Short answer
A whole-home renovation becomes cheaper than piecemeal repairs at the point where every individual job means opening walls that will be opened again next year. On 1970s–90s Apache Junction housing that point arrives when the supply lines, the bathrooms and the kitchen are all due at once.
A lot of Apache Junction housing reaches a point where fixing one thing at a time stops making sense. The supply lines are polybutylene or galvanized, the bathrooms are original, the kitchen is builder-grade from three decades ago, and every individual repair means opening walls that are going to be opened again next year.
That is the moment a whole-home renovation becomes the cheaper path, because the demolition and access costs get paid once instead of five times.
We run these as a single contract. Plumbing first — because that is what we are, and because it is the part that determines whether the finishes you pay for stay untouched for twenty years. Then drywall, tile, flooring, paint, cabinets and finish carpentry, all with our own crew.
Everything due at once?
One contract, one crew, one company accountable. Free walkthrough and a fixed written quote with clear allowances.
When a whole-home renovation is the right call
Polybutylene or galvanized throughout
A repipe is happening regardless. Doing the finishes at the same time means the walls open once.
You just bought a 1970s–90s house
The cheapest time to do everything is before you move in and before flooring and furniture are in the way.
Multiple bathrooms all original
Two or three bathrooms done together costs meaningfully less per room than three separate projects.
Planning to stay put and age in place
Curbless showers, comfort height, grab bar blocking, wider clearances and lever hardware, planned as one coherent change.
A rental or flip that needs everything
One contract, one schedule, one point of accountability — and a realistic date you can plan a tenancy or listing around.
A slab leak in a house that needs work anyway
If the floor is coming up regardless, that is the moment to reroute overhead and do the rest.
What a home renovations job includes
Every quote covers the items below. If something is not on this list, it is not in the price — and we will say so before we start.
Honest scoping, including what not to do
We will tell you where your wishlist and the house disagree, and which items are not worth the money.
Fixed written contract with a real schedule
Itemised scope, stated finish allowances, permit costs, and inspection days marked so quiet stretches are explained in advance.
Systems first, finishes second
Repipe, drain and vent corrections, gas and blocking all roughed and inspected before a single wall closes. This is what stops a renovation being partly redone in five years.
Overhead PEX routing
New supply run through the attic and dropped to fixtures, which keeps future leaks out of the concrete entirely.
Aging-in-place built in where wanted
Solid blocking for grab bars, comfort height, curbless entries with linear drains, lever hardware and wider clearances.
Staged so you can live in it
Always one working bathroom and kitchen, dust contained rather than apologised for, and cleaned up at the end of each day.
Plumbing-first sequencing, and why it matters
The most expensive words in renovation are "we have to open that back up." Almost every instance of them traces to finishes going on before the systems underneath were sorted out.
So we sequence backwards from the finish. Assess what is actually in the walls and under the slab. Repipe if the material warrants it — in PEX, run overhead through the attic and dropped to fixtures, which keeps future leaks out of the concrete entirely. Correct drain venting that was marginal when the house was built. Move or add fixtures while nothing is in the way. Install blocking for grab bars now, whether or not bars go in this year.
Then rough-in inspection. Then, and only then, close walls and start on the parts you can see.
It is slower to describe than to live through, and it is the difference between a renovation that lasts and one that gets partly redone in five years.
Living in it, or not
Whether you are occupying the house during the work changes how we schedule everything, and it is the first thing we ask.
In an empty house — a recent purchase, a rental between tenancies, an estate property — we can work in parallel across rooms and the whole project compresses considerably. That is genuinely the cheapest and fastest way to renovate.
In an occupied house, the job gets staged so you always have a functioning bathroom and a functioning kitchen, water is off for the shortest windows we can manage, dust is contained rather than apologised for, and we clean up at the end of each day rather than the end of the project. It takes longer and it costs a little more, and for most families it is the right trade.
Either way you get a written schedule with the quote, including where inspection days fall, so you can plan around it instead of guessing.
Vacant property
Parallel work across rooms. Fastest and most cost-efficient.
Occupied, staged
Always one working bathroom and kitchen. Longer, and worth it.
