Of course, it depends on the project. We know that everyone’s budget is different, and we try to make your goal fit within your budget. We use our real estate and construction knowledge to determine where your money is best spent to add value to your home.

Once we understand what your project needs are, we will provide you with a comprehensive bid estimate, along with a schedule of when work will take place.

Yes! And we have done many studs-out renovations. Since we are a design and build firm, we can tackle your project from start to finish. This includes getting permits, 3D renderings, floor plans—everything. And then we bring in plumbers, electricians, people who do siding and framing, roofers—whatever your house needs!

Absolutely! Providing our Get Happy at Home real estate clients with ideas for updating their homes and then executing those updates is actually how we started Happy at Home Contracting. As real estate agents, we work with many of our seller clients to upgrade and refresh their homes before they go to sell in order to help their homes sell quickly and for the most money possible. And as we help our home buyer clients find a home, we help them envision the home with updates, show them what is possible, and help them estimate how much the work will cost.

Because of all of this experience, we know exactly what home buyers want. We can provide you with ideas on the best updates to make to maximize your home’s value. We also determine where you can spend money to get the most return on your investment.

Now, if this isn’t your main goal, then we can also help you remodel and update your home with whatever you would like!

No, you do not. You are free to use whichever of our services you need. The contracting side of our business provides everything from design and drafting to structural and contracting work, while the real estate side of our business helps our clients buy and sell real estate. You are welcome to use just one part of our business, or all of it!

Yes. Our warranty covers all workmanship for one year. You can think of our warranty as something similar to what you’d get with new construction. In the year after the work is completed, if something goes wrong with the work we conducted, we will send our contractors out to repair as needed. This is as long as our workmanship was the cause of the issues. We do not cover materials, appliances, etc.; these items likely have their own warranties. Additionally, after one year, we’ll come back to visit your home and take care of any issues that have emerged.

Yes. You can rest assured that if you hire us to do your project, you will be protected.

Unlike many other contracting companies, we are a design and build firm. We can take your project from concept to permitting to completion.

Happy at Home Contracting is also owned by real estate agents. We provide advice on what updates make sense to do in your home, versus other contractors who just want to add more work and will tell you to do everything. We take a different approach. We ask if a project will add value to your home’s value or not. This doesn’t mean that you can’t choose to do whatever you’d like, but at least you will be making decisions from a place of knowledge.

We also have a dialed-in process when it comes to timelines and getting the work done. Our contractors work for us, so timelines are always held much more accurately. The work is cheaper because our contractors are under our full time employ, instead of subcontracting the work. This also means less risk for you, since you won’t have different subcontractors to deal with.

Another service we offer that is different from other contractors is we can provide you with interior design services. What features and design elements are popular and “in” right now? What trends are on their way out? Knowing these things will help make sure that your updates maintain their value for longer.

1. It ends up being cheaper for you, the client, as our contractors are employed full-time by us. They’re not worried about their next job.

2. It makes it a lot easier for us to stick to our timelines.

3. We know exactly who we’re hiring and why, and the quality of the work shows because they work for us full-time.

4. Overall, this way of doing it is less risky for our clients. We warranty our work, because we believe in the quality.

This depends on the extent of the work.

If you’re doing a studs-out remodel, you’ll probably need to move out. However, we have done studs-out remodels where our clients move downstairs while we remodel the upstairs, and then we switch when the upstairs is complete.

We have also done many remodels with our clients still living in the home. If we’re doing a kitchen remodel, for example, if you don’t mind living with just a fridge and microwave for a while, then you probably don’t need to move out. Or if we’re remodeling all of your bathrooms, we can do two baths right away so you still have one bath, and then do that remaining bath last.

This will be unique to each situation, and we can help you develop a plan.

How organized is the contractor when they visit you? How clear is their process? Their ability to outline these things instill confidence that they apply the same detail to their work. Remodeling a home is complicated, and will significantly impact the end value of your home. So it’s crucial that you feel comfortable with the contractor you may be working with for the next several months. You should know that they are organized, detailed, and knowledgeable. They should be able to demonstrate all of these things.

Additionally, oftentimes the most expensive and cheapest bids are not the ones you want to go with. The ideal contractor is probably somewhere in the middle.

When we first meet with new or potential clients, we will have 2 meetings. In the first meeting, we will listen to what you want. In the second meeting, we come with plans, calendars, and spec sheets. We share with you how things will look if you want to move forward. Then, if you agree to our plan, you will give a deposit. At this point we will do 3D renderings, and go over all of the little details.

Typically a bathroom remodel will take about 4 weeks in total. We have many people working for us so these things go by quickly. If you are remodeling a current bathroom, you may not need to do a permit. However if you're adding a bathroom, you WILL need to do a permit. The permitting process typically takes between 3-4 weeks, and then we can start work.

A kitchen will take about 6-7 weeks to get done, but of course, this depends on the scope of the project. At the moment, supply chain issues may delay a project. Additionally, if we’re just making light cosmetic updates, permitting is not required. But if we’re doing a full kitchen remodel, we’ll need to get a permit. Permitting takes about 4 weeks, and we handle the permitting process for our clients. Once permitting is taken care of, we can begin work.

Permitting for additions is a bit longer of a process and involves structural engineers. This permit process could take 1-3 months (it could be 1 month for an addition, or more like 3 months for a second story), depending on the amount of structural engineering that is required. Typically, an addition like this will mean you should budget $500 per square foot. How long this process takes really depends on the amount of structural change we have to do to the existing home, but 6 months is probably a safe estimate.

Refinishing your basement, by a mile! You can have a nice basement remodel with a bathroom addition and kitchenette for under $200,000.