From first call to finished space
Six phases. One team from start to finish. Every Wright’s project follows the same path so you always know what is happening, who is responsible, and what comes next.
You describe the vision
This is a conversation, not a sales call. You talk about the space, what bothers you about it, and what you wish it could be. We listen, ask a few questions about budget range and timeline, and tell you honestly whether the project is a fit.
No commitment. No cost. No surprise visit from a pushy salesperson.
We visit your home
We come to the actual space. We measure everything, photograph the rooms and the systems behind them, and ask how your household really uses this part of the house. Not how it looks in a magazine, but how it lives on a Tuesday.
You will know the realistic budget range before any commitment.
You receive a fixed price
What lands in your inbox is not a vague estimate. It is a documented scope, a material allowance schedule, a phase timeline, and a firm price. The number is built to hold. Surprises during the build are not something we accept as normal.
The price you see is the price you pay. Period.
We handle the logistics
This is the quiet, organized work that makes the loud part fast. Permits get pulled, materials get sourced and staged, the crew gets briefed, and the calendar gets locked. By day one of construction, the only variable left is the build itself.
You finalize material picks. We handle literally everything else.
Your space transforms
The part most people picture when they say renovation. Our crews work predictable hours, clean up at the end of every day, and keep you informed without you having to chase anyone down. The schedule you signed off on is the schedule that runs.
You will never have to wonder what is happening on your own project.
You walk into your new home
The last day on site is the first day the warranty clock starts. Every surface gets inspected. Every punch-list item gets resolved on the spot. You walk the space with the team that built it, and five years of workmanship coverage begins at that handshake.
Five-year workmanship warranty. More than double the Michigan standard.
The receipts, where they belong
Licensed, insured, bonded, and backed by a five-year workmanship warranty. Listed on the homepage, not buried in a footer link.
“If a homeowner can’t tell what’s happening on their own project by the end of any given week, that’s the company’s failure, not theirs.”
Fifteen minutes to clarity
The first step is a phone call. No cost, no commitment, no contractor showing up uninvited. Just an honest conversation about what you want and whether we can deliver it.
How a design-build remodel runs, from first call to final walkthrough
A remodel should not feel like a bet. The design-build process at Wright’s Renovations puts design, pricing and construction under one contract, prices every job line by line and tracks each week of work on a schedule chart inside JobTread. This page walks through the whole thing, including the surprises, so you know what happens before it happens.
Five phases of the design-build process
Every design-build project moves through the same five phases, whether the job is a powder room or a full second story. The sequence below is the actual operating system behind Wright’s bathroom renovations, home additions and everything in between, not a brochure version of it.
Discovery call and site walk
It starts with a short phone call about scope, budget range and timing. If the fit makes sense, the next step is a free 60-90 minute walkthrough of your home. You point out what does not work; the estimator measures, asks how the space needs to function and gives honest feasibility and budget feedback on the spot. Homeowners comparing every renovation contractor in Michigan tend to expect a hard sell at this point. There is nothing to sign that day.
Budget honesty runs both directions in that first meeting. If the number you have in mind cannot build what you described, you hear it in the driveway, not three weeks later inside a proposal. Most homeowners leave the walkthrough holding a realistic range and a clear next step, even the ones who decide to wait a year.
Design and the line-item estimate
Next comes design: measurements, drawings and material selections, handled by the same company that will swing the hammers. On kitchen projects, cabinet, counter and appliance decisions get locked before pricing is final, because those choices drive half the budget.
The estimate itself is built line by line in JobTread from current trade pricing, not a square-foot guess. You see labor, materials and subcontractor costs for each part of the job, and the total arrives as clear options rather than a single take-it-or-leave-it number. Line items matter later, too. When a mid-build decision comes up, swapping tile or adding an outlet, the cost difference reads against a real baseline instead of a mystery number.
Pre-construction: permits, orders and a plan in man-days
After signing, the job gets a start date, a dedicated foreman and a work plan measured in man-days. Wright’s pulls the permits and books the inspections. Materials with long lead times, cabinets, windows, specialty tile, get ordered before demolition so the build never stalls waiting on a truck. You also receive client access to JobTread, where the budget, the calendar and every document live in one place. If a loan is part of the picture, renovation financing options get arranged before day one.
This phase is where remodels are usually won or lost, and it is invisible from the street. Two to six weeks of ordering, sequencing and scheduling happen before a single hammer swings, which is exactly why the loud weeks feel fast instead of frantic.
Build weeks: daily logs and a posted schedule
Demolition starts on the published date. Floors get protected, dust barriers go up and the crew follows the plan the foreman posted. Every evening the foreman writes a daily log in JobTread with photos, so you can check progress from your desk instead of guessing from the driveway. Crews run this same rhythm across all six Southeast Michigan counties, and each completed man-day feeds the weekly schedule chart covered below.
You never have to be home for the work. Access gets arranged during pre-construction, the crew leaves the site broom-clean each day and the end-of-day walkthrough happens on your phone wherever you happen to be.
Closeout, the punch list and a 5-year warranty
The project ends with a walkthrough and a written punch list. Nothing is final until that list reads done, and the last payment follows the finished work rather than a calendar date. Every job then carries a 5-year craftsmanship warranty on labor, on top of manufacturer warranties on materials. The same closeout runs a nine-day deck repair and a whole-home renovation in Birmingham.
Warranty visits get scheduled like regular work, with the same daily-log paper trail. A loose cabinet hinge in month 14 is not a favor you have to chase; it is a scheduled item with a date.
