A renovation is not ready merely because a start date appears on a calendar. Before demolition, the team should know what is being built, which documents control, what remains unresolved, which approvals apply, what products must be available, and how the home and occupants will be protected.
Review How an HHM Home Project Works to understand how planning, site review, selections, and proposal steps fit together before construction.
If the project is not ready for this checkpoint, return to the Charlotte home-renovation planning guide to clarify outcomes, working-budget assumptions, permits, sequence, team selection, and the decisions that must be documented before demolition.
If the unresolved site, scope, budget, or household constraints call the renovation path itself into question, revisit the custom build versus major renovation guide before authorizing further preconstruction work.
This checklist is general planning information for North and South Carolina. It does not authorize construction or determine design, engineering, permits, licensing, price, schedule, financing, safety, or contract terms. The address, defined scope, authority having jurisdiction, approved documents, selected product instructions, responsible professionals, and written agreement control.
1. Confirm the scope and controlling documents
Assemble the latest plans, written scope, selections, specifications, allowances, exclusions, owner-supplied items, and accepted revisions. Mark superseded documents so they cannot be mistaken for current direction. Every drawing and schedule should have a revision date or other controlled identifier.
Unresolved structural openings, water-control details, electrical loads, plumbing routes, ventilation, gas work, hazardous-material questions, accessibility goals, or product substitutions should remain visible on an open-items register rather than being treated as field assumptions.
2. Verify permits and outside approvals
Confirm permit, inspection, zoning, historic-district, HOA, utility, and other approval requirements with the responsible authority or organization. Approval from one body does not replace another. Record who applies, who responds to comments, who schedules inspections, and what must be available before work proceeds.
3. Coordinate trades before concealment
Use a shared plan to coordinate framing, cabinets, appliances, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, ventilation, gas or fuel, insulation, fire- and air-control details, access, and finish thicknesses. Selected model documents should be current before rough-in when dimensions, loads, connections, clearances, ventilation, drainage, or service access depend on them.
Do not use this checklist to perform electrical, gas, plumbing, refrigerant, combustion, structural, roofing, excavation, or concealed-service work. Those conditions require the responsible qualified professionals and licensed work where required.
4. Confirm procurement and delivery readiness
Identify long-lead and critical-path products, current model numbers, quantities, approved finishes, delivery dates, receiving responsibility, storage conditions, damage procedures, return limits, and warranty ownership. A product image, cart, visualization, or preliminary selection is not proof of availability or an approved order.
5. Plan site protection and household logistics
Document access, parking, deliveries, work hours, shutoffs, temporary kitchen or bathroom needs, dust and floor protection, pets, children, security, debris handling, cleanup, and areas that remain occupied. Do not enter unsafe zones or disturb suspect lead, asbestos, mold, contaminated water, unstable materials, wet electrical equipment, or other hazardous conditions.
6. Reconcile price, schedule, and contract inputs
Before relying on a project-specific proposal, confirm the scope basis, quantities, unit prices where applicable, allowances, permits, trade work, supervision, delivery, tax, cleanup, payment milestones, change process, schedule assumptions, cancellation rights, financing terms, and customer rights. A planning range or calculator result is not a proposal or binding agreement.
7. Hold a documented go/no-go checkpoint
List every open item with an owner and due date. The responsible project parties should decide whether each unresolved item blocks work, limits only part of the scope, or can be controlled through an approved written process. A readiness meeting does not replace an inspection, design approval, permit authorization, or contract requirement.
Sources and verification
Sources reviewed August 15, 2026. State sources support code-status routing only; local authorities and responsible professionals control address- and scope-specific requirements.