The Real Questions Homeowners Should Ask Before a Renovation (From a Texas Remodeler Who’s Seen It All)

Article by Jennifer Homeyer, CEO & President of The Design House

Last week, Southern Living published a piece called “9 Questions Contractors Wish Homeowners Would Ask Before Starting A Renovation,” and I was lucky enough to be one of the contractors they quoted. If you haven’t read it yet, go take a look. It’s a solid list.

But here’s the thing about a magazine article. You get a paragraph, maybe two, to make your point.

There’s a lot more I wanted to say, and a few questions I wish had made the cut.

So this is the long version, from someone who’s been running a remodeling and flooring business in Denton, Texas for nearly two decades.

We’ve been a Shaw Flooring Network Dealer for 17 years, and I’m currently serving my second three-year term on the Shaw Flooring Network Dealer Council. Most of what’s below comes from sitting on both sides of the table: the showroom side, where homeowners walk in excited and a little overwhelmed, and the jobsite side, where the truth comes out about whether a contractor actually knows what they’re doing.

“What did you learn on your last project that’s going to change how you do mine?”

This was the first question I gave Southern Living, and it’s still my favorite. A good contractor lights up when you ask this. They’ll tell you about a product that disappointed them, a sequencing change that saved them a week, a sub they stopped using because the quality slipped.

They’re paying attention.

They’re getting better.

The ones who go blank, or wave it off, or tell you they’ve been doing it the same way for 20 years? That’s your answer. They’re going to do your house the same way they did the last hundred, whether it’s the right way or not.

Why this question is actually a red-flag detector

Most “red flags of a bad contractor” lists focus on the obvious stuff. Not using licensed trades. No insurance. Asking for cash. All true, all important, and you should check every one of those boxes before you sign anything.

But the harder red flags to spot are the soft ones.

A contractor who can’t talk about what they’ve learned recently is usually the same contractor who:

• Can’t explain why their bid is so much lower than the other two
• Gets defensive when you ask about subcontractors
• Promises a timeline that sounds too good to be true
• Doesn’t want to put the scope in writing
• Pressures you to sign before you’ve had time to read the contract
• Gives lump sum bids without any detailed scope or specific products to be used.

None of those are illegal.

None of them will show up on a state licensing search.

But every single one of them is a contractor telling you who they are. Believe them the first time.

“What should I know about protecting my home?”

This was the second question I gave Southern Living, and honestly, it’s the one I wish more homeowners asked before demo day instead of after.

Everybody gets excited about the renovation itself. The beautiful kitchen, the new floors, the spa bathroom.

Nobody thinks about the hallway hardwood that’s going to get scratched while the crew carries cabinets through it. Nobody thinks about the HVAC return that’s pulling drywall dust through the entire house and depositing it on top of the kids’ beds. Nobody thinks about which bathroom the crew is going to use, until they realize the answer is theirs.

A real pro has a system for all of this.

Floor protection paths from the front door to the work zone. Plastic zip walls sealing off the construction area. HVAC filters swapped out so the dust doesn’t end up living in your ductwork for the next six months. A designated parking spot. A designated bathroom, or a porta potty if the project is going to run long.

None of this is glamorous, and none of it gets posted on Instagram. It’s the difference between a homeowner who recommends you to their friends and one who never wants to see your truck in the driveway again.

“Do I need to move out during the renovation?”

This is the next question, and it’s a hard one because the answer depends on what kind of project you’re doing.

We use a tiered approach at The Design House:

• Surface refresh. New floors, new paint, maybe new fixtures. You can almost always stay in the home. Plan on a few noisy days and a lot of dust, but it’s livable.
• Deeper face lift. A kitchen redo with new cabinets and countertops, or a primary bathroom remodel. Technically, you can stay, but if it’s your only kitchen or your only bathroom, you’re going to be miserable. We recommend at least moving out during demo and the dustiest weeks.
• Full gut. Whole-house remodels, additions, anything that touches plumbing, electrical, and HVAC at the same time. Move out. Every single time. The money you spend on a short-term rental is going to be the best money you spend on the whole project.

The honest truth is that staying in the home during a big renovation slows the project down.

The crew has to clean up every day instead of leaving tools out. They can’t run loud equipment after a certain hour. They’re working around your schedule instead of theirs.

If you can possibly relocate for the messy stretch, do it.

