Remodel Advice – Sumitomo Homes? Or individual architect?

[HankNeva]

I’m looking for advice from people who have experience remodeling a mansion. From January I will do a complete skeleton up reform on a 70m sq older mansion. I have talked to the Mansion Reform section of Sumitomo Homes. Does anyone have experience with that company and their approach?

I could also go with a couple of architects that friends know or directly with a contractor. I have some ideas about the new design but there is so much I don’t know about how to design an apartment. I think I need the advice of a pro with experience and a good design sense, so I don’t think going directly with a contractor suits me.

Will there be a big difference between going with a specialized reform section of Sumitomo and an individual architect? Price? Options presented? finishing time? final outcome?

I have three months to decide on who will do the reform job and come up with a plan. Does that seem like enough time? There are so many decisions to make big and small. I do have the free time for it.

I’ve never done a reform, though I did move into a completely reformed mansion 15 years ago and have been happy with that.

What should I be careful about? I know it's likely that when I finish there will be some things I don’t like or wish I had done differently. I would like to minimize that. Some with your experience, I imagine many lessons have been learned doing a reform. Any advice is appreciated!

[RetireJapan]

We did a kitchen and living room reform with a small local company. They specialised in building custom wood and my wife really liked their stuff.

Ended up costing more than we budgeted (of course!).

Bit of a cliche, but put in way more electric sockets than you think you need, and really think about where you might be using them

[HankNeva]

Bit of a cliche, but put in way more electric sockets than you think you need

Thanks! People have said the same about overhead lights...storage too.

[captainspoke]

I'd think that most anywhere there are many more companies, such as the one you mention, that do reform. I'd skip the architect route and look for other companies to compare offerings.

edit: and I guess you're getting the opposite opinion on reddit.

[Nancy]

Yes, I think that also it may depend on what you want. I haven't done a remodel, but when we built our house, we used a large company, and they gave us an interior designer. She had really good ideas for example in the toilet, to put in storage and the wall bars for supporting elderly people, giving us a ceiling drying rack for our clothes, adding rails on the walls for hanging our art work, making sure that the kitchen was set up well, and suggesting a small pantry, which I love, which is basically a junk room that can take any of the overflow. (so some food items but also the vaccuum cleaner, the ironing board, files of records etc. The rails and the ceiling hanger have to be installed on reinforced walls so you can't really add them as an afterthought. We got floor heating in the living room, which is wonderful. The prices are all decided, so once you decide on your plan, the prices don't increase and it is done according to the contract for the timing of everything. However if you want really high quality wood etc. and elegance etc. this is probably not the place to find it.

[HankNeva]

I haven't done a remodel, but when we built our house, we used a large company, and they gave us an interior designer

Thanks, for the advice. Yeah, i think I will need a pro designer's help or an architect that has a good sense for interior design. Looking at the things you mention, there are so many details of a place I don't have much of a clue about. Storage? Lighting? General color scheme? For example, I see a lot of dark kitchen island units I like but these have been in large model homes with big windows. I stay in hotels a lot so have an appreciation for modern sharp lines, good lighting and nice looking bathrooms, all in a fairly small space.

Nice wood floors would be a plus. My feet do get cold easily...how do those underfloor heaters work? Are there electic coils under there or water in pipeing? Sounds expensive...

[Nancy]

Our floor heating is run by gas, on the same heater as the bathtub. It's quite efficient and you can turn it on for an hour and the floor retains the heat for several after this. My daughter rents an apartment and they also have floor heating, which I think is also gas. It has some kind of coiled system and the flooring they used is softer than normal flooring. (not sure of the details but they said that they needed this type of flooring for the floor heating system.

[RetireJapan]

I was told there are electric options, but they aren't very efficient and are expensive if you don't generate your own electricity.

Not sure the hot water ones would be allowed to be installed in a manshon, probably worth checking.

On the other hand, if you have decent windows and inner door, it is very easy to insulate/heat a manshon. You might not need the underfloor heating.

And wooden floors are glorious.

[HankNeva]

Thanks for the advice on the heated floors...I'm quite fond of nice wooden floors and imagine both would be expensive compared veneer stuff I have in my current place.

[Gareth]

We had underfloor heating in our previous place with laminate flooring. One bad thing about it is that it slightly melted the non-slip underside of a rug and left marks on the floor. We also put some felt on the bottom of the legs of the sofa and the table, the glue melted on those and the felt came off when moving them. Expecting it to slide easily, a big shove from me pushed the sofa off the felt and left a nice scratch on the floor.

In our new place we don’t have it and we don’t miss it to be honest.