Sheet 13 / Remodeling
Older Houston houses get opened up, not patched over
Remodeling has been part of the business for roughly ten years now, alongside the new construction. Kitchens, bathrooms, outdoor kitchens and living spaces, full home remodels, additions, and aging-in-place modifications. Most of it is the same neighborhoods Envision has always built in, Memorial, Bellaire, West University, Tanglewood and River Oaks, in houses built decades ago for a way of living nobody plans a kitchen around anymore.
The same pattern shows up across most of the houses Envision remodels. They were built before anyone was thinking about energy efficiency, so utility bills run high for the square footage. Floor plans carry too many hallways instead of usable room. Kitchens sit cut off from the family room, built for an era when nobody expected to entertain from the stove. Bathrooms are small and dated. Storage ran out decades ago. Low ceilings and small windows leave whole interiors dark even at midday. Some rooms go unused entirely, and the outdoor space around the house was never treated as living space at all, just a yard.
A remodel here is rarely about swapping finishes. It is about correcting a floor plan that was reasonable in 1965 and has not made sense in a long time, and doing it with the same design credentials and construction crew behind it as a new build.
- Kitchens
- Bathrooms
- Outdoor kitchens and living spaces
- Full home remodels
- Additions
- Aging-in-place modifications
Sheet 14 / After the water
After Ike, and after Harvey
David Sharp took twelve feet of water in Hurricane Harvey. He had told people before then that he would rather live in a refrigerator box under a freeway than build a house. He built with Jack anyway, partly because Jack lived in the same neighborhood. The finished home is one hundred percent ADA compliant, with an elevator, a whole-house generator and safe rooms, so the family can stay through the next storm instead of rebuilding again.
Dick Swan is on his fourth project with Envision across fourteen years: repairs after Hurricane Ike in 2008, four bathrooms in 2013, a full kitchen remodel in 2014, and a complete ground-floor rebuild after Harvey. David and Jackie Bergquist rebuilt their downstairs wing after Harvey too, with a laundry, a powder room and a primary suite, the garage expanded from two cars to four, and a covered porch added along the back.
“We've been in our home for two years now and I can tell you there's not a wall out of plumb. The contractor I assumed I'd despise I now consider a friend.”
David Sharp
New build after Hurricane Harvey, twelve feet of water
“Jack Knowlton, with his small professional crew and seasoned subcontractors, has never failed to do high-quality work with excellent communication throughout the project.”
Dick Swan
Four projects over fourteen years, including a full rebuild after Harvey
“Garrett was invaluable to the success of the effort. He coordinated qualified subcontractors and craftsmen efficiently, such that there was always forward progress and no back steps.”
David and Jackie Bergquist
Downstairs rebuild after Harvey
Every remodel starts as a set of drawings, the same as a new build, covered on the design page. The crew that carries it out day to day is covered on the construction page.
Sheet 15 / Start
Tell us what has never worked about the house you are in
A first conversation costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Bring the room that is too dark, the kitchen you have outgrown, or the storm damage nobody has fixed right yet.