Hi Connie, It is a much busier time for professionals than it was 12 months ago, I understand why you may be going through all this. Here are 2 things to try. Try the Houzz Professional pages if you haven't already. Be clear on the phone about your timeline and budget and see what that nets you. If it doesn't work, I recommend coming to a builder via a different route. Perhaps via a subcontractor of a key department (plumber, framer, etc), an involved architect or a designer. Our professional relationships are so important to us, if a trusted builder asked me to take on an additional client to help their company out, I would expand my office staff etc to meet the demand, as we are all repeat business for each other and our livelihoods depend on the quality and quality of our professional relationships. As far as you physically performing labor, in many cases, tradespeople who spend all day every day performing tasks on an expert level save you money because they are doing it much, much faster than a DIY could and will likely have the experience to avoid mistakes that can cost you time and money or, in a more subtle way, there may be something you do that makes it more difficult or time consuming or costly for the trades that come in after your work- that could be avoided. Overall I think you should stick it out on the contractor search! You need one, there are so many good ones-- hang in there!! Good luck- this is no one's favorite part!

You have a few options here to make some big improvements. 1. You could remove the wall that has the doorway in it. You may need to relocate your stove and range hood or you could have a range hood that you can see "in the round". You would lose those upper cupboards though. or 2. You could remove the other wall to the side of the doorway. This would then mean that your kitchen would open up to the living area but you would lose some full height cupboard space along that side. I also noticed that your TV is located in that corner. Do you need it there or can you relocate it to free up that wall? or 3. Perhaps you could flip your kitchen so that the breakfast bar is near the dining table rather than at the other end. The stove and range hood could then go at the end where the current breakfast bar is as well as upper storage cupboards. Having the kitchen open onto the dining area could be very nice if that's what you are after. It depends on the rest of the living area, too, whether you would like to open it up totally as well. There is a lot to play with here and it can be a lot of fun. I wish you the best of luck with your renovations.

We have just demolished the back room to rebuild it and turn it into our kitchen/dining room with big doors out to the patio and pool. The most exciting thing for me is my laundry it will be the old kitchen and I am going to design it myself, I love big laundries. My old laundry will become our walk in pantry. Then the outside of the home but all in due course

we can help