The 'Six-Month Remodel' Is Usually Nine. Here's the Real Austin Timeline.

Timeline is always the second question. Pricing comes first, then someone leans across the table and says, 'So how long are we actually talking?' I respect the question. It means they're serious. And because I respect it, I'm going to give you the answer most builders won't.

The six-month remodel is almost never six months. Not in Austin. Not at the level we build.

The Actual Numbers

Here's how Brandon and I frame it on every bid. Cosmetic interior work — you're not touching drywall, you're not moving MEP — four to six months. We've turned kitchens and master baths in Tarrytown in the two to three month range when the scope was tight and the client made decisions fast. That's the exception, not the rule.

Full home remodel, no drywall demo: six to eight months. The moment you say 'let's update the electrical panel' or 'I want to move that plumbing wall,' you've just handed two to three months to the MEP trades and the city. Now you're at nine to twelve. That's not a pessimistic estimate. That's what a Barton Creek whole-home remodel actually looks like when you do it right.

• Cosmetic interiors (no MEP, no drywall demo): 4–6 months
• Full home remodel, walls stay closed: 6–8 months
• Full home remodel, MEP updates, drywall pulled: 9–12 months
• Large remodel over ~4,000 sq ft: 12–14 months

“The moment you open a wall in Austin, you've bought yourself two to three more months. Budget for it before you touch the drywall.”

— Beckett Stone

Why Austin Specifically Hurts Your Timeline

The City of Austin permit office does not move on your schedule. West Lake Hills has its own permitting authority. Travis County has its own. A Bee Cave project and a Rollingwood project two miles apart can have completely different inspection cadences. Factor that in before you promise your family they'll be back in the house by Thanksgiving.

Then there's materials. If you're sourcing stone through Aria Stone Gallery or going custom with Materials Marketing, lead times on slabs can run eight to twelve weeks. Architectural Tile & Stone on a busy quarter is not pulling inventory off a shelf for you. The clients who lock in selections before demo starts are the ones who finish close to schedule. The ones who 'decide later' are the ones calling me frustrated in month ten.

The Sub Choice Nobody Talks About

Here's a variable that almost never makes it into the sales conversation: who you hire to execute matters as much as scope. The best painter in our arsenal — the one we call for a West Lake Hills estate — takes close to eight weeks on a 4,000 square foot house. A production-level crew does it in three. Both jobs get painted. The results are not the same. And that delta shows up all the way down the schedule.

This is the trade-off nobody makes explicit. You're not just buying a timeline. You're buying a quality tier. The best tile setter in Austin is booked. The best finish carpenter is booked. If you want them, you schedule around them — not the other way around.

How to Compress the Timeline

Make your material selections before demo starts. Lock the stone, the hardware, the fixtures. Get them on order. A client in Travis Heights cut six weeks off a bathroom remodel last year because she walked into the first meeting with a Waterworks spec sheet. That's it. That's the whole move.

Be available. Respond to RFIs fast. Every day a decision sits unanswered is a day added to the back end of your project. And get a real schedule with your bid — not a promise, a loose schedule with milestones. We include one on every bid. It's the only way you can make an educated call on scope.