Tell us about
the house.

Our next whole-house start is August 2026. Kitchens, baths and smaller renovations usually find a gap sooner — sometimes within four months, because those jobs slot between larger ones. Design work can start immediately regardless; it takes two to four months anyway, so the wait is less than it sounds.

Whole-house renovations in Greater Portland have run us $380 to $620 a square foot over the last two years, depending on how much of the house gets touched and how much of it is original. New construction runs $450 to $700. A kitchen with our own cabinetry starts around $180k. If your number is well under those, tell us anyway — we'll say so on the phone rather than after you've paid for design.

Cost-plus with a fixed fee. Our fee is set in dollars when you sign, so it doesn't grow as the job does — which removes our incentive to let it grow. You see every subcontractor invoice, every lumber receipt and every hour of our own labour in a shared spreadsheet. On small, fully-specified jobs like a bath we'll write a fixed price if you prefer it.

Not necessarily. Our designer Marguerite Oyelaran handles most renovations and additions from schematic to permit set. For a complex new build, or anything with a difficult site, we'll usually recommend one and we work happily with Sable & Pine, Whitten Ellis and two others in town. If you already have an architect you love, bring them.

On a kitchen or a bath, yes. On a whole-house renovation, we'll tell you honestly that it costs you more and takes longer — usually six to ten weeks longer, because we phase the work around you and lose efficiency at every handoff. About half our clients do it anyway, and we plan a working kitchen and one functioning bath into the schedule when they do.

Much of the West End, Munjoy Hill and Deering Street sit inside Portland's historic districts. Exterior changes go to the Historic Preservation Board, which meets twice monthly; a straightforward window or porch application takes six to eight weeks. We prepare and present the application ourselves — we've been in front of that board more than thirty times.

A lead carpenter and two to four of our carpenters, all on payroll, plus one project manager who carries no more than three jobs. Mechanicals go to four subcontractors we've used for over a decade — the same electrician has wired every Halstead house since 2013. You'll know all their names by week two.

Change orders are written and signed before the work happens, so an overrun should never be a surprise. Where it does happen, it is almost always discovery — a rotted sill, a chimney with no liner, knob-and-tube inside a closed wall. We carry a contingency line of 8 to 12% on old houses precisely for that, and unspent contingency comes back to you at closeout. Ninety-two percent of our jobs finish within 5% of contract.