01 — Project inspiration

Eight examples, to help you picture your own project.

Each one describes what a project of that kind usually involves, the decisions that shape it, and what a business will want to know before it can price it. Read the closest one, then borrow its language when you describe what you want.

How to read this page

What these are: Written examples of what each kind of home improvement project can involve.
Photographs: Stock illustrations chosen to show the kind of work described. Each one is labelled in its own caption.
Where each leads: To the matching project type, where the same work is set out in more detail.
Who does the work: The independent business you choose. GlobalGate Homes makes the introduction and nothing beyond it.

Nothing here is a price, a timescale or a promise. A business gives you those, in writing, after it has seen the property.

How the referral service works

Open-plan living room with a white sofa, warm oak joinery and floor-to-ceiling glazing. — Shown — an open-plan living space with oak joinery and full-height glazingIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

02 — Examples

Eight kinds of project, described in the present tense.

None of these is a job GlobalGate Homes carried out. They are accounts of what work of each kind generally contains, so you can recognise the one closest to yours and say what you want in terms a business will understand straight away.

Layout changes are drawn and permitted before anything comes down.

Space planning · Kitchen · Interior

Opening a split-level kitchen into the living space.

What a project like this involves: Two load-bearing walls come out and a single flush beam, sized by an engineer, takes the load in their place. The half-flight of stairs between the levels is rebuilt with an open stringer so the two floors read as one room. The kitchen usually moves to the garden side, with an island, a run of tall cabinets that hides the pantry and the refrigerator, and lighting planned for a space now used for cooking, eating and sitting.
Decisions that shape it: Which walls have to go and which merely could; where the island sits and how many people have to sit at it; whether the stair is rebuilt or left alone; and what happens to the flooring across the join. Structural work normally means drawings, an engineer and a permit, and those come before anyone starts.
What to tell a business: Which walls you want gone, what each room is for now, and whether you will be living in the house while the work runs. Photographs from each corner of both rooms, and a rough floor plan if you have one.

Space planning & layout Describe a project like this

Kitchen island with oak stools and three black pendant lights above a white counter. — Shown — an island with a stone top, pendant lighting and seating on one sideIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

Living room with a timber staircase and a blue sofa beside tall windows. — Shown — an open-stringer timber stair left visible inside the living spaceIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

Interior · Kitchen · Bathrooms

A whole-house interior renovation in an empty house.

Kitchen with deep green cabinets, white counters and warm pendant lighting. — Shown — painted cabinetry, stone counters and pendant lighting in a renovated kitchenIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

What a project like this involves: Every room is taken back to what is sound and rebuilt in one sequence: plaster repair and paint, flooring through the whole floor plate, a new kitchen, one or more bathrooms, lighting and trim. An empty house lets the trades run in order — rough services, then surfaces, then fittings — instead of working around a household, which is usually why owners choose to do it this way before moving in.
Decisions that shape it: Whether the house is done in one pass or room by room; how far the kitchen and bathroom services have to move from where they are; how much of the existing floor is worth keeping; and what level of finish you are aiming at. Lead times on cabinetry, tile and glazing often set the order of everything else.
What to tell a business: The number of rooms, whether the house will be empty, the date you need it usable by, and which rooms matter most if the work has to be staged. A floor plan, even a hand-drawn one, saves a great deal of guessing.

Interior renovation Describe a project like this

Living room with a grey sofa and sheer curtains in natural light. — Shown — repaired plaster, refinished floors and simple window treatmentsIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

Bathrooms

Two bathrooms rebuilt back to the framing.

What a project like this involves: Both rooms open to the studs so the subfloor can be checked and replaced where a shower pan has been leaking, and so a drain can be moved to let a curbless shower fall the way it needs to. Waterproofing goes on and is photographed before a single tile is laid. Then vanity, fixtures, ventilation, lighting and tile, room by room. Owners often do two bathrooms in one go so the house is disrupted once rather than twice.
Decisions that shape it: Curbless or curbed; where the extract ventilation runs and where it terminates; whether a window stays where it is or is reframed; and whether the two rooms share one tile and hardware family or are treated separately. What is behind the old tile is only known once it is open, so expect the scope to be revisited at that point.
What to tell a business: Which bathrooms, whether there is a known leak or a soft floor, how many people the house has to keep washing while the work runs, and whether both rooms are in the same scope.

Bathroom remodeling Describe a project like this

Oak vanity with a marble top beneath a bathroom window. — Shown — a floating timber vanity with a stone top under a reframed windowIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

Setbacks and drainage usually decide the footprint before taste does.

Addition · Interior

A rear extension that opens the living room onto the garden.

What a project like this involves: A single-story volume is built across the back of the house, usually with a run of full-height sliding doors onto a new terrace. The roofline is either matched or deliberately contrasted, the new volume is clad, and the existing living room is reworked so the old and new spaces read as one. Foundations, structure, permits and inspections all come before any of the part you will actually see.
Decisions that shape it: How far out the extension goes; where the doors sit and which way they slide; whether the roof is flat or pitched; and how the new floor meets the old. Setbacks, lot coverage, drainage and the position of the drains under the garden often settle the footprint before anything else does.
What to tell a business: The rough footprint you have in mind, what the new room is for, the age and construction of the house, and whether you have had drawings done. Photographs of the rear elevation and of the garden as it is.

