Who This Is For
Serious Austin homeowners, architects, designers, and owner representatives planning a substantial whole-home or multi-room renovation.
Luxury home remodeling in Austin
Luxury Remodel Contractor in Austin
Bailey & Bear plans substantial whole-home and multi-room Austin renovations around defined structural scope, premium selections, written assumptions and exclusions, and documented change handling. Kitchen, bath, exterior, and building-system work can be coordinated when the home requires a broader design-led scope.
Bailey & Bear Construction plans luxury whole-home and multi-room remodels in Austin. The published Austin market range for high-end whole-home work is $100 to $300+ per square foot, commonly $150,000 to $500,000+. Structural scope and specification level decide where a house lands, and each remodel is quoted after reviewing the house and the selections.
Whole-home and multi-room focus · Design and selection readiness · Scope clarity before work begins
Luxury remodel quick answers
What does a luxury remodel include?
High-end kitchen, bath, whole-home, and finish-update scope planning, plus structural, framing, roofing, siding, windows, drainage, and exterior-repair coordination when a whole-home scope requires it.
What changes a luxury remodel budget most?
Moving the floor plan, especially a load-bearing wall, is the largest single step change. On a whole-home scope, cabinetry is usually the biggest line after structure.
How are changes handled after work starts?
Every change is priced in writing, with its schedule impact, before it is built. Nothing gets agreed verbally and invoiced later.
Which Austin neighborhoods does this cover?
High-end remodels across Westlake, Tarrytown, Lake Austin, Barton Creek, Rollingwood, and Pemberton Heights.
Design-led renovation with scope clarity
Ideal Fit
- A defined renovation scope and reliable property access
- Design direction, drawings, or selections ready for review
- High-end finish expectations with a realistic planning range and schedule
How to Start
Share your project address, rooms and intended changes, approximate square footage if known, target schedule, drawings or scope notes, current condition, design direction, and optional planning range. Bailey & Bear will review fit and outline the next step.
See completed full remodels at Lathrop, Bremner, and Staunton, then review the Austin whole-home renovation cost guide.
Share remodel detailsOur work
Our project gallery, process transparency, and scope discipline give Austin owners a clearer way to compare remodel partners without fake testimonials.
Need a kitchen or bathroom page?
The real variable
What separates a $150,000 remodel from a $450,000 one is rarely the square footage
Two Austin houses of the same size, with the same rooms opened up, can land at opposite ends of the published $150,000 to $500,000+ range. The footprint is almost never the reason. Specification level and structural scope are — and both are decided by the owner, in a handful of choices made before anyone orders material.
This is also why no honest builder can hand you a per-square-foot number over the phone. The market range exists; where your project sits inside it is a function of the six decisions below.
| The decision | What it actually changes |
|---|---|
| Does the floor plan move? | Leaving walls where they are keeps a remodel in the finish trades. Moving a load-bearing wall pulls in beams, posts, support for the new load path, usually an engineer’s drawings, and a different permit path. It is the largest single step change in the whole budget. See load-bearing wall removal. |
| Cabinetry | Stock and semi-custom cabinetry is bought in standard sizes and made to fit with fillers. Shop-built custom is drawn for your room, takes the real ceiling height, and costs a multiple of the same linear footage. On a whole-home scope it is usually the biggest line after structure. |
| Stone and tile | Tile is priced by the box. Slab is priced by the slab, then by the fabricator’s labor on top of it, and a book-matched or waterfall install is mostly that labor. Large formats, mitered edges and pattern layouts all add setting hours to identical square footage. |
| Windows and exterior doors | Reusing the existing openings is one job. Changing sizes means header work, framing, exterior repair, and new trim or siding around every opening that moved. Clad-wood and steel units also carry the longest lead times on the project, which makes them a schedule decision as much as a cost one. |
| Plumbing and lighting fixtures | Across a whole house, the spread between a builder-grade package and a specified designer package runs into tens of thousands of dollars, and almost none of it shows up in the labor. It is the fastest line to move in either direction once you know where you stand. |
| How much of the house you open | Opening ceilings, exterior walls or the floor system exposes systems that were never in the plan — see the era table below. Opening less is cheaper and less certain. Opening more costs money now and removes unknowns later. |
Every figure on this page is an Austin market range for high-end work, not a Bailey & Bear rate card. We quote each remodel after reviewing the house and the selections.
Reading the number
A remodel budget is five buckets, and a per-square-foot number usually contains only one
When two proposals land far apart, the gap is often not the work. It is that the two numbers are describing different things. Before comparing anything, separate the project into the five buckets it is actually made of.
- ConstructionThe labor and materials the general contractor carries: demolition, structure, the trades, drywall, install, finish carpentry, paint. This is the bucket most people mean when they say “the bid.”
- SelectionsEverything you choose and we install — cabinetry, tile, stone, plumbing and lighting fixtures, appliances, hardware, flooring. It is the largest swing in the project and typically the least defined at signing.