Phased over time
Plumbing and structure now, finishes later. Sensible when budget is the constraint.
Rental turnaround
Fixed end date so you can market the tenancy with confidence.
Aging in place, done properly
Apache Junction has a large population of people who intend to stay in their homes, and a meaningful share of our renovation work is built around that.
The items that matter most are unglamorous and cheap to do during a renovation: solid wood blocking between studs wherever a grab bar might ever go, comfort-height toilets, curbless or low-threshold showers with a linear drain so the floor can slope one direction, lever handles rather than knobs, better task lighting, and doorway and clearance widths that work with a walker.
The blocking point is worth repeating. A grab bar anchored into drywall anchors is a hazard pretending to be a safety feature. Installing real blocking during a renovation costs almost nothing; adding it later is a wall demolition.
We build it in as standard on aging-in-place projects whether or not the bars are going up this year.
How a whole-home renovation runs
- 1
Walkthrough and honest scoping
What you want, what the house needs, and where the two differ. We will tell you what is not worth doing.
- 2
Fixed written contract
Itemised scope, stated allowances for finishes, permit costs, and a schedule with inspection days marked.
- 3
Protect and demolish
Floors covered, containment set up, contained demolition — then a real look at what is behind everything.
- 4
Systems first
Repipe, drain and vent corrections, gas, blocking and any electrical, all roughed and inspected before anything closes.
- 5
Build out
Drywall, texture, tile, flooring, cabinets, paint, fixtures and finish carpentry — our crew throughout.
- 6
Walkthrough, punch list, handover
We walk it with you, close out the list, and hand over permits, warranties and product documentation.
What drives the price
Renovations are quoted after a proper walkthrough, in writing, with allowances stated separately so you can steer the budget without renegotiating the contract.
- Scope of the systems work
- A full repipe, drain corrections and gas work form the foundation of the number. Also the part that protects everything else.
- How many rooms and bathrooms
- Bathrooms are the most expensive rooms per square foot by a wide margin. Kitchens are next.
- Occupied or vacant
- Staging around a living household adds time and therefore cost. Vacant properties are meaningfully cheaper to renovate.
- Finish level
- Allowances for tile, cabinets, counters, flooring and fixtures span an enormous range. We work to yours.
- What demolition reveals
- Older homes hide things. We quote discoveries as their own line items with a written change before proceeding — never as a surprise on the invoice.
Every quote is written, and the number does not change afterward. AZ ROC CR-37 Plumbing · BBB A+ accredited.
Why AllStar Home Services for home renovations
Discoveries get a written change order, not a surprise invoice
On older houses we usually do find something. When we do, we stop, show you, explain the options and get your approval before anything proceeds.
Plumbing, HVAC and remodeling in one company
BBB accredits us under Plumber, Bathroom Remodel, Remodel Contractors and Drywall Repair. One contract, one crew, nobody pointing at somebody else.
The quote is the price
You hear the number before we start and it does not move afterward. It is the single thing customers mention most in our reviews.
Licensed, insured and permitted
Arizona ROC classification CR-37, issued November 2024, BBB accredited A+. We pull permits and pass the fee through at cost.
Where we provide home renovations
Renovation demand concentrates in the pre-2000 housing stock. We deliver this from our 15th Ave shop across Apache Junction and Gold Canyon, then out through Queen Creek, San Tan Valley, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, Tempe and Fountain Hills. That means the older Apache Junction neighbourhoods, central and east Mesa, mid-century Tempe and the historic stock in Florence and Superior.
Further out we cover Florence, Coolidge, Casa Grande, Maricopa, Eloy, Superior and Mammoth, and we are honest about when a small job does not justify the drive. Vacant properties — a recent purchase, a rental between tenancies, an estate — are meaningfully cheaper and faster to renovate than occupied ones, because we can work in parallel across rooms. Tell us which you have and we will schedule accordingly.
- Home Renovations in Apache Junction
- Home Renovations in Gold Canyon
- Home Renovations in Queen Creek
- Home Renovations in Mesa
- Home Renovations in Superstition Mountain
- Home Renovations in Ironwood Estates
Home Renovations questions, answered
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