# Whole-Home Renovation in Manor, TX: 2026 Cost Guide

By the Home Remodel Pro team · published 2026-11-03 · Whole-Home Renovation, Manor

A down-to-studs whole-home renovation in Manor typically runs $200,000-$400,000 for a 1,800-2,400 square foot house, with lighter whole-house work in the existing footprint landing closer to $120,000-$200,000. Construction itself takes 4 to 8 months, with design and permitting finished before anyone swings a hammer. This guide walks through what moves your number up or down, how permitting works for a Manor address, and the week-by-week shape of the job.

## What a whole-home renovation costs in Manor

We price whole-home work as one contract, not a stack of trade estimates, so the ranges below assume everything under one roof: demolition, framing repairs, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, insulation, drywall, flooring, millwork, paint, fixtures and final cleaning.

Two things drive the number more than anything else: square footage and how far back you go. Resurfacing a 2,000 square foot house — floors, paint, trim, lighting, both bathrooms, a kitchen in its existing footprint — is a different project from opening the plan, moving plumbing walls and replacing the HVAC system. The kitchen alone is usually the single largest line item.

Our published Austin-area kitchen ranges carry straight over to Manor: $45,000-$70,000 for a refresh in the existing footprint with new cabinets, counters, lighting and fixtures; $70,000-$110,000 when the layout opens up and plumbing moves; and $110,000 and up for a kitchen taken to the studs with custom cabinetry and high-end appliances. Bathrooms inside a whole-home scope typically run $28,000-$55,000 each depending on size, tile detail and whether the plumbing locations change.

- Cosmetic whole-house, existing footprint: roughly $75-$110 per square foot
- Down to studs, same floor plan: roughly $110-$165 per square foot
- Down to studs with plan changes, new mechanicals and custom millwork: $165-$225+ per square foot
- Moves you up: moving plumbing, new HVAC and ductwork, a full electrical service upgrade, custom cabinetry, large-format tile, steel windows, engineering for plan changes
- Moves you down: keeping wet walls where they are, stock or semi-custom cabinets, keeping the existing roof and windows, phasing outdoor living into a later contract

## What is particular about renovating a Manor house

Manor's housing stock splits cleanly into two groups, and they renovate differently. The subdivisions that filled in through the 2000s and 2010s — the large master-planned neighborhoods off US 290 and FM 973 — are production-built two-story homes with big footprints, builder-grade cabinets, builder-grade tile and plan layouts that close the kitchen off from the living space. Those jobs are usually about opening the plan, replacing finishes throughout and upgrading the kitchen and primary bath. The framing and mechanicals are young, so budget concentrates in finishes rather than repairs.

The older homes closer to the original downtown grid are a different animal. Expect pier-and-beam or early slab foundations, smaller rooms, original wiring and plumbing that has been patched more than once, and additions that were built in stages. On those houses we plan for full mechanical, electrical and plumbing replacement and we open walls early so there are no surprises mid-schedule.

Manor sits on Blackland Prairie clay east of Austin. That soil swells when it is wet and shrinks when it is not, and slab and pier movement shows up as sticking doors, hairline drywall cracks and out-of-level floors. We do not make structural calls on your house — a licensed engineer evaluates the foundation and anything involving removing or altering walls, and the permit office signs off on the plan. What we do is get that engineer involved during design, before you have a price, so any remediation is inside the fixed number instead of landing on you in month three.

The other local constant is heat. Long Central Texas summers punish undersized HVAC and thin attic insulation, and whole-home work is the one time it is cheap, relatively speaking, to fix both while the walls and ceilings are open. Duct sealing, attic air sealing, insulation and a correctly sized system are far less expensive during a gut than as a separate project later.

## Permits and inspections for a Manor address

Permitting depends on exactly where your house sits. Homes inside the Manor city limits are permitted and inspected by the city; homes on a Manor mailing address in unincorporated Travis County go through the county, and some parcels fall under extraterritorial jurisdiction rules. We confirm the jurisdiction for your specific address during design, before the contract is signed, so the right review path is built into the schedule.

We pull the permits and we manage the inspections. You do not stand in line and you do not chase an inspector. Plan review for a gut renovation with mechanical, electrical and plumbing scope commonly takes 4 to 10 weeks depending on the jurisdiction and whether engineered drawings are part of the submittal. If you are in a deed-restricted Manor subdivision, your HOA architectural review runs in parallel and has its own submittal requirements — we treat that as a separate approval with its own lead time.

Permit and review fees for a whole-home renovation typically run $2,500-$7,500 depending on valuation and scope, and engineering, when it is needed, typically runs $1,500-$5,000. Both sit inside the fixed price we hand you, not as line items that appear later.

Whether a particular wall can be altered, whether your foundation needs work and what the permit office will require are decisions made by a licensed engineer and the reviewing jurisdiction — never by a salesperson standing in your living room.

- Expect inspections at rough-in (framing, electrical, plumbing, mechanical), insulation, and final
- Utility coordination — service upgrades, meter work — is scheduled early because it is the slowest item to move
- Engineered drawings, when required, are produced during design so review is not delayed
- HOA architectural approval, where it applies, runs alongside permit review

## The realistic timeline, in weeks

A whole-home renovation in Manor is a 4 to 8 month construction project. The full calendar, from the first site visit to the day you move your furniture back in, is longer than that because design and permitting happen first — on purpose. We do not demolish a house and then figure out the plan.

