Renovation Timeline Calculator

This calculator estimates renovation duration by summing eight sequential phases — design, permitting, demolition, rough-in, inspections, finish work, custom-order delay, and punch list — each scaled to your specific project type, from a quick cosmetic refresh up to a whole-house renovation. Design and permit durations come from lookup tables per project type (a kitchen remodel's design phase runs longer than a cosmetic refresh's, for instance), with permit time further multiplied for full plan-review complexity versus a simple permit. Rough-in duration scales with both your project's square footage and the number of trades involved, since more trades on a bigger job means more coordination across electrical, plumbing, and HVAC rough-in. Custom-order lead time (cabinets, special windows, fixtures) is calculated separately at roughly 5 business days per item, but the model recognizes that ordering typically overlaps with design and permitting — so only the portion of custom lead time that exceeds those phases actually adds net delay, and even then only half of it, reflecting partial overlap with other work.

Three multipliers then adjust the raw phase total: having a general contractor manage the project speeds things up about 15% (their scheduling experience reduces gaps between trades) while homeowner-managed projects run about 15% slower; peak season (spring/summer) adds 15% because trades are harder to book, while off-season work can run 5% faster; and more trades on the job add a small per-trade coordination overhead since scheduling six specialists is harder than scheduling two. The business-day total converts to calendar days using a 7/5 ratio to account for weekends, then to weeks. This model assumes reasonably smooth execution — it doesn't account for the material shortages, change orders, or failed-inspection rework that commonly extend real renovation timelines, so treat the output as a best-case planning baseline and build in your own buffer, particularly for whole-house projects where more can go wrong.