What a Whole-Home Remodel Costs in Highlands Ranch in 2026
Highlands Ranch was built fast and built well, mostly between the mid 1980s and the early 2000s, which means many of these houses are now thirty to forty years old with original finishes and a floor plan built around how families were expected to live back then. A whole-home remodel within the existing footprint is how owners here modernize without leaving a neighborhood they like. We do not add square footage and we do not build up or out. This guide covers what that work typically costs in 2026, what separates the tiers and how long it takes.
What a whole-home remodel actually covers
A whole-home remodel is one scope, one contract and one schedule covering the kitchen, the bathrooms, flooring, lighting, paint, trim and usually some wall work to fix how the rooms connect. Layout changes are in scope, and so is structural work inside the existing footprint, which lets us open a closed kitchen into a family room or turn a formal living room nobody uses into a room families actually spend time in. Our team offers our own design knowledge through the process, and if you'd like to bring in an outside designer, we work hand-in-hand with them as well.
Typical 2026 cost ranges
Every remodel is different, and the actual cost for your project depends on the scope, finish level, material selections, structural conditions and the specific home. The ranges below reflect what we typically see for Highlands Ranch whole-home projects in 2026. They are meant to help you set expectations for budgeting, not as a quote. We share a fixed-bid number for your specific scope after the consultation.
A cosmetic whole-home refresh covering paint, flooring, lighting, hardware, refreshed cabinetry, new counters and updated bath fixtures with no layout changes, on a 2,500 to 3,500 square foot home, typically falls in the $175,000 to $290,000 range.
A mid-range whole-home remodel with the kitchen and primary bathroom fully remodeled, secondary bathrooms updated, new flooring, new lighting, fresh paint and possibly a wall or two opened up typically falls in the $230,000 to $520,000 range.
A higher-end whole-home remodel with significant layout changes, a custom kitchen and custom bathrooms, premium finishes, all new mechanicals and structural work within the existing footprint typically falls in the $400,000 to $800,000 range and up.
We don't price by formula or per-square-foot. Every project is fixed-bid against your specific scope, written down before work starts. The ranges above are for orientation. The number for your project comes from the consultation.
What drives the spread
Layout is the first driver. A refresh that leaves every wall standing prices very differently from a remodel that reworks how the main floor connects, because moving walls means engineering, new rough-ins and finish work on both sides of the change.
The kitchen and the primary bathroom are the second. Those two rooms carry most of the cabinetry, tile, plumbing and appliance cost, and where they land tends to set where the whole house lands.
Mechanicals are the third. Houses of this vintage often still have their original furnace, water heater and panel, and are more likely to house wiring that no longer matches how people use a house. You are discovering conditions that drawings or site visits can't fully predict, so we plan for a contingency of 7-10 percent covering hidden conditions and upgrades you add.
Permits and process in Highlands Ranch
Highlands Ranch is unincorporated, so permits run through the Douglas County Building Division rather than a city building department, and the Highlands Ranch Metro District can have its own sign-off depending on the work. We pull every permit, and that cost is carried at the end at the exact amount the permit is pulled for.
On a whole-home project our first visit is longer and more involved than it would be for a single room, because the through-lines across rooms matter. Flooring has to run continuously, trim profiles have to match, and the kitchen and bathrooms need to belong to the same house. Getting that right up front keeps a large project from becoming a set of disconnected rooms.
How long it takes
A cosmetic whole-home refresh typically runs four to six months, a mid-range remodel five to eight months, and a higher-end remodel with significant structural work within the existing footprint seven to twelve months or more. Most families move out for the heavier tiers.
We mask floors and manage dust, and your project manager will give you plenty of warning ahead of the noisier phases. A single project manager carries the job from our first visit through final finishing.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a whole-home remodel cost in Highlands Ranch?
Most land between $175,000 and $800,000 depending on whether you are refreshing finishes or reworking the layout, with square footage and finish level setting the rest.
Can you add square footage to my Highlands Ranch home?
No. We remodel within the existing footprint, including layout and structural changes inside the walls you already have. We do not build additions or second stories.
Do I need a permit for a whole-home remodel in Highlands Ranch?
Yes. Permits come from Douglas County, and we handle submission and code compliance as part of the project.
Schedule a free consultation
If you own a Highlands Ranch home that has aged past its finishes and want a real number for a whole-home remodel, we will walk it and put a fixed bid in writing. Our team works out of both offices, in Colorado Springs and Lone Tree.
Call our Lone Tree office at (720) 835-2105 or reach out online for a free in-home consultation. Alpine Contracting provides interior remodeling services for homeowners in Colorado Springs, Monument, Woodland Park and the Southern Denver suburbs including Littleton, Highlands Ranch, Parker and Castle Rock.
***The ranges reflect what we typically see in the area(s) mentioned in 2026 — they're meant to help you set a rough guide for budgeting, this is not to be used as a quote. We share a fixed-bid number for your specific scope after the consultation.