Why one team and one contract matter
Design-bid-build, the traditional route, asks you to hire a designer, take the drawings out for bids, pick a builder and then referee the finger-pointing when the drawings and the job site disagree. Design-build removes the referee job. The people who priced the work are the people building it, so there is no gap for blame to fall into.
That structure is also why the schedule chart can exist at all. A builder who did not write the estimate cannot commit to man-days with a straight face. Because Wright’s home remodeling teams estimate, design and build under one roof, the plan on the chart is a promise the same company has to keep.
The schedule chart you read every Friday
Every estimate converts the scope of work into man-days: one crew member, one full day. A typical basement finishing project might carry 60 man-days; a composite deck build might carry 20. The chart starts at the full number and works its way down to zero.
Each week, the man-days the crew completed come off the total. Two lines tell the story: a dashed line shows the plan, a solid line shows reality. The crew’s velocity, meaning the man-days finished per week, sets the projected completion date. When velocity drops, the gap between the lines shows it that same week, and the project manager explains why and what changes.
Days of work remaining, by project week. Sample 60 man-day basement finish.
Change orders move the line the day they get approved, in both directions. Added scope pushes it up; a credit pulls it down. A large home addition in Ann Arbor and a small repair read the same way, which means the projected finish date on the chart is always the real one, never the polite one.
Percent-complete numbers hide problems because they measure the past. Days of work remaining measures the future, the only part anyone can still do something about. It is the difference between a rearview mirror and a windshield, and it is why the update lands every Friday even when the news is boring.
Surprises happen on every remodel. The response is already written.
Opening walls in a 1940s Ann Arbor bungalow or a 1990s Canton colonial always carries unknowns. What separates a calm project from a chaotic one is not whether surprises appear. It is whether the response was decided before demolition day.
Here is how that looks in practice. Mid-demo on a hall bathroom, the crew finds a rotted subfloor around the tub drain. By that evening the photos sit in the daily log. Within two days there are priced options in JobTread: patch the affected section or replace the subfloor to the joists. The homeowner picks one, signs and the chart adds the days. Nobody negotiates in a hallway and nothing rides on memory.
Surprises that work in your favor
- Demolition reveals framing in better shape than the estimate assumed. The contingency budgeted for repairs comes back to you as a written credit, not quietly absorbed into the bill.
- Original hardwood shows up under old carpet. Refinishing gets priced next to the planned flooring, and you choose, sometimes saving thousands.
- Materials land ahead of their lead time and an inspection comes through early. The schedule pulls forward, which is a big reason the on-time record sits at 94%.
- An allowance item, tile, plumbing fixtures, hardware, comes in under the allowance. The difference appears as a credit on the next invoice.
Surprises that cost time or money
- Water damage behind tile or under a subfloor that no walkthrough could have seen.
- Wiring or plumbing from an earlier era that code requires updating once the wall is open.
- A selected material goes out of stock in the middle of an order, forcing a re-selection or a wait.
- A municipal inspection date slips and holds up the next trade in the sequence.
The same four moves, every time
Stop and show you
Work in the affected area pauses. The foreman photographs the condition and posts it to the daily log the same day, so you see what the crew sees.
Price the options in writing
The project manager prices two or three ways forward inside JobTread, each with its cost and its schedule impact spelled out.
You decide
No added work proceeds without your written approval. Verbal pricing does not exist on a Wright’s job.
The chart tells the truth
An approved change re-baselines the schedule the day it is signed, so next Friday’s update shows the real finish date.
Who you hear from, and how often
Silence is what homeowners fear most in the middle of a project, so communication runs on a fixed cadence instead of depending on whoever remembers to call. Owners of commercial renovation projects get the same rhythm, scaled to the job.
The foreman’s daily log in JobTread: photos of the day’s work, what got done and what happens tomorrow.
The project manager’s weekly update: the schedule chart, the budget position, any decisions needed from you and the coming week’s plan.
The office answers Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at (734) 540-0347. Questions do not wait for the Friday call.
Payments, permits and protections
Wright’s Renovations is a licensed Michigan residential builder, license #2102236887, and carries full insurance on every job site. Permits get pulled by the company, never left for the homeowner, and inspection records live in the project file you can open anytime.
Payments follow a milestone draw schedule tied to completed work: a deposit to hold the start date and order materials, progress draws as phases finish and a final payment released only after the punch list closes. If spreading the cost out makes the project work better, financing plans cover most budgets and credit profiles.
Straight answers on timing, budget and living through it
How long a remodel actually takes
A full bathroom typically runs three to five weeks of build time; kitchens run six to 10; basements and additions vary more with scope and inspections. The honest number for your project comes out of the man-day plan in phase three, not a slogan. Michigan seasons matter too: exterior work has to clear frost and freeze windows, while interior work runs year-round.
What a realistic budget conversation sounds like
Ranges beat false precision. A kitchen remodel in this region commonly lands between $45,000 and $130,000 depending on cabinets, counters, appliances and layout changes. The first walkthrough places your project inside or outside that band without spin.
Living in the house while the crew works
Most clients stay home through their projects. Dust walls, floor protection, a working path to bedrooms and a temporary kitchen or bath plan get set during pre-construction. The daily log tells you each evening what tomorrow brings, so school mornings and work calls can plan around the loud days.
Where a project usually starts
The five phases run the same way no matter which room starts the conversation. These pages show what each project type involves and what it tends to cost across Southeast Michigan.
Watch the design-build process run on your own project
The consultation is free, takes 60 to 90 minutes and ends with straight feasibility and budget feedback, whether or not Wright’s turns out to be the right fit. Call (734) 540-0347, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or start online.