How We Work · Serving Greater Phoenix
The Home Remodeling Process in Phoenix
Hiring a contractor shouldn't be a gamble.
So we took the gamble out of it. Every remodel we do runs on the same clear path, from the first conversation to the day you move back into a home you love. You always know what happens next, who is handling it, and what it costs. One team draws the plan, sets the price, and builds the work. Here is what that looks like, step by step.
One team, start to finish.
A good remodel isn't a surprise. It's a plan you can follow.
For most people, the scariest part of a remodel isn't the money or the mess. It's not knowing. What happens after you sign? Who is actually in charge on a Tuesday afternoon? Is the number you agreed to the number you pay? That uncertainty is what keeps a remodel sitting on the someday list for years.
So we made the process the thing we do best. The same clear path, every project, laid out for you before you commit a dollar. You see where it starts, what happens at each step, and where it ends. None of it is a mystery, because a remodel you can follow is a remodel you can trust.
Here is the whole journey on one page. From the first conversation to the review you leave when your home finally fits the life you built.
The Whole Journey
From the first hello to a five-star review
The same path, every project. Nine steps, three simple stages, one team the whole way.
You start as a prospect, carrying a remodel you've put off and a fair amount of doubt about who to trust. The first three steps exist to clear that doubt before you commit to anything.
You become a client the moment the plan and the price are yours, in writing. From there it's design, then construction, handled by the same people who drew it and stand behind every number.
You finish as something better than a satisfied customer. You finish as a raving fan, in a home that fits the life you built, telling your neighbors who did it.
Here is each stage, up close.
Stage One · Discovery
First, we clear the doubt.
These first three steps cost you nothing but a little time. Their whole job is to answer the question sitting underneath every remodel: can I trust these people? You get to that answer before a dollar changes hands.
Start a conversation
Not a sales call. A conversation. We talk through what you're trying to do, roughly what it involves, and whether we're the right team to build it. Fifteen or twenty minutes on the phone. You will leave knowing more than when you started, whether or not we ever work together.
Confirm the fit
Some projects match how we work, and some don't. So we're honest about it early, in both directions. Our best clients want a partner, not the lowest bid, and they'd rather get it right than get it over with. If that's you, we keep going. If it isn't, we'll point you toward someone who fits better.
In-home consultation
This is where it gets real. Our team comes to you, walks the actual space, and listens to how you live in it. We talk through what's possible, flag what isn't, and discuss the magnitude of the project and how it fits the investment you have in mind. You're still not committed to anything. And if you'd like to explore numbers on your own time, our online estimators give you a working range in a few minutes, before we ever meet.
Once we both know it's a fit, the real work begins. That's the moment you become a client, and the moment the schedule starts.
Stage Two · The Plan
Now you're a client. Here's the schedule.
The moment you sign the planning agreement, two things change. You stop being a prospect and become a client, and the schedule we've been keeping in our heads becomes one we share with you. From here on, the dates are yours too.
- As-built plans
- Site conditions
- Design development
- Selections finalized
- Scope of work
- Fixed price set
- Ordering & scheduling
- Construction
- Final walkthrough
Once you're a client, the work runs in three phases. The dates flex with the size and complexity of your project, but the shape never changes.
The planning agreement
Every well-run remodel starts from a detailed plan. The only real question is who writes it, and whether they have to build what they drew. With us, the same team does both. The design phase runs under a paid Project Development Agreement, and it buys you a real plan: actual part numbers, cabinet specs, full selections, and a written scope of work, with no allowances and no vague placeholders. We avoid allowances on purpose, because a number nobody has pinned down only breeds confusion later. The agreement credits toward your project when you build with us.
Design, scope, and fixed price
This is where your remodel gets designed for real and priced for real. We create the as-built plans, assess the site conditions, develop the design, and lock the selections and scope. Because the people designing it are the same people who will build it, every decision gets pressure-tested against how it actually gets constructed, as it's being made. A designer can turn to a project manager mid-design and ask whether a wall can come out before it's drawn into the plan, not after it's found on site. What you hold at the end is a fixed price, in writing, before a nail is driven. Not a range. Not an estimate that drifts. A fixed price you can count on.
With the plan set and the price locked, there's nothing left to guess at. Now we order, we schedule, and we build.
Stage Three · The Build
Now we build the plan.
This is the stage everyone pictures when they think "remodel." It's also the stage that goes smoothest, because everything that usually derails a build, the design, the selections, the price, was already settled before anyone touched a wall.
Ordering and scheduling
With the plan locked and the price fixed, we order materials and build the schedule before demo starts. The items that take longest to arrive, cabinets, tile, fixtures, windows, get ordered up front so your job never stalls waiting on a backordered part halfway through. You get a real schedule instead of a guess, because nothing is being designed on the fly anymore. It was all decided in the plan.
Construction
One project manager runs your job and stays reachable. You always know who is in your home and why. We keep you in the loop as the work moves, and because the design and the price were settled up front, there's no renegotiating in the middle of your remodel. If we open a wall and find something nobody could have seen, we tell you straight, show you what it means, and handle it fairly. That's the honest exception, not a surprise we were hoping to spring on you.
Final walkthrough
Before we call it done, we walk the finished space with you and build a punch list, a running list of any final touches. Nothing gets marked complete because we say so. It gets marked complete because you agree it is. Then we finish the list.
