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The Wait to Renovate
Luis Orozco, with his three daughters, and his wife, Birgit, thought about buying a larger house, but decided to renovate instead after finding they could not afford to move up in their own neighborhood.
(Photos By Hans Ericsson For The Washington Post)
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Mulholland and Wilder agree that homeowners will have to adjust to the waiting game.
While they blame regulatory back-ups for part of the problem, they note that homeowners themselves have to shoulder some of the responsibility for those back-ups. The sheer number of projects awaiting review is slowing the agencies, Mulholland said.
"And part of the reason is that projects have become much more complex, more sophisticated, larger," he said. "Now we're reworking entire homes, adding much more space."
People also aren't content with simple upgrades, he said. Kitchens and bathrooms, the heart of the remodeling business, "are much more complicated" than they used to be. And throughout the house there "are more systems" that are interconnected.
Homeowners, meanwhile, have absorbed "false expectations" about completion times from home remodeling TV shows, said Peter Pagenstecher of Brenneman & Pagenstecher Residential Architects and Builders in Kensington.
"Those shows drive me crazy," he said. While they suggest that a project can be completed in days or even hours, "the amount of people that it takes to make that happen in that time frame is unbelievable," he said.
Back-ups at the permitting agencies are "killing everybody," said Wilder.
Even Montgomery County, which "has always been a great county to deal with, is taking six to eight weeks for a residential remodeling permit" compared with what sometimes took only a day to clear as recently as six months ago, Pagenstecher said.
The county "every year keeps adding additional requirements" that slow the process, he said. This year, it's topological requirements, he said.
Pagenstecher said he understands that the county is reacting in many cases to concerns by neighbors over the outburst of towering, sprawling "McMansions," and of large additions that seem to overcrowd lots. But he said he thinks the overlays of reviews may be excessive in some cases. And he said they're adding to homeowners' costs and thus to further price escalation.
Mulholland of Case Design/ Remodeling said: "We're seeing lead times for permits stretch out . . . everywhere. In Montgomery County, Fairfax, Arlington, D.C., the city of Rockville. There seems to almost be a spring season for permits, almost like the spring season for building."
He estimated that it's taking about "50 percent longer than last year" to get permits. "We're typically telling clients a permit for your standard remodeling project will take four to eight weeks. A couple years ago, we could basically count on getting it in two to three weeks."