- Design and engineeringArchitect or designer fees, a structural engineer wherever the plan moves, a survey where the exterior changes. On a whole-home scope this is real money, and it is spent before construction begins.
- Permits, fees and utility workCity review and permit fees, plus any service, meter or drainage work the scope triggers. Ask whether a quoted number includes them or excludes them. Both are legitimate; the difference is not small.
- ContingencyWhat you hold back for whatever the house reveals once it is open. It belongs in your number, not inside the builder’s price. A contractor who buries contingency in the bid looks expensive next to one who does not, and the one who does not will be back asking for it.
An allowance is not a price
The most useful question you can ask about a remodel contract is how many of its lines are allowances. An allowance is a placeholder: a dollar figure held for a selection nobody has made yet. A specified selection is a real product with a real price attached. Both sit in the same column of the same proposal, and only one of them is actually known.
A contract that is mostly allowances is not a fixed price. It is an estimate with a signature on it. The fix is not to eliminate allowances, because early in a project some are unavoidable, but to convert the biggest ones into specified selections before demolition — starting with cabinetry, appliances, tile and stone, and windows. Those four settle most of the distance between $150,000 and $500,000, and every one of them has a lead time that punishes a late decision.
Why the first two weeks move the number
What opening the walls tends to find in an Austin house
Austin’s housing stock is not one thing, and the era a house was built in predicts most of what a remodel finds behind the drywall. None of it is a defect; it is what was normal practice at the time. It matters because it is the most common reason a budget moves, and because nearly all of it surfaces in the first two weeks after demolition.
| When it was built | Commonly found | What it does to the scope |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-1950 central Austin Tarrytown, Pemberton Heights, Clarksville, Travis Heights | Pier-and-beam floors, little or no insulation in the exterior walls, original galvanized supply and cast-iron drain lines, early cloth-sheathed or knob-and-tube wiring, and floor framing that later trades have cut through. | The finish scope you wanted arrives attached to a systems scope you did not plan for. The upside is access: a crawlspace makes replacing supply and drain lines far less invasive than the same work over a slab. |
| 1950s–1970s ranch Allandale, Crestview, Rollingwood, older Westlake | Slab-on-grade construction, cast-iron drain lines cast into or under that slab, an undersized electrical service, ductwork run through an unconditioned attic, and in some mid-1970s houses aluminum branch wiring. | Anything under the slab is the expensive unknown, because reaching it means cutting concrete. Relocating a kitchen or a bathroom in one of these houses is a plumbing decision before it is a design one. |
| 1980s–2000s custom Westlake, Barton Creek, Lake Austin, Steiner Ranch | Large volumes and complex rooflines, first-generation zoned HVAC now at the end of its service life, and in some late-1980s to mid-1990s houses polybutylene supply piping. | Fewer surprises inside the walls, more scope in the exterior envelope and the mechanical systems. Hillside sites add access difficulty, drainage and retaining work that a flat lot never raises. |
Two Austin-specific notes cut across all three. East and central Austin sit largely on expansive clay soils that move with moisture, so foundation behavior and drainage are part of any serious remodel conversation here; west of MoPac the ground is largely limestone, which trades soil movement for the cost of cutting into rock. And the older the house, the more likely it is that a previous remodel — not the original builder — is what you are really working around.
These are patterns, not diagnoses. The point of publishing them is not to predict your house. It is to explain why a contingency line exists at all, and why an assessment has to come before a price. Where a previous builder has already closed the walls up and left, the unknowns are larger again: see what to do when a contractor abandons an Austin remodel.
Sequence
The decisions that have to be locked before demolition, and what each one holds up
Remodels rarely go over budget in one large event. They go over in a series of small, late decisions, each costing a multiple of what the same decision would have cost earlier. The order below is the order the job needs them in, which is not the order they are enjoyable to make.
| Decide | Because it holds up |
|---|---|
| The floor plan and any structural change | Everything. Beams, posts, support for the new load path, the drawings, the permit route and the schedule all descend from it. A plan change after framing is the most expensive change order on a residential job. |
| Windows and exterior doors | Framing. Openings are built to the unit, not the other way round, and clad-wood and steel units carry the longest lead times in the project. |
| Appliances | Cabinetry, electrical and plumbing. A cabinet shop draws to the exact appliance, so a range or refrigerator swapped late means new shop drawings and sometimes new rough-in. Appliances are a framing decision wearing the disguise of a shopping decision. |
| Cabinetry | Countertop templating and the whole finish schedule behind it. Custom cabinetry is built to order and cannot be accelerated by paying more once the shop is loaded. |
| Plumbing fixtures and valve trim | Tile. Valve bodies are set in the wall before waterproofing and tile go on. Changing a shower valve after tile is a demolition, not a swap. |
| Tile and stone layout | Waterproofing, substrate and setting hours. Layout drives labor as much as the material does, and it gets settled on paper before a setter is standing in the room. |
| The lighting and electrical plan | Drywall. Walking the rough-in with the walls still open is the last cheap moment to move a switch, add a circuit or shift a can. After drywall and paint the same change is three trades. |
How changes get handled once work has started
Some changes are unavoidable. The house reveals something, or you see a space framed and want it different. What separates a controlled project from a runaway one is not whether changes happen, but whether each one is priced in writing, with its schedule impact, before it is built. Verbal changes are where the relationship goes wrong, because both parties remember them differently and only one of them is holding the invoice.
