How Much Does a Home Renovation Cost? A Comprehensive Guide to the Process From a Chicago Interior Design Company

Home renovation cost isn’t money out the window. In fact, it can be the opposite. Think of home improvement as a long term investment, and you will reap the benefits. Working with a reputable interior designer and home remodeling company helps!. Keep reading, and you’ll be guided through the interior design and construction process and costs, from start to finish.

First, what are two main benefits to home remodeling?

Benefit #1- Increase Your Quality of Life

You’ll improve and customize your home to fit your lifestyle, improving functionality, style, and comfort. (A home renovation can even result in healthier homes, according to a survey by Houzz)

Benefit #2 – Maximize Your Home’s Value

You can maximize the value of your home at sale. If your home has a dated layout, worn surfaces, or has older systems and fixtures, then you are not maximizing the property value. Incorporating home renovation cost into the new resale value can have a significant impact!

Approaching a home renovation can be intimidating. After all, there are many moving parts to consider, including design style, furnishings, timeline, and construction costs, just to name a few.

If you haven’t undertaken a remodeling project, then the process and pricing structure can be completely unknown territory. We’ve found that being transparent about each step helps make renovations an enjoyable and smooth experience for clients.

How does a home interior design renovation project work, exactly?

In this article, you will:

1. Understand the design process, and what the interior designer and remodeling company will be doing
2. Get a grasp on costs
3. Learn about the timeframe and corresponding fees
4. See an example of a real-life home renovation

1. What a Designer Will Do – Services and Process

Here are the services and planning that your interior designer should be doing. This is the order that our interior designers at Habitar Design typically follow.

1. Meeting with you to understand your design style and needs, working style, priorities, timeline, and budget .
2. Sharing a contract reflecting your project objectives. *At Habitar Design, we will list each item you requested with an estimate of hours, and rate.
3. Give you the opportunity to adjust services.
4. Creating a floor plan and furniture space plan.
5. Meeting with you to review and finalized the space plan.
6. Creating a design concept.
7. Meeting with you to review and finalize design concept.
8. The creation of a floor plan and specifications for all elements, as well as specifications and floor plans for all tile, paint colors, flooring and other materials needed in the renovation.
9. A preconstruction meeting with the home remodeling company. Over here at Habitar Design, we work with our sister company, Stratagem Construction to provide a range of services, for example, painting, custom woodworking, electric and plumbing systems.

After construction is complete, the interior designer will then follow through with furnishings.

1. Creating a design concept for furnishings.
2. Meeting with you to finalize the furnishing design concept.
3. Creating of 3-D renderings as needed.
4. Specifying of all furniture, furnishings and window dressings..
5. Purchasing services as need.
6. Installation services as needed.

2. Understanding Renovation Cost

Design work is one of the least expensive parts of a project, however, it has one the largest impacts. Less expensive materials when properly utilized as a result of good design will look better than more expensive materials in a poor design!

The cost of our design work often gives pause to our customers, but they rarely regret the expenditure when they see the results. Our company creates completely custom designs and construction — resulting a luxury interior that fits our clients’ needs and vision.

Also, in general, the more specific and complex the interior design needs are, the longer they take to complete, and the higher the renovation cost.

For example, creating an entertainment-center takes less time than creating a similar built-in with more needs. These needs might include a place for stereo equipment, a fold-out desk, office file cabinets, and additional storage.

3. Time Frame & Fees

While the design work for a complete home renovation may take 2 to 3 months, it’s important to note that construction can often begin before work is complete.

Your interior designer should give you a realistic idea of how long different parts of your project will take. Small projects can often be delivered in several days or several weeks. More complicated project may take many more months.

Here are some approximations of the hours required for specific design tasks:

• Bathroom Design: 8-18 hours
• Kitchen Design: 10-25 hours
• Custom Built-in: 5-15 hours
• Fireplace Design: 4-8 hours
• Complete Home Renovation: 10-150 hours

Our pricing is based on the following fee schedule:

• Senior Interior Designer: $150/hour
• Interior Designer: $125/hour
• Associate Interior Designer: $100/hour
• Interior Design Assistant: $55/hour
• Principal Construction Designer: $175/hour
• Initial interview: $100 (credited after $1000 of services)

*Our fixed fees are applicable for projects with a clearly defined scope.

Before renovation

4. Let’s See a Real Example

With a dated layout, an unappealing kitchen, and dark and stuffy rooms, this home needed a lot of help. How did we raise the property value, and give the new homeowners a comfortable, beautiful, and livable space?

A partial home renovation in this 2-story home in the Lincoln Square neighborhood in Chicago would have cost around $350,000. However, the homeowner went with a whole-home renovation cost at around $600,000. And the investment paid off, in a big way.

This particular home renovation project (see more photos here) wasn’t just a switch in decor! It was a dramatic change where the kitchen and dining spaces were opened up, and the room layout completely updated.

After a complete transformation into a luxury living space (we even moved the staircase!), the house value has dramatically increased from about $700,000 (before renovation) to just up to $2 million dollars in value.

After renovations – we know, you can’t even tell it’s the same space!

In Closing…

Though a home renovation can be an intimidating process, it’s important to choose the right interior design company. They should be able to walk you through at each step of the way, and take the time to understand all of your needs, budget, and vision.

We also have a few more articles you might find helpful:

• 6 kitchen updates that will add maximum value to your home
• Pros and cons of the top 5 kitchen layouts
• Before & After: Fun, Contemporary Home Makeover

Are you in the Chicago area, and ready to get started on your home renovation? We’ve been in the interior design business since 2005, and place a big emphasis on transparency of process and clarity with our clients. Working with our sister company, Stratagem Construction, allows us to control a whole home renovation from design to build.

Find us on Houzz >>

View our Interior Design Portfolio >>

Contact us today to schedule your initial design consultation >>