A whole-house renovation is crammed with dependencies. I built a master timeline to keep every tradesperson on schedule—then pulled out the handyman’s tasks, deadlines, and dependencies into a plan of his own.

I started having nightmares about the trees in my front yard. In them, I could hear the roots growing into my foundation. The trees leaned over my little ranch house until the house almost disappeared beneath them. I tried to start a garden but all my plants withered and died. So I declared war earlier than planned.

Seventeen days before closing, I realized something important: the fun renovation projects only work if the invisible ones are handled first--So I had to evolve my RTTPYO approach to renovate from the inside out.

Buying a house? Here’s what a home inspection really tells you—and how to turn a terrifying report into a smart renovation plan.

I wasn’t planning to move. I’d made my condo close to perfect. But, when my neighborhood started changing, I wanted something a condo couldn’t offer—personal independence, a yard, and a garden. The first time I walked into the house, I saw a wreck that I could turn into a home. Here’s how my journey started.