Remodeling Our Own Home: What Happens When the Contractor Becomes the Client

After more than two decades in the home building and remodeling business, I’ve helped a lot of families reimagine their homes. Then my wife and I bought a 1968 house and decided to remodel the entire thing ourselves. Apparently knowing exactly what a whole-house remodel involves does not prevent you from saying, “Sure, let’s do all of it.”

A True Whole-House Transformation

This was not a countertops-and-paint project. Our team rebuilt the house from top to bottom: a new kitchen, remodeled bathrooms, relocated walls, new trim and doors, custom closets, lighting throughout, a finished basement with a wet bar, full bath, media room and office, plus a fully integrated smart-home and security system.

The result is essentially a brand-new home inside a 1968 shell—and, just as importantly, a much better understanding of what our clients experience while all of those decisions are being made.

Being the Contractor and the Client

Being both the contractor and the homeowner is a strange experience. I understood why things took time and still occasionally found myself thinking, “Wait… why isn’t this done yet?” Knowing the process does not make hundreds of decisions, scheduling dominoes, budget choices and the occasional “what have we done?” moment disappear.

One of the best tools we used was also one of the simplest: blue painter’s tape. We taped walls, cabinetry and furniture footprints onto floors so we could physically walk through ideas before building them. Sometimes the fastest way to understand a plan is to stop staring at the plan.

Avery’s Flying Bathtub

Older houses still know how to surprise you. During demolition we opened the living-room ceiling and found a major floor joist that had been drilled so aggressively for old mechanical work that it had snapped. Unfortunately, that joist sat directly beneath our daughter Avery’s new bathroom.

For a week, “Avery’s Flying Bathtub” became the running joke. The bathtub never actually flew. We reinforced the structure, corrected the original problem and moved forward safely. That is the part of remodeling that rarely makes the pretty photo gallery: experience does not eliminate surprises; it helps you solve them correctly when they appear.

The Part We’ll Carry Into Every Client Project

Remodeling our own home reinforced something we already believed: communication matters just as much as craftsmanship. A homeowner is not simply buying cabinets, tile, framing and paint. They are living through hundreds of connected decisions about a place that matters to them personally.

We finished with the same house, but a home that works dramatically better for the way we live. And after spending some time on the other side of the clipboard, I think we’re better remodelers for it.