Home additions & extensions Describe a project like this

Living room opening onto a garden through large glass doors. — Shown — full-height glazed doors between a living space and a terraceIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

Exterior

Re-cladding a house, with the entry and drainage put right.

What a project like this involves: Failing siding is stripped back to the sheathing, damage underneath is repaired, a weather barrier and a ventilated rainscreen go on, and the house is re-clad. A leaking entry canopy is rebuilt with a properly flashed connection into the roof. A driveway that floods every winter is regraded, often with a channel drain at the garage door. Each layer is worth photographing before it is covered over.
Decisions that shape it: The cladding material, and whether it is stained, painted or left to weather; whether windows and doors are replaced while the walls are open, which is much cheaper than doing it later; and whether the drainage work belongs in the same job or a separate one.
What to tell a business: Where water is getting in, the age and type of the existing siding, whether the windows are staying, and whether the entry or the driveway is in scope. Photographs of all four faces of the house, taken from far enough back to see the roofline.

Exterior renovation Describe a project like this

Modern house with timber cladding and a driveway, photographed in the evening. — Shown — vertical cladding over a ventilated rainscreen, with a regraded drivewayIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

On a project of this kind the weather-tight date matters more than any other.

Addition · Exterior

Adding a second story to a single-story house.

What a project like this involves: A survey of the foundations and the existing roof framing comes first, because what the structure below can carry decides what can be built above it. The roof comes off, the new floor is framed, sheathed and dried in inside a scheduled window, and a stair is cut into the plan downstairs. The envelope is often finished in one material top to bottom so the house reads as one building rather than a house wearing a hat.
Decisions that shape it: Where the stair lands, and what it costs you in the rooms below; how many bedrooms and bathrooms actually fit once the stair and the circulation are drawn; and what time of year the roof can safely come off. Height limits and the neighbours' outlook can also change the shape of what is allowed.
What to tell a business: The age and construction of the house, how many rooms you want upstairs, whether anyone will be living there while the work runs, and which season you can start in.

Home additions & extensions Describe a project like this

White two-story modern house with a pool under a blue sky. — Shown — a two-story house finished in one render over the whole envelopeIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

Kitchen

Turning a galley kitchen and a formal dining room into one room.

What a project like this involves: The wall between the two rooms comes out once it is confirmed as non-bearing, and the dining room's footprint gives room for a long island the household can actually sit at. Cabinetry, counters, extraction and lighting are specified together rather than one at a time, and the floor is replaced through both rooms so the join between the old spaces disappears. Close to the coast, exterior doors and hardware are usually specified for salt air.
Decisions that shape it: Whether the wall is structural, which is a question for an engineer and not for a guess; how much seating the island has to take; where the range and its extraction go, since that often dictates the whole layout; and whether appliances are replaced or reused. Cabinet lead times generally set the schedule.
What to tell a business: How you actually use the kitchen, how many people eat there at once, what you want to keep, and what is not working now. Measurements or a plan if you have them, and photographs from the two far corners.

Kitchen remodeling Describe a project like this

White kitchen with an oak island, bar stools and pendant lights over the counter. — Shown — painted cabinetry with a long timber island and seating for several peopleIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

Finishing & fit-out · Interior · Bathroom

Finishing a house that was left part-built.

Bedroom with timber wall paneling and white linen. — Shown — timber wall paneling and joinery in a finished bedroomIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

What a project like this involves: A house that is structurally sound but unfinished — bare drywall in two bedrooms, a bathroom stopped halfway, no floor in the living room — is taken to a finished state: paint, flooring, millwork, tile, fixtures, hardware, appliances, window treatments and a final clean. Because little of it is structural, the scope can be written line by line against a list of rooms, which makes it one of the easier project types to price accurately.
Decisions that shape it: Which rooms are finished now and which wait; how far the specification goes — bare, furnished, or ready to let; and whether appliances, window treatments and furniture are inside or outside the scope. The answer changes the number a good deal.
What to tell a business: What is already done and what is not, room by room, and what the house is for afterwards — living in, letting or selling. Photographs of every unfinished room, including the ceilings.

Finishing & fit-out Describe a project like this

Bathroom with a freestanding tub, grey tile and a window. — Shown — a finished bathroom with a freestanding tub, wall and floor tile and ventilationIllustration — Unsplash stock photograph, not a project by GlobalGate Homes.

03 — Start a request

Found the one closest to yours?

Take the words from it and use them in the request flow. You describe the project and send it to GlobalGate Homes, which contacts independent businesses that serve your area about it.

Reading it through costs nothing, and it shows you exactly what GlobalGate Homes will receive before you send anything.

Start a request Browse the project types