Your timeline will thank you and so will your marriage.

“What’s the one thing you’d talk me out of, even if I’m set on it?”

This question wasn’t in the Southern Living article, but it should have been. It’s the one I’d add if I could go back.

Here’s why it matters.

A good contractor has opinions.

They’ll tell you the tile you fell in love with on Pinterest is going to crack on the subfloor you’ve got. They’ll tell you the layout you sketched out doesn’t account for your dishwasher door clearance. They’ll tell you the finish you picked won’t survive three kids and a Golden Retriever.

When you ask a contractor this question and they say “nothing, whatever you want,” that’s not customer service. That’s a contractor who’s planning to say yes now and charge you later when the change order hits.

You want someone who’ll push back before the demo starts, not after.

Designer, general contractor, or design-build firm: who’s actually answering this question?

Here’s something most homeowners don’t realize until they’re already in too deep. The person you hire determines whether you even get an honest answer to that question in the first place.

• A designer is going to help you pick beautiful things. They may or may not know whether those things will actually work in your space, hold up over time, or fit your budget once installation is figured in. Hire a designer when you need aesthetic direction and you have a contractor lined up to execute.
• A general contractor is going to build what you put in front of them. They’re great at managing the construction process. They’re usually not great at telling you whether your design choices are smart, because design isn’t their job.
• A design-build firm does both under one roof. The advantage is one point of accountability. Be careful, though, some design-build firms are really just a contractor with a designer they refer to, which is not the same thing as integrated design-build.

At The Design House, we’ve built our model to be flexible because we figured out a long time ago that no two homeowners want the same level of involvement.

Some customers want full turnkey: we design it, we source it, we install it, we manage it.

Other customers want to act as their own general contractor and use us as their design center and product source.

Some customers already have a contractor they trust and just need us for the design work and the materials.

We meet you where you are.

The reason that matters for this conversation: whoever you hire, make sure they have the standing and the expertise to actually talk you out of a bad decision. If they don’t, you’re paying for an order taker, not an expert.

How our process at The Design House answers all of these questions before you ever have to ask

The questions in the Southern Living article aren’t theoretical for us.

We’ve built our entire intake and project management process around answering them up front so the homeowner never has to chase us for the information.

A few things we do differently:

Discovery before design. 

Every project starts with a structured intake. We ask about your lifestyle, your timeline, your budget, your pets, your kids, your past renovation experiences, and what’s kept you from pulling the trigger before now. Most of the questions you didn’t think to ask, we surface for you.

Tiered project scoping. 

Surface refresh, deeper face lift, full gut. You know what tier you’re in before we start, and our pricing is standardized by project type. No mystery pricing. No surprises about scope.

Flexible engagement. 

Turnkey, customer-as-GC, or bring your own contractor. We tell you up front what role we’re playing so expectations are clear from day one.

Written documentation at every stage. 

Quotes, proposals, change orders, warranties. We walk you through the actual manufacturer warranty document, not just the marketing sheet, so you know what’s covered and what isn’t. If something isn’t in writing, it didn’t happen.

Single point of contact. 

You know exactly who your lead is and how to reach them. You’re not bouncing between trades trying to figure out who to call when something comes up at 4:30 on a Friday.

Protect-the-home protocol. 

Floor protection paths, plastic zip walls, HVAC filter swaps, designated parking, designated bathroom. Decided before demo day, not after.

A real punch list process. 

The last 10 percent is where most contractors lose customers. We block dedicated days to walk and close the punch list with you, and we have a clear policy for anything that needs attention after the final walkthrough.

17 years of Shaw Flooring Network membership and a seat on the Dealer Council. 

Which is a fancy way of saying we’re constantly bringing back new products, new installation methods, and new process improvements from a national network of dealers. The “what did you learn on your last job” mindset is baked into how we operate.

The key takeaway

If you remember nothing else from this post, remember this. The renovation itself is the easy part. The hard part is everything around it: the planning, the protection, the communication, the documentation, the cleanup, the punch list, and the trust you have to build with the people you’re letting into your home for weeks or months at a time.

Ask the questions.

Ask all of them.

And if a contractor doesn’t want to answer, you’ve already got the answer you needed.

If you’re somewhere in North Texas and you’re starting to think about a remodel, come see us at The Design House in Denton. Bring your questions.

We’ve heard them all, and we’ll give you straight answers.