Whole-House Remodeling in Greenville, SC
Down-to-studs renovations, historic homes and open-plan conversions — designed, permitted and built under one contract. Four to nine months, a written schedule, and an honest answer about whether you should move out.
Should You Move Out? Usually, For Part of It.
Every whole-house client asks this and most contractors give a vague answer because the honest one costs them goodwill. Here it is: for a down-to-studs remodel you should move out, and for a phased one you probably should not.
It is not only comfort. A house with nobody in it can be worked in parallel — trades overlapping, dust walls down, no protecting a corridor to a bedroom every evening. On our jobs that difference is typically four to six weeks of programme, which is often close to what the rental costs.
- ✓Down-to-studs: move out. Roughly 4-6 weeks faster and safer.
- ✓Phased remodel: stay. We seal zones and keep a kitchen or a bathroom live.
- ✓Systems weeks — rewire, replumb, HVAC — are the unliveable ones either way
- ✓We put the move-out weeks and the saved programme side by side, in writing
What We Do
Whole houses and major renovations. For a single bathroom we'd be the expensive choice, and we'll say so.
The Fee Buys Sequencing, Not Supervision
Plenty of people can hire an electrician. The value of a general contractor on a whole-house job is almost entirely in what happens between the trades, and that is invisible until it goes wrong.
Inspections gate everything
Rough electrical, rough plumbing and framing all have to pass before insulation closes the walls. Miss the order and drywall comes back off — at your cost, with everyone blaming everyone.
Trades book weeks out
A one-week slip in framing does not move the plumber one week. It moves them to their next available slot, which might be three weeks. Slips compound; that is the whole problem.
One warranty, one throat to choke
When a tiled floor cracks over a joist that deflects, the tiler blames the framer. Under one contract that is our argument to have with ourselves, not yours to referee.
One permit set for the house
A single whole-house submission is cheaper and faster than three trade permits pulled at different times, and it means one inspector holding one picture of the job.
Draw schedule tied to completion
You pay against work in place, verified, not against a calendar. That is the single biggest protection a homeowner has and self-managed jobs almost never set it up.
The same superintendent throughout
One person who has been there since demolition and knows why the return duct runs where it does. Continuity is most of what you are buying.
What a Greenville House Hides, and What It Adds
We carry a stated existing-conditions contingency and open the book on it. These are the four we find most often and roughly what each costs when we do.
Knob-and-tube wiring · $8,000 - $22,000
Common pre-1950. Not automatically dangerous, but insurers increasingly refuse it and it cannot be buried in insulation. Once walls are open, replacing it is far cheaper than later.
Cast-iron waste stack · $4,000 - $12,000
Sixty to eighty years is its working life. If it is scaling at the cleanout, it is near the end. Replacing it with the walls already open is a third of what it costs afterwards.
Asbestos floor tile or pipe wrap · $2,500 - $9,000
9x9 tile and white pipe wrap are the usual finds. It is only hazardous when disturbed, which demolition does. Licensed abatement and air clearance, and we test before we start.
An undersized panel · $3,500 - $8,000
A 100-amp panel will not carry a modern kitchen, HVAC and a car charger. On a whole-house job it is usually a foregone conclusion rather than a surprise.
How the contingency works
We carry 8-12% of contract value depending on the age of the house, stated as its own line. We draw against it only with your written approval and a photo, and every unspent dollar comes back to you at close-out. Last year we returned an average of $7,400 per project.
Houses We've Taken Apart and Put Back
How Four to Nine Months Goes
You get this schedule on paper, with the unliveable weeks marked.
Walkthrough
An hour at the house — crawlspace, attic, panel, not just the rooms. We'll give you a band that day and tell you whether you should be moving out.
Design & permit
Drawings, engineering where walls come out, and one whole-house permit submission. Eight to fourteen weeks, and most of it is not on site.
Demolition & discovery
Weeks one to three. This is when the house tells us what it has been hiding, and when the contingency conversation actually happens — with photos, before anything is touched.
Systems & inspections
Rewire, replumb, HVAC, then framing, electrical and plumbing inspections before anything closes. The unliveable stretch, marked on your schedule from day one.
Finishes & close-out
Insulation, drywall, trim, cabinets, floors, paint. Then your punch list, the final inspection, and the contingency reconciliation showing what came back.
Questions From the Walkthrough
Is it cheaper to remodel or to move?
Sometimes moving genuinely wins, and we will say so. If the house needs $300,000 of work to become a house you could buy for $450,000 two streets away, that is worth knowing before you hire anyone. We would rather lose that job at the walkthrough.
Can you phase it over a few years?
Yes, and for some budgets it is the right answer. Be aware it costs more in total — mobilisation, permits and dust protection repeat every phase — and some sequences simply cannot be split, like rewiring half a house.
What if we run out of money halfway?
We build to a scope with a defined stopping point at the end of each stage, so a pause leaves you with a weathertight, legal, liveable house rather than a building site. Worth agreeing where those points are before we start.
Do you do design, or do we need an architect?
We draw and permit standard whole-house work in-house. For a significant exterior change or a listed historic property we will recommend an architect and build to their set — and we will tell you which you need at the walkthrough, not later.
How do you handle the dust?
Zip walls with negative air on any phased job, floor protection on every route, and HVAC returns sealed so the system does not carry demolition dust through the whole house. It is not free and it is on the quote as a line.
What is your fee?
Between 18% and 24% of construction cost depending on size and complexity, stated on the contract rather than buried in the trade numbers. On an open-book contract you see both.
Start With an Hour at the House
We'll look at the crawlspace and the panel, give you a band that day, and tell you honestly whether remodelling beats moving.
Book a Walkthrough
Tell us roughly when the house was built and what isn't working. We'll come back within a working day.