Celebrate
There's a moment near the end of most jobs that tells us how it went. It's when a client starts talking about the next project. The primary bath, someday. The backyard. Phase two, before phase one is even finished. That is not how it usually goes. The usual story is a homeowner quietly counting the days until the crew is gone, sometimes before the punch list is even done. We built this entire process to earn the other ending, the one where the people who remodeled your home are people you'd have back. You move into a space that fits the life you built, the project you put off for years finally behind you and done right, and you're already thinking about what's next with the same team. Close to 70% of our work comes from repeat clients and the people they refer. Do right by homeowners, and they send their friends.
The surest sign a remodel went right? The homeowner is planning phase two with us before we've put the final touches on phase one.
Scott Hochuli, Founder
You've read how it goes. Here's why it works.
Why One Team
The whole reason this works: nobody hands off your project.
Everything you just read comes down to one structural fact. The people who design your remodel and the people who build it are the same company, working from the same plan, standing on the same side of the table as you. That's design-build. It's the reason the project runs smooth, the schedule holds, and you never become the messenger between two companies who each blame the other.
Most remodels are run the other way. You hire a designer, then take their plan out to contractors to bid and build. Two companies, two contracts, and a gap in the middle where the surprises live. Design-build closes that gap. One team, one contract, one point of accountability from the first sketch to the final walkthrough.
A few things worth knowing: remodeling greater Phoenix since 2001, five NARI Contractor of the Year awards, Best of Houzz for design and service, and a 4.9 rating across more than 100 client reviews. Lorrie is an Allied ASID designer. Scott wrote the book on the experience side of this work. And every project runs on a fixed price, in writing, before a nail is driven.
Want the full comparison of design-build versus the traditional split? Read our guide to design-build remodeling in Phoenix.
What Clients Say
Don't take our word for any of it.
A process only matters if it holds up in real homes. Here's what Phoenix-area homeowners say after living through it, and the rating we hold on the platforms where you can check it yourself.
4.9
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Average across 100 client reviews on Google, Houzz, and GuildQuality.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
We fell in love with our Paradise Valley home, but it was outdated and needed serious upgrades, and we were overwhelmed by how much work that was. Calling Hochuli was the best thing we ever did. They made the process so easy from start to finish, and handled everything for us. We will definitely be using them again for our next big project.
Alex F.
Paradise Valley Whole-Home Remodel
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
We hired Hochuli to remodel the primary bath, guest baths, and kitchen in our 1960s Paradise Valley home, with a complete redesign of the layout, and they totally delivered. Lorrie's expertise in space planning was better than expected. There was clear, open, honest communication with the entire team, including subcontractors, and they stuck to the timeline they gave us. We cannot recommend them enough.
Zabreena S.
Paradise Valley Kitchen & Bath Remodel
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
An excellent experience working with the Hochuli team on our home addition, which also included a complete kitchen remodel. They are very organized and communicate super well. Everyone who came to our house was professional and kept us in the loop as the project was being built.
Jerry
Phoenix Addition & Kitchen Remodel
Common questions about the remodeling process
Straight answers. No runaround.
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It starts with a short phone conversation, fifteen or twenty minutes, to talk through what you're planning and whether we're the right team to build it. If it's a fit, we schedule an in-home consultation.
You're not committed to anything through either step. You can also run your project through our online estimators first if you'd like a working range before we ever talk.
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It depends on scope, and the honest ranges are knowable up front. A bathroom is typically a few weeks of construction. A kitchen usually runs one to three months. Whole-home remodels, additions, and ADUs run several months, sometimes longer with permitting.
Those are build timelines. Before the build, the planning phase settles the design and scope, which is what lets you start construction with a real schedule instead of a guess. A clear plan is what keeps a timeline from sliding.
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Yes. Turning an idea into a firm, buildable price takes real work, so the design phase runs under a paid Project Development Agreement. It covers everything needed to turn a concept into a proposal you can build from: actual part numbers, cabinet specs, full selections, and a written scope of work, with no allowances.
For most remodels the fee is five percent of the midpoint of the investment range we discuss. If your project looks like $75,000 to $125,000, the fee is five percent of $100,000, or $5,000. Larger projects that need permitting include engineering and architectural plans and typically run $15,000 to $25,000. The fee is non-refundable, and it credits toward your project when you build with us.
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Sometimes opening a wall reveals something nobody could have seen: old wiring, a hidden leak, a framing issue. When that happens, we tell you straight, show you what it means, and handle it fairly. Because the design and the price were settled before construction, these moments are the rare exception, not a running series of surprises.
The plan holds. Only genuine hidden conditions or work you'd like to add change the overall price, and you know about them the moment we do.
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Often, yes, depending on scope. For a single room like a bathroom or kitchen, most homeowners stay and live around the work, though a kitchen means planning for a stretch without a full kitchen. For a whole-home remodel or major work across much of the house, living elsewhere during construction is sometimes easier.
We talk this through openly during planning, because it affects your daily life for months and shouldn't be a surprise. The right answer depends on the scope and on what you're comfortable with.
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With the traditional split, you hire a designer, then take their plan to contractors to bid and build. Two companies, two contracts, and a gap in the middle where surprises live. Design-build keeps design and construction under one roof, so the team that draws your project is the same team that prices and builds it.
One point of accountability, start to finish. Our full comparison is in our guide to design-build remodeling in Phoenix.
Content last updated: July 2026. This page is reviewed and updated annually.
Ready When You Are
When you're ready, it starts with a conversation.
Not a sales call. A conversation. We'll talk through what you're planning, the rough scope, and whether we're the right team to build it. You'll leave knowing more than when you came, whether or not we ever work together. You've read the whole process now. You know how it goes, and you know there's nothing waiting to surprise you. That's the point.
Finally love the home you're in.
Fifteen or twenty minutes on the phone, at a time that works for you.