# When Do You Choose Renovation Materials?  Phase 4: Select + Specify

- URL: https://www.renoversity.com/lessons/phase-4-select-specify
- Type: Lesson
- Access: public
- Course: How to Plan a Renovation, Step by Step (https://www.renoversity.com/courses/how-to-plan-a-renovation-step-by-step)
- Module: MODULE 1:  The Six Phases of a Home Renovation or Remodel
- Source: Renoversity

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Lock in your cabinets, countertops, tile, and fixtures in the right order, so nothing gets picked too late and holds up the schedule.

**Cabinets usually have the longest lead time of any material, so work backward from your cabinet order date and build every other selection deadline around it.**

Good intentions run straight into lead times in this phase. A homeowner who waits until demo day to choose a countertop material is a homeowner whose contractor is standing around waiting on a slab that takes six weeks to arrive.

## The twelve-week countdown

**Twelve weeks before demo:**finalize your layout, it shouldn't change once demolition starts; make your appliance selections because they determine cabinet dimensions and rough-in locations, and choose your cabinet style. **Eight weeks out:**place the cabinet order itself (3 to 10 weeks is typical), choose your countertop material, since stone needs templating after cabinets go in, and select your flooring.

**Six weeks out:**finalize tile for ordering, choose plumbing fixture styles since rough-in dimensions have to lock before walls close, decide your backsplash material, since a full-height stone backsplash changes where outlets can go and has to be built into the electrical plan rather than cut into after the fact, and set your lighting plan for electrical rough-in.

**Four weeks out:** paint colors, hardware, and your final backsplash pattern.

## Don't demo too far ahead of your cabinets

Cabinets set the schedule for your selections, but they should also set the timing of demo itself. Demo shouldn't happen the moment cabinets are ordered, and it shouldn't happen the week they arrive either. Time it so there's just enough gap to get rough plumbing and electrical done and inspected before cabinets show up, not weeks of an open, gutted kitchen with nothing actually happening in it. How much gap that actually takes depends on your rough-in scope, your trades' availability, and your inspection timeline, so treat it as a conversation to have with your contractor once you have a real cabinet delivery date, not a fixed number of weeks.

## If you don't know where to start

Start with whichever decision is actually driving your budget, cabinetry, in most kitchens I've worked on, or with the one material you already know you can't live without. Build outward from that anchor rather than trying to decide everything at once in no particular order. The right sequence isn't universal, but it always starts from something you're already certain about.

## Lesson recap

1. 12 weeks before demo: finalize layout, appliance selections, cabinet style.
2. 8 weeks before demo: place cabinet order, choose countertop material, select flooring.
3. 6 weeks before demo: finalize tile, plumbing fixture styles, backsplash material, lighting plan.
4. 4 weeks before demo: paint colors, hardware, final backsplash pattern.
5. Time demo to leave just enough gap before cabinets arrive for rough plumbing and electrical, not more. Exact timing is case by case, confirm it with your contractor.
6. Not sure where to start? Begin with your budget-driving decision or your one non-negotiable, and build outward.