Quick answer: a single room repaint takes about a day, a whole-house interior repaint runs 3–5 days, and exterior painting takes 3–6 working days. Flooring installation is 1–2 days per room or 3–7 days for a full floor. A cosmetic kitchen or bathroom refresh takes a few days to 2 weeks; a full gut remodel runs 6–10 weeks for a kitchen and 4–6 weeks for a bathroom. Excavation for a drainage trench or foundation dig is usually a single 8-hour day, occasionally two or three for a larger job. Here’s the full breakdown, and what actually moves those numbers up or down.
Cost is the question most homeowners ask first — we’ve written cost guides for nearly every service we offer. But once you’re actually scheduling a project, the question that matters is how long will my house be torn up. That’s what this guide answers, project by project, for Schenectady and the rest of the Capital Region.
Painting & Remodeling Timelines at a Glance (2026)
| Project | Typical Timeline |
|---|---|
| Single room, interior paint | 1 day |
| Whole house interior (1,500–2,000 sq ft) | 3–5 days |
| Exterior house painting | 3–6 working days (up to 2 weeks with heavy prep or rain delays) |
| Kitchen cabinet painting/refinishing | 3–5 days |
| Flooring – single room | 1–2 days |
| Flooring – full main floor | 3–7 days |
| Bathroom – cosmetic refresh (paint, vanity, fixtures) | A few days to 1 week |
| Bathroom – remodel, layout unchanged | 2–3 weeks |
| Bathroom – full gut, layout changed | 4–6 weeks |
| Kitchen – cosmetic refresh (cabinets, backsplash) | 1–2 weeks |
| Kitchen – mid-range remodel, layout unchanged | 3–5 weeks |
| Kitchen – full gut, layout changed | 6–10 weeks |
| Excavation (trench, grading, foundation dig) | 1 day (up to 2–3 for larger/multi-purpose jobs) |
| Basement waterproofing – surface sealing/coating | 1–3 days |
| Basement waterproofing – full French drain/sump system | 1–3+ days |
These are working-day estimates for a typical Capital Region home, not calendar time from the day you call. Scheduling lead time is separate and depends on the season — more on that below.
What Actually Determines How Long Your Project Takes
Prep work, not the finish work, is the real variable
On both painting and remodeling jobs, prep is usually where the time goes. Scraping failing exterior paint, patching plaster in a pre-1960s Schenectady home, or discovering an uneven subfloor under old carpet can each add a day or more before the visible work even starts. A quote that promises an unusually fast timeline is often a quote that’s skipping prep — the same red flag we cover in our interior and exterior painting cost guides.
Layout changes add weeks, not days
This is the single biggest jump in any remodel timeline. Swapping a vanity or repainting cabinets doesn’t touch plumbing or framing, so it moves fast. Moving a toilet, relocating a sink line, or knocking out a wall between the kitchen and dining room brings in permits, inspections, and multiple trades working in sequence rather than in parallel — which is why a cosmetic kitchen refresh takes 1–2 weeks but a full gut-and-reconfigure runs six to ten weeks — and a bathroom full gut, working through the same permit-and-inspection sequence in a smaller footprint, typically runs four to six weeks. See our kitchen and bathroom remodel cost guides for how those tiers break down by price as well as scope.
Weather and season
Exterior painting and excavation are the two services most affected by the Capital Region’s climate. Exterior acrylics need daytime temperatures generally above 35–50°F to cure properly, and once the ground freezes — typically sometime in November here — excavation stops until spring. That’s why we push both toward the fall window each year; see the fall painting window and excavation cost guide for the specifics. Interior work, flooring, and cabinet painting are unaffected by weather, which is exactly why they’re the projects worth scheduling for late fall and winter, when exterior crews would otherwise be idle.
Drying and cure time between coats or phases
A coat of paint is often dry to the touch in hours, but it isn’t fully cured for days — which is why we tell customers to go easy on hanging pictures or scrubbing a freshly painted wall for a week or two. Flooring adhesives, grout, and tile mortar have their own cure windows before the room can take full foot traffic. None of this usually extends the crew’s on-site days, but it does affect when a room is back to normal daily use.