Here is the sequence we use. We do not promise a start date in a guide; we hand you dated milestones once your drawings are approved and the contract is signed.

- Week 1: site visit, measure, discuss scope and budget range
- Weeks 2-6: design development, selections, engineering if required, trade walkthroughs
- Week 6-8: fixed price in writing, contract signed
- Weeks 8-18: permit submittal and review (overlaps with ordering long-lead cabinets, windows and appliances)
- Weeks 1-3 of construction: demolition, debris removal, temporary protection
- Weeks 3-8: framing repairs, rough plumbing, rough electrical, rough HVAC, rough inspections
- Weeks 8-12: insulation, drywall, interior doors and trim
- Weeks 12-22: cabinetry, tile, countertops, flooring, paint
- Weeks 20-30: fixtures, appliances, hardware, punch list, final inspections
- Total construction: 16-34 weeks, which is the 4 to 8 months we publish

## How our fixed-price design-build process works

One contract, one schedule, one price. We design the project, we price it, and our own carpenters build it. You are not managing a designer, a general contractor and five subcontractors who each blame the other for the two weeks nobody worked.

The fixed price is written before demolition. That means the selections are made and the drawings are done before you commit — cabinet line, counter material, tile, plumbing fixtures, flooring, lighting. Allowances get used sparingly, because an allowance is just a number that has not been decided yet. The one honest exception on a gut job is concealed conditions: what is actually inside the walls of a 1960s house near downtown Manor is not knowable until the drywall is off. We write how those are handled into the contract, in plain language, with a documented change order before any extra work happens.

Every project carries our 5-year workmanship warranty, and financing is available if you would rather not tie up cash in a 6-month build. In-house carpenters mean the crew finishing your trim is the same crew that framed it.

Living in the house during a whole-home gut is usually not workable once mechanicals come out. Most Manor homeowners plan on a rental or a long stay elsewhere for the construction months, and that housing cost belongs in your budget alongside the construction number.

## What to ask before you sign anything

Use these on every contractor you talk to, including us. The answers tell you more than the number at the bottom of the page.

When you are ready, the next step is simple: get a floor plan or your builder plan set together, write down what is driving the project — layout, mechanicals, finishes, all three — and book a site visit. We measure, talk through scope and budget range on site, and move into design from there.

- Is this a fixed price or an estimate, and what is specifically excluded?
- Who pulls the permits for my address, and have you confirmed whether I am in the city or the county?
- Which selections are decided and which are allowances? Show me the allowance amounts.
- Who is physically on site — employees or subcontractors — and who runs the schedule day to day?
- How are concealed conditions handled, and does a change order get signed before the work happens?
- What does the workmanship warranty cover and for how long?
- Can I see the construction calendar with milestone dates before I sign?
- Has an engineer reviewed anything involving the foundation or wall changes?

## Manor homeowners also ask

### Do I permit through the City of Austin or Travis County if I live in Manor?

It depends on your exact parcel. Houses inside the Manor city limits are permitted and inspected by the city; houses with a Manor address in unincorporated Travis County go through the county. We confirm the jurisdiction for your address during design and handle the submittal, fees and inspections ourselves. Plan review for a gut renovation commonly runs 4 to 10 weeks.

### Can I take out the wall between my kitchen and living room?

That is a question for a licensed engineer and the permit office, not for a contractor standing in your kitchen. We bring an engineer in during design to evaluate it, and whatever they specify — beams, posts, foundation work — gets drawn, reviewed and priced into the fixed number before the contract is signed.

### How long will I be out of the house?

Plan on the full construction window: 4 to 8 months, or 16 to 34 weeks, for a down-to-studs whole-home renovation. Once mechanicals and drywall come out, living in the house is generally not practical. Build rental or temporary housing into your budget from the start.

### What does the kitchen portion cost inside a whole-home renovation?

The same ranges we publish for any Austin-area kitchen: $45,000-$70,000 for a refresh in the existing footprint, $70,000-$110,000 when the layout opens up and plumbing moves, and $110,000 and up for a studs-out kitchen with custom cabinetry and high-end appliances. On a whole-home job it is usually the largest single line item.

## Check it with Manor's own pages

Permit rules and fees change, and the office that issues the permit is the authority on them, not this guide.

- [City of Manor — building permits](https://www.manortx.gov/187/Building-Permits)

What a whole-home renovation in Austin involves: https://www.homeremodelpro.com/austin/whole-home-renovation

## Get a free estimate

- Call (512) 601-5666 (Monday to Friday 8am–6pm and Saturday 9am–2pm); a project consultant calls back within one business hour.
- Request an estimate online: https://www.homeremodelpro.com/austin#quote
- 5-year workmanship warranty · one fixed price in writing · in-house carpenters · permits and inspections included

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Source: https://www.homeremodelpro.com/austin/blog/whole-home-renovation-manor-guide · Home Remodel Pro Austin, TX