A fixed-price remodel guarantee means the contractor commits to a single, binding price before construction starts, and absorbs the cost of any overrun caused by their own estimating error. It is not the same as a rough estimate that changes once demolition reveals a surprise. For homeowners in Edina, Minnetonka and across the Twin Cities planning a kitchen, main level or whole-home remodel, that distinction is worth understanding before signing a contract.
What Does “Fixed Price” Actually Mean in a Remodel Contract?
A true fixed-price contract locks the total cost after a detailed design and scope phase, not before one. New Spaces runs a Needs, Wants and Wishes discovery process first, then produces a minimum of three design options with a corresponding price before a homeowner signs anything. Once the design is selected and the contract is signed, the price does not move unless the homeowner chooses to add scope. This is different from a cost-plus contract, where the homeowner pays actual labor and materials plus a markup, and the final number is unknown until the project is finished.
How Is a Fixed-Price Guarantee Different From a Typical Estimate?
A typical estimate is a good-faith number based on limited information, usually a walkthrough and a rough scope. It is not a guarantee, and most remodeling contracts allow the contractor to bill for change orders tied to unforeseen conditions such as old wiring, water damage or structural issues found once walls are open. A fixed-price guarantee shifts that risk. If New Spaces’ own design and estimating process misses something within the agreed scope, the cost of correcting it is on New Spaces, not the homeowner. Genuine homeowner-driven changes, like adding a mudroom mid-project, are still priced separately and clearly.
| Contract Type | Who Carries Estimating Risk | When You Know the Final Price |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-plus | Homeowner | At project completion |
| Rough estimate, no guarantee | Shared, often disputed | Only after change orders are resolved |
| Fixed-price with design fee refund | Contractor | Before construction starts |
What Happens if the Design and Budget Do Not Line Up?
This is where a design fee refund matters. New Spaces charges a design fee to produce the Needs, Wants and Wishes plan and at least three priced design options. If none of those options can be built within the homeowner’s stated budget, the design fee is refunded. That single clause removes the biggest fear homeowners have about paying for design work up front: that they will pay for a plan they cannot afford and have nothing to show for it. It also keeps New Spaces honest about pricing during the design phase, since a design team that consistently misses budget targets is refunding fees instead of collecting them.
“We tell every homeowner the same thing at the first meeting: if the price we hand you at signing changes because we missed something on our end, that is our mistake to pay for, not yours,” says a New Spaces project lead, describing the design fee refund policy the company has used across more than 700 completed projects over 40 years of experience as a family-owned design-build firm.
Why Does This Matter More for a Whole-Home or Main Level Remodel?
Scope creep and hidden costs grow with project size. A bathroom refresh has limited places for a budget to go sideways. A whole-home or main level remodel touches structural walls, mechanical systems and multiple rooms at once, which is exactly where cost-plus projects tend to run over. Locking a fixed price before the first wall comes down protects a homeowner making a six-figure decision from an open-ended one. It is also why the design-first process, not the construction schedule, is where a fixed-price guarantee earns its value: the price is only as reliable as the design work that produced it.
What Should You Ask a Remodeler Before Signing a Fixed-Price Contract?
Ask three things before you sign anything. First, ask exactly what is included in the fixed price and what would trigger a change order, in writing, not verbally. Second, ask whether the design fee is refundable if the priced options do not fit your budget; a contractor unwilling to put that in writing is telling you something about how confident they are in their own estimating. Third, ask how many design options you will see before you commit to a price, since a single option with a single number is closer to a rough estimate than a real fixed-price process. Homeowners in Burnsville, Lakeville, Eden Prairie and Prior Lake who have been through a bad prior remodel, one with a budget blowout or a contractor who kept adding change orders, tend to ask these questions the second time around. It is worth asking them the first time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a fixed-price guarantee cover every possible surprise?
It covers estimating errors within the agreed design and scope. It does not cover a homeowner adding new scope mid-project, such as deciding to finish a basement that was never part of the original plan. That work is priced and agreed to separately, in writing, before it starts.
How long does the design phase take before a price is locked?
For most kitchen, main level or whole-home projects with New Spaces, the design and estimating phase runs several weeks, since it includes the Needs, Wants and Wishes discovery meeting and at least three priced design options before a contract is signed.
What if I do not like any of the design options?
You are not obligated to move forward. If none of the options fit your goals or your budget, the design fee is refunded.
New Spaces has run this design-first, fixed-price process on more than 700 projects across the Twin Cities, from kitchen remodeling to full whole-home remodeling. Over half of the company’s business comes from repeat clients and referrals, largely because the price a homeowner agrees to at signing is the price they pay at the end. See the process in more of your neighbors’ homes in the project gallery, or schedule a Needs, Wants and Wishes consultation to see what a fixed-price plan looks like for your own home. Call (952) 898-5300 to talk it through with the design team first.