Planning the calendar rather than the cost? How long a home remodel takes in Austin covers the three clocks — design and selections, City of Austin permit review, and construction — against real project schedules. Whether your scope needs a permit at all is covered on permits for an Austin remodel, and the question most whole-home clients underestimate is answered on living in the house during a remodel.
Where this page hands off
A luxury remodel is rarely one page’s worth of decisions. Focused on a single room: kitchen remodel Austin, bathroom remodel Austin. Planning a full renovation: whole-home renovation. Still deciding whether we are the right firm at all: what to ask a general contractor in Austin, plus high-end general contractor. Rebuilding after water, fire or storm damage: water damage repair and rebuild. By neighborhood: Westlake, Barton Creek, Lake Austin, Travis Heights.
Who this helps
Owners planning a whole-home or multi-room renovation who want the scope, the exclusions and the money settled on paper before demolition, rather than discovered during it. Also owners' reps and designers who need a builder that will price a drawing set honestly instead of bidding low and recovering it in change orders.
Process transparency
We walk the house, read whatever drawings exist, and write down three things: what is included, what is explicitly excluded, and what is still an allowance rather than a price. Every change after that is priced in writing, with its schedule impact, before it is built. Nothing gets agreed verbally and invoiced later.
Recent work
The Bailey & Bear project gallery gives homeowners visual context for finish quality, scope complexity, and completed work.
Why choose Bailey & Bear for this Austin remodel?
One accountable owner from the first walkthrough to the final walk, a fixed price in writing before demolition, and photographic documentation throughout. For documented remodel scope and finished work, see the Fiorellino full-home remodel. 5.0 across 58 Google reviews.
Project types this page fits
- Whole-home or multi-room Austin remodels where sequencing, access, finish levels, and owner communication need early planning.
- High-end kitchen, bath, and living-space renovations where drawings, finish expectations, and exclusions should be clarified before pricing.
- Luxury remodel plans where timeline windows, trade coordination, cleanup standards, and change-order expectations need to be visible up front.
Before we start
Five things belong on paper before anyone swings a hammer: the scope and its written exclusions, license and insurance documentation, the warranty terms, who is responsible for cleanup and debris removal, and the timeline window with what happens if it slips. If a builder will not put those in writing at contract, that is the answer to the question you were asking.
Who should request this?
Best fit: Austin homeowners and owners reps planning high-end renovations, whole-home remodels, kitchen/bath combinations, or finish-sensitive work.
What happens after you reach out?
After you send rooms involved, photos, finish goals, timeline, and constraints, Bailey & Bear can shape the next walkthrough or scope discussion.
See our work
Review Bailey & Bear project gallery, compare related Austin construction services, or call directly if the remodel is urgent.
Fiorellino — full remodel
A modern Austin home that kept its original charm: new hardwood floors, updated kitchen and baths, and a herringbone kitchen backsplash. (2022)
What clients say
Rated 5.0 across 58 Google reviews. “Detail oriented and gets the job done.” — Nathan R.
Neighborhoods we serve
High-end remodels across Austin’s core neighborhoods: Westlake, Tarrytown, Lake Austin, Barton Creek, Rollingwood, and Pemberton Heights.
By room
Focused on one space? See our kitchen remodel, bathroom remodel, and Tarrytown kitchen pages.
Whole-home & more
Planning a full renovation? See our whole-home renovation and Travis Heights remodeling pages.
Ready to define the high-end remodel scope?
Send rooms involved, photos, finish goals, drawings if available, timing constraints, and budget guardrails so Bailey & Bear can see the project path clearly. No obligation; send the basics and expect a clear next-step reply.
Related remodel paths
Kitchen remodel Austin | Bathroom remodel Austin | Water damage repair & rebuild Austin | Remodeling services | Austin general contractor | Construction services hub | Project gallery
Commercial work
Commercial contractor Austin | Commercial renovation Austin | Tenant improvement Austin
Clean handoff
For post-work handoff cleaning, Bailey & Bear Cleaning supports post-construction cleaning in Austin.
Move the home remodel from idea to scope
If the project includes kitchen, bathroom, exterior, or commercial-style finish work, include those links in the request so the scope stays in one place.
Bailey & Bear is a high-end general contractor in Austin for the full project.
★★★★★
"Matt did a great job on my interior remodeling — detail oriented and gets the job done."
— Nathan R., verified Google review · 5.0★ from 58 reviews
Serving Austin-area neighborhoods including Westlake, Lakeway, Steiner Ranch, and Dripping Springs.