Every blown renovation budget fails the same way: the homeowner priced the visible things and the project included the invisible ones. This planner breaks the budget into the same construction phases we use to price real jobs — demo through final finishes — with Chicago self-perform ranges. (For the full story on where kitchen money goes, read our cost breakdown.)
Plan a Budget
Pick the project and quality tier — the planner builds the phase-by-phase ranges we’d use to price the real job, in construction order. Enter your target budget to see how it compares.
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- The full planner above — all projects and tiers, no signup
- Chicago-calibrated price ranges per phase
- Contingency guidance
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- Downloadable spreadsheet version (Excel) you can keep and edit
- Printable budget summary to bring to contractor meetings
- Cost-trend updates as Chicago pricing shifts
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