Planning guide · Updated June 2026
How long a remodel actually takes in Madison, phase by phase
The honest calendar for kitchens, baths, and additions — including the waiting you cannot see: design, permits, and lead times.
The calendar nobody shows you
When a remodeler says “six weeks,” they usually mean construction. The full calendar — first call to finished room — includes design, engineering, permit review, and material lead times, and it is typically two to three times the construction number.
A full kitchen with Fourlakes runs roughly: three to five weeks to a first design meeting, four to six weeks of design ending in a fixed price, two to four weeks of permits and shop fabrication overlapping, then six to ten weeks of construction. First call to first dinner: about five to seven months.
What makes Madison timelines different
City of Madison permit review currently runs two to four weeks for interior work and six to ten weeks when structural or zoning review is involved — lakefront setbacks add county review on top. Winter changes exterior work: foundations pour comfortably until about Thanksgiving, and additions started in late fall get framed and enclosed before the deep cold, which is a scheduling art our production lead has practiced for twenty years.
Why our shop shortens the risky part
The construction phase goes long in most remodels for one reason: waiting on cabinetry. Factory cabinets arrive in week one or week nine, correct or damaged, and the schedule holds its breath. Ours are built a mile away, on our calendar, and installed by the people who built them — which is why our posted construction calendars hold.