being asked to carry a new kitchen; the flooring in three rooms wants to run continuously, so it has to be laid after all three are ready; the one bathroom that stays in service dictates which end of the house gets demolished first.
So we start with an existing-conditions survey rather than a price. What is the framing, and where does it change direction. What is the panel, and what is actually on each circuit. What condition are the supply lines, the drains, the ducts and the water heater in. Where has previous work been done, and was it permitted. That survey is what makes a whole-home estimate meaningful instead of optimistic, because on a house of this scale the unknowns are the budget.
From there the work is divided into phases with a written sequence, and you see both versions of the plan before you choose: the one where you move out, and the one where you do not.
Whole-Home Renovation · scope
- Existing-conditions survey before any scope is priced
- Structural review where walls, headers or floor framing change
- Electrical, plumbing and HVAC assessed as systems, not room by room
- Work phased into zones so part of the house stays usable where possible
- Title 24 and CALGreen requirements identified at design, not at inspection
Every item above appears as a line in your written scope of work with the specific materials named. This list is the shape of the document, not a substitute for it.
D 2.0
Phasing, and whether you move out
This is the decision that shapes everything else, and it deserves to be made with real information rather than optimism.
Working through an empty house is faster overall and costs less per square foot. Trades overlap, containment is minimal, nothing has to be made presentable at the end of each day, and demolition can happen everywhere at once. The cost is that you are paying to live somewhere else for several months.
Phasing lets you stay. The cost is that every phase needs its own containment, its own clean boundary between finished and unfinished work, and its own mobilisation of each trade, which adds both weeks and money. It also means at least one working bathroom and some way to prepare food have to be protected throughout, which constrains the order the work can happen in.
We write out both sequences, with the rooms that are out of service named against the weeks they are out. Where a temporary kitchen in a garage or a dining room is the thing that makes phasing bearable, we say so and put it in the scope rather than leaving you to work it out in week two. Whichever you choose, the working-hours window is agreed up front and the containment details are a line item, not a courtesy.
D 3.0
Systems, assessed as systems
The most common way a whole-home renovation goes over is by treating electrical, plumbing and mechanical as room-by-room line items. They are not. They are three building-wide systems, and a renovation either brings each one to a coherent state or it leaves you with a house that has new finishes over old problems.
On electrical, that means looking at the service and the panel first: capacity, condition, breaker types, grounding and bonding, and whether the existing branch circuits are worth extending or worth replacing while the walls are open. On plumbing, it means the material and condition of the supply lines and the drains as a whole, the venting arrangement, and whether the water heater is at the end of its life and better replaced now than in a finished house. On mechanical, it means whether the existing equipment is sized for the house you will have after the renovation, and what condition and configuration the ducting is in.
California's Title 24 energy requirements and CALGreen provisions reach into much of this work once a permit is pulled — insulation, ducts, windows, water heating and lighting all have requirements attached. Smoke and carbon-monoxide alarm requirements typically become house-wide at permit as well. We identify all of it during design so it appears in your estimate rather than in a plan-check correction or at inspection.
D 4.0
Structure, and the walls people assume are not load-bearing
Opening a house up is usually the point of a whole-home renovation, and it is where assumption does the most damage. So we do not assume. We trace what the framing above a wall is carrying, check the direction the joists and rafters run, look for point loads coming down from above, and inspect the foundation and footing where a new post would land.
Where a wall is structural, a licensed structural engineer sizes the beam, the posts and the connections, and the calculations go into the permit set. That is not an upsell; it is what makes the removal legal and the house sound, and it is what a plan checker will ask for. In the postwar ranch and later tract housing across Solano County, the wall between kitchen and living space is bearing far more often than not, and second-floor point loads land in inconvenient places.
The same survey usually turns up other things worth knowing while the house is open: previous alterations done without a permit, undersized headers over existing openings, notched or drilled joists, or framing that has been modified for ducting. None of it is unusual in a house that has been lived in for fifty years. All of it is cheaper to resolve now than later, and all of it is discussed with you in writing before it is priced.
If the scope grows beyond the existing footprint, the home additions page covers the parcel and permit constraints that then apply. If it stays inside the footprint, the process page sets out the sequence measure by measure.
Questions
Asked about whole-home renovation
Broader questions about permits, payment stages and living on site are answered on the questions page.
Do you renovate in phases or all at once?
Either, and the choice has real consequences. All at once is faster overall, cheaper per square foot, and requires you to move out. Phasing lets you stay, but each phase needs its own containment, its own clean edges between finished and unfinished work, and its own mobilisation, which adds time and cost. We lay out both versions with the sequence written down so you are choosing between two known things.
How do you decide which walls can come out?
By looking, not assuming. We trace what the roof and floor framing above a wall is bearing on, check for point loads, look at the direction the joists run, and inspect the foundation and footing where a new post would land. Where a wall is structural, a licensed engineer sizes the beam and the posts and the plan set carries the calculations. In this area's 1970s tract housing the wall between the kitchen and the family room is load-bearing far more often than homeowners expect.
Will the whole house need to be brought up to current code?
Not the whole house — but the work you touch does have to comply, and some requirements reach beyond the room. Altering circuits triggers current receptacle, arc-fault and ground-fault rules for that work. Envelope and mechanical changes bring Title 24 energy requirements into scope. Smoke and carbon-monoxide alarm requirements typically apply house-wide when you pull a permit. We identify all of this at design so it is priced rather than discovered.
Where we do this work
Whole-Home Renovation is carried out by Blue Mountain Construction Services Inc throughout Vacaville, Fairfield, Suisun City, Dixon, Davis, Napa, Solano County, CA. Our office is at 707 Aldridge Road, Suite B, Vacaville, CA 95688, which is why Vacaville projects have the most scheduling flexibility — and why we know which departments review what in the towns around it.
Permit requirements, plan-check turnaround and inspection scheduling all differ between a Vacaville project, a Solano County unincorporated parcel, and a job in Davis or Napa. We tell you which set of rules applies to your address at the consultation rather than after the drawings are done. See the full service area.
Blue Mountain Construction Services Inc
707 Aldridge Road, Suite B Vacaville, CA 95688- Phone
- (800) 889-2085
- info@sillee.com
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 08:00–17:00 America/Los_Angeles
- Trade
- Residential Remodelers
Talk to our team about your whole-home renovation
Describe the rooms and the changes you are considering. We will come out, take our own measurements, and put a written scope of work in front of you before anything is priced.
Blue Mountain Construction Services Inc · 707 Aldridge Road, Suite B, Vacaville, CA 95688