How many trades are involved
A single-scope project — just paint, just flooring — moves in a straight line. A full remodel stacks trades: demo, then plumbing or electrical rough-in, then drywall, then flooring, then paint, then trim and fixtures. Each handoff between trades is where a timeline slips if it isn’t sequenced by one contractor managing the whole job. That’s the main advantage of hiring VividPro for a combined project instead of separate specialists for each piece — we sequence it as one job with one schedule.
Planning a Project That Combines Multiple Services
Most real projects aren’t just one line item. A few sequencing rules that save time and rework:
- Fix water problems before flooring or drywall. New flooring or drywall installed over an unresolved moisture issue fails early and gets torn out again. If there’s any history of basement water, get it diagnosed first — see our basement waterproofing page and our comparison of French drains vs. sump pumps to understand which fix your home actually needs. Full French drain and sump pump systems take longer than surface sealing alone — VividPro can assess which fix your basement actually needs.
- Excavation happens before anything indoors that depends on it. If a wet basement needs exterior digging to reach the foundation, that step comes first and is weather-dependent — schedule it for the fall window covered in our excavation cost guide, not as an afterthought once the ground has frozen.
- Flooring goes in after paint, not before. Protecting a brand-new floor from paint drips and ladder scuffs costs more time than just painting the walls and ceiling first, then installing flooring last.
- Cabinet painting and countertop/backsplash work can often run in parallel with other rooms, since it’s contained to one space — a good project to bundle into a larger scope without adding to the overall calendar.
Scheduling Lead Time vs. On-Site Work Time
Everything above is how long the actual work takes once a crew is on-site. Getting on the calendar is a separate question, and it swings by season in the Capital Region: exterior painting and excavation get booked out furthest in late spring and summer, while interior painting, cabinet work, and flooring are the projects to schedule for fall and winter, when crews have more open dates. If your timeline is tight, ask about that during your estimate — we’ll give you an honest start date, not just a work-day estimate.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does a kitchen remodel actually take from start to finish?
A cosmetic refresh (cabinet painting, new backsplash, hardware) usually takes 1–2 weeks. A mid-range remodel that keeps the existing layout but replaces cabinets, counters, and appliances typically runs 3–5 weeks, with cabinet lead times often the longest single wait. A full gut remodel that moves walls or changes the layout runs 6–10 weeks once permitting and inspections are factored in.
How long does a bathroom remodel take?
A cosmetic refresh (vanity, fixtures, paint) typically wraps in a few days to about a week. A mid-range remodel that keeps the existing layout — new tub or shower, tile, vanity, flooring — usually runs 2–3 weeks, most of that driven by tile setting and cure time. A full gut renovation that moves plumbing or the layout commonly runs 4–6 weeks.
Can painting and remodeling happen at the same time as other trades?
On a combined project, yes — that’s the point of hiring one contractor to sequence it. Paint typically comes near the end of a remodel, after drywall and flooring are in but before final fixtures and trim go on, so it isn’t damaged by the work that follows.
Does a free estimate include a timeline, not just a price?
Yes. Every VividPro estimate includes a written, itemized scope with a realistic start date and on-site duration, not just a cost range.
What’s the fastest way to get my project scheduled?
Book during the off-season for that project type — fall and winter for interior work, flooring, and cabinets; spring for exterior painting and excavation before the summer rush. Calling early is the single biggest lever you have over how soon work actually starts.
Get a Timeline for Your Project, Not Just a Price
Every home and every scope is a little different. We’ll walk your project, tell you honestly how many days it takes and when we can start, and put it in writing — free, no pressure.
Call or text 347-484-1724 or request your free estimate online. VividPro Painters & Remodeling — serving Schenectady, Niskayuna, Rotterdam, Scotia, Colonie, Albany, Troy, Clifton Park, Guilderland, Loudonville, Saratoga Springs, and the Capital Region.