Remodel or Move? Two DFW Homeowners Who Stayed

For a lot of homeowners, the question behind a remodeling budget is whether to remodel at all or sell and move. Two of our clients in Dallas-Fort Worth faced that choice and decided to stay. Here is what their projects involved.

The Cox family in Keller

Kathryn Cox and her family bought their Keller home in 2015. Over the years they made smaller updates, like flooring, a powder bath refresh, wallpaper and paint, but nothing structural.

The bigger project started with the backyard. The family spends a lot of time outside and wanted a patio that worked in the Texas heat. As the conversations went on, they decided they would be staying for years, and the plan grew into a whole-home remodel.

The work touched nearly the whole main floor:

• Load-bearing columns came out to open up the living spaces.
• The fireplace was removed, and a wall of windows became a wide opening onto a covered patio.
• In the kitchen, the stove, plumbing and refrigerator all moved, and the pantry was relocated to make room for a wet bar.
• The laundry room and an upstairs bathroom were renovated, and new flooring ran through the house.

Demolition turned up framing that was not what anyone expected, and the ceiling needed steel beams. “We had to add two steel beams in the ceiling of the Cox house,” Erik Finholm, owner of Fin Home Custom Contracting, said in an interview. “Because we demoed it, and what we thought was there, logically as a builder, wasn’t even close.”

Construction was estimated at three months and finished one week early. The family moved out while the work was underway, which Kathryn recommends for a project this size. You can read the Cox family’s story or see photos of the project.

The Young family in Dallas

Clay Young had wanted acreage in Denton or Argyle, with room for a shop. After weighing it with his wife, they decided to stay in their 1965 Dallas home and do it properly.

They had already made cosmetic updates over the years, such as paint, tile and countertops. This time the kitchen and primary bathroom went down to the studs. The kitchen had water intrusion that had to be repaired before any finishes went in, and landscaping and irrigation changes were made to keep it from coming back. Drawings were approved before construction began.

The project was projected at 60 days and finished in 58. Clay describes the result as “a brand-new 1965 house.” Read the Young family’s story.

What the two projects had in common

Both houses had something behind the walls that changed the plan: the framing in Keller and the water damage in Dallas. That is why we recommend setting aside a contingency of 10% to 20% of the budget, with the higher end for older homes. Both projects still finished ahead of their projected schedules.

Weighing it for your own home

If you are deciding between remodeling and moving, start with what the work would cost. Our DFW remodeling cost guide, which Digital Journal covered when we released it, has 2026 ranges for kitchens, bathrooms and whole-home remodels. The remodel or move calculator compares the two side by side.

Both of these projects centered on the kitchen. See our kitchen remodeling page for more of that work, or contact us or call (214) 972-6402 to talk through your home.