Ann Arbor renovation contractor. Built for how this town really lives.
Wright’s Renovations works the entire University of Michigan footprint. Burns Park bungalows, Old West Side foursquares, Ann Arbor Hills ranches, the newer builds out toward Scio. A six-crew schedule that respects football Saturdays, A2 historic review, and the real cost of doing the job right the first time.
Founder, Wright’s Renovations · Ypsilanti, MI
Most contractors treat Ann Arbor like one big neighborhood. It isn’t.
A renovation budget in Ann Arbor behaves differently than the same budget in Birmingham, Plymouth, or Royal Oak. Not because the materials cost more. Because the houses are older, the lots are tighter, the city’s historic review is real, and the buyers paying $500K to $1.2M for these homes know what good work looks like. Wright’s Renovations has spent the last decade building inside that reality, and the work shows.
The Ypsilanti shop sits 15 minutes from downtown Ann Arbor, which means Connor Wright is on the site for the initial walk, the framing inspection, the cabinet delivery, and the final punch. Not on a phone call from 90 minutes north. Will Sujek handles the front-end conversation about scope and budget so nobody is surprised by a number on the proposal. Katherine Anderson runs the back office, which means client billing and change orders flow through a single person who answers the phone before noon the next day. Six foremen run six crews concurrently: Robert, Caleb, Marcus, Brendan, David, and one rotating lead, with 12 to 18 active jobs at any given moment.
What follows is the page Wright’s Renovations wishes existed when homeowners first started searching for an Ann Arbor renovation contractor: real numbers, real neighborhoods, real constraints, real testimonials, and the answers to the questions that usually get dodged. If you’re three weeks deep in a Pinterest spiral and ready to talk to a builder, the free in-home consultation link is at the top of every section and the team can be at your house this week.
Eight Ann Arbor neighborhoods, eight different houses, eight different conversations.
Every street tells the crew something different about what to expect inside the wall cavity. The notes below come from actual jobs Wright’s has run, not a Wikipedia summary. If your block isn’t listed, it’s probably still in the service map; the team covers the entire 48103, 48104, 48105, 48108, and 48109 footprint plus surrounding townships.
1900–1930 bungalows and foursquares on small lots between Packard and Stadium. Plaster and lath walls, original oak floors, knob-and-tube tucked behind every old switch. The play here is preserving trim profiles and adding a rear addition that doesn’t fight the front façade. Burns Park additions are some of Wright’s most-requested work.
The Old West Side Historic District means the Ann Arbor Historic District Commission reviews exterior work, and that adds three to six weeks at the front of the timeline. Wright’s runs interior gut renovations and rear additions here regularly; the team knows which board members care about what and how to package an application that gets approved on the first pass.
The Sunset-to-Brooks pocket north of downtown is where small bungalows are getting second-story pop-tops and kitchens opened up to the dining room. Tight side setbacks make scaffolding plans matter. Wright’s has built three full second-story additions in this zip code in the last two years.
Mid-century ranches and split-levels east of the river with original 1950s and 1960s kitchens, sunken living rooms, and tongue-and-groove ceilings worth keeping. The work here is usually kitchen remodeling plus basement refinishing with daylight egress and a wet bar.
Victorian and Queen Anne homes north of downtown, many on the historic register. Plaster ceilings 10 to 12 feet high. Wiring vintages from four different decades. Wright’s pulls these jobs apart slowly and rebuilds with respect for what’s worth saving.
The Pioneer High School catchment is dense with families running active renovations every summer. Wright’s stages start dates around school calendars so the crew is past the demolition phase before kids are home all day.
Mid-century housing built for U-M faculty in the 1950s and 1960s, often with surprisingly small kitchens and tiny primary baths by current standards. The fastest-moving project type here is opening the wall between kitchen and dining and adding a 6-foot island.
Late-1990s and 2000s subdivisions out toward Jackson Road and the Scio Township line, where the kitchens are large but dated, the basements are unfinished, and the bathrooms still have builder-grade fixtures. Wright’s runs whole-home refresh projects in this corridor regularly.
Six core services. Every one already running in Washtenaw County this quarter.
The team’s deepest experience sits in five rooms and one full-house bucket. Click any tile for the full service page; every one is staffed and scheduling.
