Act as your own general contractor on a major remodel

  1. Document existing conditions with measured drawings and photos
    3 hours

    This step produces the record every subcontractor bids from: a dimensioned floor plan, elevation sketches, and a date-stamped photo set. The drawings do not need CAD precision — hand-drawn to ¼″ scale on ¼″ grid paper is standard for owner-builder permits — but they must be exhaustive.

    The most expensive mistake is skipping ceiling heights or MEP stub-out locations: that omission guarantees a change order later.

    Measure the main floor.

    1. Draw an overall plan showing every wall, door, window, and built-in; label each room.
    2. Note the ceiling height in every space, including closets.
    3. Record window rough openings — width × height × sill height above finish floor — and door rough openings (width × height).

    Measure the systems.

    1. In kitchens and baths, mark the location and size of every plumbing stub-out, electrical outlet, switch, and light-fixture box, measured from the nearest corner and from the finished floor.
    2. Indicate HVAC register locations and duct sizes where visible.
    3. Include the main electrical panel (breaker ampacity, number of open slots) and the water heater and HVAC equipment model and serial numbers.

    Sketch each wall elevation where cabinets, tile, or trim will be installed.

    Photograph everything. Set your phone or camera to embed a date stamp in the file metadata.

    1. Shoot every wall head-on from two distances — full-wall and detail.
    2. Shoot every corner from both directions.
    3. Shoot the ceiling (fixtures, fans, texture), the floor (material, condition, transitions), and the exterior of every exterior wall.

    Shoot what gets covered. Photograph the attic above the remodel and the crawlspace or basement below — the structure, insulation, pipes, and wires — before they are covered. Shoot each MEP stub-out from two angles.

    Organize by room. Sort the photos into folders by room and upload them to a cloud drive with the project name and date in the folder name.

    Keep: the measured drawing as a scanned PDF, the dated photo folders, and a note of any conditions you could not access — locked rooms, buried pipes, concealed framing. Flag those as allowances in the scope document so bidders know where assumptions were necessary.