Planning plays an integral role in the home improvement process , and it ’ s perhaps a more time-consuming component of renovations than homeowners realize . According to the “ 2024 U . S . Houzz & Home Study ” from Houzz Research , homeowners spent almost twice as much time planning their kitchen renovations in 2023 as it took for the projects to be completed . The researchers behind the report found that the average time spent planning a kitchen renovation in 2023 was 9.6 months , while the building took 5.1 months . Additional projects featured a similar disparity between the time to plan and the time to build . For example , homeowners spent 8.1 months planning living room renovations , which then took an additional 4.1 months to complete . Even smaller projects like closet renovations required ample planning ( 6.5 months ) that more than doubled the time required to complete the project ( 3.1 months ).