Galley-to-open layouts, custom cabinetry from Plymouth-area shops, quartz and porcelain countertops. Typical Ann Arbor scope runs eight to twelve weeks on site.
Half baths, primary suites, walk-in showers, and wet rooms. Aging-in-place modifications use grab-bar blocking and curbless thresholds matched to the home’s flooring.
Egress windows, full baths, wet bars, theater rooms, and rental-ready in-law suites. Sump and dehumidification spec’d before the framing goes up.
Rear primary-suite additions, second-story pop-tops, sunrooms (Michigan rooms), and accessory dwelling units that fit Ann Arbor’s revised ADU ordinance.
Pre-1940 home overhauls with new mechanicals, structural work, kitchen, baths, and finishes coordinated on one schedule. Phased options for clients who want to live in.
Composite and cedar decks, screened porches, four-season Michigan rooms, and outdoor kitchens. Permitted, sealed, and ready before Memorial Day weekend.
What a renovation actually costs in Washtenaw County.
The numbers below are pulled from Wright’s signed contracts on Ann Arbor projects completed in the last 24 months. They’re ranges, not promises. Every house is different. But they’re honest, and they’re posted here for a reason: Ann Arbor homeowners deserve a contractor who will tell them what something costs before the proposal arrives.
- Single kitchen or full bath in a Burns Park bungalow
- Mid-century basement finish with egress and a half bath
- Deck rebuild plus screened porch addition
- Six to ten weeks on site, one to two crews
- Permit timeline runs three to six weeks in most A2 districts
- Kitchen plus opened-up first floor in a Water Hill or Eberwhite home
- Primary suite addition or second-story pop-top
- Full basement build-out with wet bar, theater, and full bath
- Ten to sixteen weeks on site, multiple trades coordinated
- Historic district review adds four to eight weeks pre-construction
- Whole-home renovation in Ann Arbor Hills, Kerrytown, or Old Fourth Ward
- Full mechanical replacement, structural opening, finished basement
- Detached ADU or carriage-house build under the new A2 ordinance
- Twenty to thirty-plus weeks on site, phased to allow in-residence options
- Includes design development, structural engineering, and historic review
Every Wright’s proposal includes a line-item budget, an allowance schedule, and a date-anchored timeline. Allowances cover items the homeowner chooses with the design lead (tile, plumbing fixtures, lighting, hardware), so the budget reflects choices rather than guesses. Bank financing through a few Ann Arbor and Plymouth lenders is available; ask Will about the partners on the contact page.
What’s different about renovating here.
The historic review
If the project is in Old West Side, Old Fourth Ward, Division Street, State Street, or one of the city’s individual historic properties, exterior work needs Historic District Commission review. Wright’s prepares the application packet, attends the meeting, and adjusts the design when the board asks for setback or material changes. Budget three to six weeks for that process before the building permit even gets pulled.
The U-M calendar
Six home football Saturdays a year shut down south-of-Stadium traffic. Move-in week in late August routes thousands of trucks through downtown. Wright’s schedules material deliveries and dumpster swaps around both, and Connor checks the Big House schedule before any start date in the southern half of the city.
The winter window
Ann Arbor’s freeze-thaw cycle through January and February is hard on roof tear-offs, exterior masonry, and concrete pours. Interior gut renovations run year-round, but exterior work concentrates between April and November. Booking by January for a summer start keeps the schedule honest.
The township edge
Half of Wright’s Ann Arbor work is technically in Scio, Pittsfield, Ann Arbor Township, or Superior Township, the suburbs that share the 481xx zip codes. Permit fees, setback rules, and inspection cadence are different in each. The team has a current contact at every township building department from Dexter east to Ypsilanti.
From the first phone call to the final walk.
The free consultation
Will or Connor visits the house, listens for an hour, walks the spaces, and leaves with photos and measurements. No proposal yet. Just a conversation about scope, priorities, and whether budget and ambition line up. Book the visit directly from any page on this site.
The design proposal
Wright’s prepares a detailed scope-of-work document with allowances, a target start window, and a real number. The proposal arrives within seven to ten business days for most projects. Homeowners get the full document, not a one-page estimate. Line items and assumptions are visible.
Design development
Once the proposal is signed, the design lead works through cabinet layout, plumbing fixture selection, tile, lighting, and hardware with the homeowner. Selections happen at the Wright’s office or at partner showrooms in Plymouth and Ann Arbor depending on the category.
