Volume 07 — The Spring Index
A studio of designers, project managers, and craftspeople composing residential renovations of unusual depth — kitchens, baths, additions, and the rare wine room — across six counties.
The design-build trade in Southeast Michigan does not, on the whole, want for contractors. What it has wanted — and what we set out to make seven years ago — is a studio. A small team that draws and builds under one roof. A team that signs one contract, takes one set of measurements, and is, in every meaningful sense, accountable to its own work.
We started with a kitchen in Ypsilanti. We are now in our seventh year, and we have built across six counties, finished more than five hundred projects, and grown into a team of designers, project managers, and full-time crews — all of whom know each other’s names, schedules, and standards. Every project, regardless of scope, moves through the same studio with the same expectations. There are no rotating subcontractors you’ve never met. There are no surprise bills at the end. There is, instead, a process, and we are precise about it.
This volume — issued each spring — is our way of showing the work plainly. The numbers behind it. The choices we made, and the rooms that resulted. We hope it is useful, and we hope, if you are considering a renovation of any kind, that you will write to us. Conversations begin with a phone call.
Wright’s grew from a single-person operation into Southeast Michigan’s fastest-growing design-build firm without a billboard, mailer, or radio spot. Educated buyers find us — and stay with us through additions, baths, and second renovations.
The original kitchen, dated to a 1996 build, had every signature of the era: hollow-core oak, a peninsula barricading the dining room, lighting that fell precisely where it was least useful. The home, however, had been bought by a young family with two children and a third on the way. The brief was direct.
Open the room. Anchor it with an island that could hold a school project, a Sunday morning, and a Thanksgiving brisket — without ever feeling like a buffet. Choose a palette that would still feel current in twelve years. And work, please, around the family’s existing dishes, which were already painted on a navy-and-white palette.
We began with the wall. The peninsula came down, replaced by a 12-foot island in navy custom cabinetry and a single waterfall slab of Calacatta-veined quartz. Pendants are oversized seeded-glass cylinders, paired with chrome bridge faucets at both prep stations. The double oven, a quiet upgrade from the family’s previous single, is set into a 36-inch range cabinet to the right of a stainless hood. The result reads like a kitchen that has always been there — only more capable.
Six counties, one studio. Each project documented in full — the conditions we found, the choices we made, and the rooms that resulted.
Design-build means you sign one contract, work with one team, and wake up the morning of demolition without a single open question.
A conversation in your home. We listen, measure, photograph, and assess feasibility before we ever propose a number.
Drawings, materials selections, and a fixed-price proposal. Every line item visible. You approve before a hammer swings.
Our project managers, foremen, and craftspeople — not a rotating cast of subs you’ve never met. Daily updates via JobTread.
A formal closing with documentation, warranties, and a punch list resolved before final payment is collected.
We don’t sell square footage; we sell decisions. Below, a partial list of the substrates, finishes, and trade partners we return to project after project — and the reasoning behind each.
Box-construction shaker and slab-front cabinetry from three independent shops within a 90-minute drive. Solid maple boxes, no particle board, soft-close hardware standard.
Engineered quartz for kitchens; we move to honed marble or soapstone when the brief calls for it. We do not work with porcelain slabs — the seam discipline is unforgiving.
Set by our own tile lead — the same person on every project — to ensure consistency in grout color, joint width, and pattern across rooms and disciplines.
No hollow zinc. We specify solid brass and bronze hardware in unlacquered or living finishes that will patina over the next two decades, not chip in eighteen months.
Pendants, sconces, and recessed selections specified by the design team — never delegated to the homeowner at the last minute. Layered lighting is non-negotiable in every kitchen plan.
Solid poplar or pine trim, hand-coped at inside corners, butt joints sanded and filled before paint. Doors are solid-core. The detail level is deliberate, and audible.
From a kitchen island to a second-story addition, every project moves through the same studio with the same team and the same expectations.
Full gut renovations, layout reconfigurations, and the rare project that earns the word atelier. Cabinets, counters, lighting, and tile, sourced and set by the same team.
Spa-grade primary baths, walk-in showers with curbless entries, and the kind of tile work that holds up to twenty years of scrutiny.
Second stories, primary suites, mudrooms, and footprint expansions designed to disappear into the original architecture.
Home theaters, brewery rooms, music studios, and guest suites carved out of the unfinished floor below.
Ipe, cedar, and composite decks engineered for Michigan winters and curated for summer evenings. Pergolas and screened porches by request.
Wine cellars, home breweries, music studios, library reading rooms — the rare projects competitors don’t even bid.
Wright’s serves all of Southeast Michigan — from the historic blocks of Ann Arbor to the new builds of Oakland County, the lake homes of Livingston, and every neighborhood in between. We work, on average, within a 45-minute radius of any project, and our crews are home for dinner.
Wright’s is structured deliberately. Every project has a named designer, a named project manager, and a named foreman — and you’ll meet all three before signing. No call centers, no rotating reps, no “we’ll have someone reach out.”
Reviews every proposal and walks every closing. Started Wright’s in 2018; still believes the studio should be small enough that he can do both.
Owns scheduling, capacity, and the studio’s relationship with every trade partner. The reason projects open and close on time.
Ross MM background; runs the discovery-to-proposal process. Will be on your initial home visit and will write the contract you sign.
Marketing, technology, and analytics. Fifteen years in agency leadership before joining Wright’s. The reason most clients find us at all.
Cabinets, counters, tile, and labor — the four numbers that move 80% of a project’s price. We share what we paid in 2025, by category, with no rounding.
9 min read →A short essay on the economics of the design-build trade, why “low bids” almost always cost more, and how we structure proposals to be transparent rather than competitive.
7 min read →Engineered quartz has spent a decade being treated as the lesser cousin to natural stone. We make the case for why, in a working kitchen, it’s almost always the right answer.
11 min read →If you have a question we haven’t covered, write to us. We answer every email personally, usually within a business day.
Our average project investment is $100,000 or more. Kitchens typically run $95K–$250K depending on cabinetry tier and scope; primary baths run $45K–$120K; whole-home additions begin around $180K. We do not take projects under $60,000 — the math, candidly, doesn’t support the level of design and supervision we provide.
It varies by season. As of this volume’s publication, we are accepting discovery conversations for late-summer 2026 build starts on most categories. Specialty rooms and large additions tend to be booked one full season ahead. The earlier you start the conversation, the more flexibility we have on design.
Design-build means design happens in our studio. For most kitchens, baths, and basement projects, our in-house design team handles every drawing and selection. For structural work — additions, second stories, load-bearing reconfigurations — we partner with one of three structural engineers we work with regularly, and the engagement is included in your contract.
You’ll receive a personal email within one business day, usually from Will. We schedule a brief phone call to understand the project, then a no-fee in-home discovery visit. If you’d like to proceed, we begin paid design work — and the design fee is credited back to your build budget once the contract is signed.
Yes. Wright’s Renovations is a fully licensed Michigan residential builder, carries general liability and workers’ compensation insurance, and is EPA Lead-Safe certified. Documentation is available on request before any contract is signed.
Every Wright’s project comes with a one-year workmanship warranty, plus all manufacturer warranties on materials and appliances. We are local — we are not going anywhere — and we honor callbacks personally.
Our studio sits ten minutes from the University of Michigan campus and is open by appointment. Bring a sketch, a Pinterest board, or just a question — we’ll have coffee on.
We accept a limited number of new projects each season. Conversations begin with a single phone call — no pressure, no obligation, no rotating sales force.