Construction
One foreman owns the job from day one to the punch list. The homeowner gets a daily log on the JobTread platform (photos, hours, milestones) and a weekly check-in call. Change orders go through one signed document, not a verbal hallway chat.
The final walk
Connor and the foreman walk the finished space with the homeowner, document anything not finished to standard, and schedule the punch within two weeks. Wright’s stands behind every job with a one-year workmanship warranty on labor and the full manufacturer warranty on materials.
Three projects. Three completely different houses.
What Ann Arbor homeowners actually ask before signing.
These are the ten questions Will fields most often in the first phone call. Honest answers, posted here so the conversation can start at question eleven.
A typical Ann Arbor kitchen runs eight to twelve weeks on site, plus four to six weeks of design and ordering before demolition starts. Custom cabinet lead times are the variable. Semi-custom from Plymouth-area shops runs four to six weeks; full custom can run ten to fourteen. Wright’s orders early so the schedule holds.
Wright’s pulls every permit required for the project: building, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, and historic district review when applicable. The homeowner signs the application as the property owner, but the contractor handles the filing, the fees, and every inspection scheduled with the City of Ann Arbor or the relevant township.
For kitchen remodels, most clients set up a small prep area in the dining room or basement and stay through the project. For full bath renovations where the home has only one bath, most clients move out for two to three weeks during the rough-in and tile phase. For whole-home projects, Wright’s offers a phased plan that keeps at least one functional bathroom and one functional cooking space available throughout.
If a project touches the exterior of a home in Old West Side, Old Fourth Ward, Division Street, State Street, or one of the city’s individually designated historic properties, the Historic District Commission reviews the application before a building permit can be issued. Wright’s prepares the application packet (drawings, material samples, photos, and a written narrative) and attends the meeting. Most projects get approved on the first review when the application is prepared correctly. Budget three to six weeks for the process.
Wright’s runs design-build renovation work starting around $45,000 for a focused single-room project. Smaller scopes (a single fixture swap, a paint job, drywall repair) are usually a better fit for a smaller handyman service. The math on overhead, design time, and project management doesn’t work well below that threshold for either side.
Wright’s is a design-build firm, which means design comes with the project. Homeowners can bring their own architect or interior designer; the team has worked with several Ann Arbor-area design firms and integrates well. For most projects, the in-house design process (layout, cabinet plans, finish selections, lighting, hardware) covers everything needed without an outside designer.
The proposal locks in labor, materials at the spec’d level, and an allowance schedule for items the homeowner chooses. Allowances move up or down based on selections, and that math is visible before anything gets ordered. Surprises during demolition (rotten subfloor, dead electrical, hidden water damage) happen in older homes and get documented with photos, a change order, and a homeowner sign-off before the work proceeds. Nothing happens behind the scenes.
Wright’s holds Michigan Residential Builder License #2102236887, current general liability insurance, and worker’s compensation coverage for every employee. Certificates of insurance are available on request and routinely sent to homeowners’ associations or condo boards when projects require them. Every subcontractor on a Wright’s job carries their own license and insurance, verified before the first day on site.
Maybe. Depends on how far out the deadline is and how complex the project is. Wright’s books real start dates with real durations, not optimistic ones. Will will tell you in the first conversation whether the date is achievable; if it isn’t, he’ll say so. Pushing a hard deadline through a renovation almost always costs more and yields worse work, and that’s a tradeoff the team won’t recommend.
One free in-home consultation. Will or Connor visits the house, takes measurements, asks questions, and leaves with enough information to put a proposal together. No deposit, no pressure, no high-pressure close. The proposal arrives within seven to ten business days and the conversation continues from there.
Ready to build something in Ann Arbor?
Wright’s Renovations is currently scheduling Ann Arbor projects for the next two quarters. The free consultation takes about an hour, costs nothing, and ends with either a proposal or a clear-eyed answer about why the project might be a better fit for someone else.
Serving Ann Arbor and every neighborhood inside the Washtenaw County line · View the portfolio
Wright’s Renovations across Washtenaw and beyond.
The Ypsilanti shop is the hub. From there the crews cover six counties and more than a hundred cities. A few of the most-active areas: