Renovation Assistant

For owner-builders

The renovation command center
for owner-builders.

One live tool for the renovation you are actually running — the schedule, the money, and the people doing the work — instead of three static files you forget to update.

Try it freeSee what shipped ↓
What it does

Features

  • Renovation Assistant timeline showing multiple projects with phase bars across weeks.
    01Story 0001

    Plan the project

    Every project and its phases laid out on a single chronological timeline — chimney, bathroom, trailer, the lot.

    • Projects with seeded phase templates (chimney, bathroom, trailer).
    • Phases as bars on a shared week/month time axis.
    • Prerequisites render as real dependencies, not vibes.
    • Speaks MCP — Claude can add a project for you.
  • Budget screen with project expenses, funding sources, and a totals chip.
    02Story 0002

    Track the budget

    Expenses per project and phase, funding sources alongside, and an append-only audit trail so budget inflation is traceable instead of mysterious.

    • Per-phase budgets that roll up to project and tenant totals.
    • Funding sources (Own, Parents, National/Provincial/Municipality Subsidie, Crowdfunding…).
    • Total Budget chip: green / amber / red against funding.
    • Audit drawer: every change, with reason, newest first.
  • Phase view with a populated steps list, owners assigned, and a done counter.
    03Story 0003

    Break it into steps

    Inside each phase, a checklist of concrete steps with a person attached — you, your partner, or a contractor by name.

    • Steps with titles, owners, and a done checkbox.
    • Person picker with inline “add new person” affordance.
    • Reorder by drag (web) or long-press (mobile).
    • Phase header shows done / total and the first owners.
  • Projects view with a big readable project card, inline step checkboxes on each phase, and a drag handle on the left edge.
    04Story 0004

    Plan visually, reschedule by drag

    Big-card projects with goal + dates + budget; tick steps inline; drag phases to reschedule on web and mobile.

    • Every project is a big card: name, goal, dates, total budget — no hover, no drill-down.
    • Step checkboxes live on the card; tick them without opening the phase.
    • Drag a phase bar to reschedule; snaps to days, rolls back on failure.
    • Grip column shifts every phase in a project together; mobile drag via long-press.
  • Single-project page with editable name, goal, phase list with dates and budgets, and a Delete project menu.
    05Story 0005

    Edit a project in one place

    Click any project title and land on a single page that holds the whole project — name, goal, phases, dates, budget — all editable in place.

    • Click the project title on the timeline to open its own page.
    • Rename the project, edit the goal, change phase dates and budgets — every field is click-to-edit.
    • Add or delete phases and delete the whole project from the same page.
    • No dialogs, no sub-tabs — type, hit Enter, done.
  • Phase budget editor showing the Incl. VAT / Excl. VAT segmented toggle next to the amount field.
    06Story 0006

    Type the quote as written — incl. or excl. BTW

    Contractor quotes arrive excl. VAT (“€ 1.500 + BTW”). Flip the toggle on the phase budget editor and type the number on the quote — we do the 21 % (or 9 %) math.

    • Segmented toggle next to the amount: Incl. VAT / Excl. VAT.
    • Rate picker appears in Excl. mode: 21 % (standard) or 9 % (reduced).
    • Type € 1.500 in Excl. @ 21 % → saved as € 1.815 incl.
    • Storage stays incl-VAT — nothing in the API, MCP, or audit log changes.
  • Projects timeline showing strict fixed-width project and phase cards with uniform headers and duration-driven heights.
    07Story 0007

    Cards stop dancing — read at a glance

    Every project and phase card is the same fixed width with the same strict header — budget, title, goal/description, dates — so duration shows up as the card's height, not as a different-shaped card.

    • Project cards: identical width regardless of duration; height = how long the project runs.
    • Phase cards nest inside with the same header template — budget chip, title, description, start → end.
    • New phase description field (≤ 500 chars), editable in place; surfaces in the card's goal slot.
    • Drag-to-reschedule is now vertical (Up/Down keys ±1 day, Shift ±7) — the card moves, the header stays put.
  • Phase card with the inline + Add a step editor open at the bottom of the step list.
    08Story 0008

    Add a step without leaving the timeline

    A persistent + Add a step row at the bottom of every phase's inline step list — type the step you just thought of, hit Enter, stay on the timeline.

    • + Add a step row sits at the bottom of every populated phase, on web and mobile.
    • Click to expand an inline editor; Enter commits, Escape cancels, blur commits.
    • Optimistic insert at the bottom; counter pill increments by 1.
    • Empty phases keep the existing "Add the first step →" affordance — no duplication.
  • Phase date field with the two-month calendar popover open, range picker showing a selected start and hovered end.
    09Story 0009

    Pick dates from a real calendar

    Phase start and end dates open a two-month calendar popover — click the start day, click the end day, range saved. No more fighting the OS date picker on mobile or typing `YYYY-MM-DD` by hand.

    • Click any phase date to open a calendar popover anchored under the field.
    • Two-click range select: first click sets start, second click sets end (auto-swap if you click earlier).
    • Two months visible side by side on desktop, one month stacked on mobile.
    • Keyboard-reachable (arrows to navigate, Enter to pick, Esc to close) and same popover on web and mobile.
  • /projects timeline showing Kitchen bar spanning only January 2027 after story 0019 lands (previously spanned Jul 2026 to Jan 2027).
    19Story 0019

    Timeline shows when you're building, not when you're deciding

    The project bar on the /projects timeline now reflects only the execution work — default-type phases. Prepare phases still exist, still budgeted, still stepped; they just don't stretch the project's headline dates. Kitchen is a January project again.

    • A project's timeline bar spans the min → max of its default-type phases only.
    • If a project has only prepare phases (still planning, not yet building), it lands in the Unscheduled slot — same slot as any project without dates.
    • Silent for anyone without prepare phases. Baseline projects look identical to yesterday.
    • The prepare phase itself stays visible on the project detail page and inside the timeline lane. Story 0020 will restyle it as a lead-in rail.
  • Add-phase sheet with the segmented Default/Prepare control at the top, Prepare selected, name field "Design + procurement", and a July start date pre-filled.
    17Story 0017

    Plan a phase months before you build it

    A phase now carries a `type` — `default` (execution) or `prepare` (planning). Add a prepare phase for the kitchen decisions you're making now while the install slot is still six months away, and it sits early on the timeline where it belongs — no more pretending the install starts in July.

    • Segmented `Default | Prepare` control at the top of the Add-phase sheet. Pick the one that matches what you're doing.
    • Prepare-type rows carry a small `Prepare` badge next to the phase name — planning-work is a first-class citizen, not an alarm.
    • Same step CRUD, same budget rollup — a prepare phase behaves like every other phase. Deposits, design fees, and appliance procurement all count.
    • Multiple prepare phases per project are allowed (design-prep, procurement, whatever fits the shape of the work).
  • Projects timeline PhaseCard with the calendar popover open, anchored under the date row.
    11Story 0011

    Click any date to edit it

    Every visible date range — on the projects timeline PhaseCard and on the phase detail page header — is now clickable and opens the same calendar popover from 0009. If you can read it, you can retarget it.

    • Timeline PhaseCard `Jul 01 → Jul 28` row is a button — click to open the calendar popover in place.
    • Phase detail page header dates behave the same — click, pick, done.
    • Project card dates stay derived (sum of phase children) — click reveals a small hint tooltip.
    • Behind the scenes: every timestamp the backend stores or logs is UTC; the display layer converts to your local day.
  • Phase detail page with the Steps section heading reading `Steps X of Y done` inline and the sticky add-step input directly below.
    10Story 0010

    One steps heading, no doubled prompts

    The phase page's Steps section now carries the counter inline in its heading (`Steps X of Y done`) and drops the redundant "Add your first step →" line — the sticky add-step input is the only call to action.

    • Heading reads `Steps X of Y done` when steps exist, `Steps 0 of 0` when empty.
    • Standalone counter row above the input is removed — the count lives in the heading.
    • Empty-state `Add your first step →` line is gone; the input row already covers that.
    • Counter updates optimistically on add/complete; live region announces the new count.
Why it’s different

vs Notion templates

A template is a static shell you maintain. This is a live tool that rolls up the budget and tracks who is doing what, so the daily reason to open it is new information, not data entry.

vs Excel sheets

A spreadsheet shows one number. This shows the numbers that actually matter on a renovation — planned, expenses, funding, history — with an append-only log so budget inflation is traceable instead of mysterious.

vs Reddit at midnight

Reddit gives you a delayed, anonymous, single-shot opinion. This keeps the structured scope you already entered — phases, steps, owners, budgets — private and ready, every time a new question shows up.

What’s new

Changelog

  1. Timeline shows when you're building, not when you're deciding

    The project bar on the /projects timeline now derives its range from default-type phases only. Prepare phases still exist, still budgeted, still stepped — they just don't stretch the project's headline dates. Kitchen with a Jul-Dec prepare phase and a January install phase now renders as a January project on the timeline. Projects with only prepare phases land in the Unscheduled slot until the first default phase is added. Silent for anyone without prepare phases; no data migration, no banner. Story 0019 shipped.

  2. Plan a phase months before you build it

    Every phase now has a `type`: `default` for execution work, `prepare` for the planning window that sits ahead of it. The Add-phase sheet gains a segmented control at the top so you can flip it on the way in; a small `Prepare` badge shows next to the name once it's saved. Step CRUD, planned budget, expected-cost rollup — all identical to a default-type phase. You can have as many prepare phases per project as the shape of the work needs. Story 0017 shipped.

  3. Click any visible date to edit it

    Every date range you can see is now a click target. The timeline PhaseCard's `Jul 01 → Jul 28` row and the phase detail page header both open the same calendar popover from 0009 — anchored in place, two-click range select, keyboard-reachable. Project card dates stay derived (they sum their phase children), so clicking one reveals a small hint tooltip instead of an editor. Under the hood: every timestamp the backend stores or logs is now UTC — invisible to you, but the audit trail stays comparable regardless of who is looking at it. The display layer is the only place local-time conversion happens. Story 0011 shipped.

  4. One steps heading, no doubled prompts

    The Steps section on the phase detail page now carries the counter inline in its heading — `Steps X of Y done`, or `Steps 0 of 0` when empty — and the standalone counter row above the input is gone. The redundant "Add your first step →" line is also gone; the sticky add-step input is the only call to action. Counter updates optimistically on add/complete; screen reader announces the new count via the live region. Timeline PhaseCard's counter pill from 0007 is untouched. Story 0010 shipped.

  5. Pick phase dates from a real calendar

    Phase start and end dates no longer open the OS date picker or demand a typed `YYYY-MM-DD` — they open a calendar popover anchored under the field, with two months visible side by side on desktop and one month stacked on mobile. Click the start day, click the end day, range saved (auto-swaps if you pick an earlier end). Keyboard-reachable end-to-end: arrows navigate, Enter picks, Esc closes. Same popover on web and mobile. Story 0009 shipped.

  6. Add a step without leaving the timeline

    Every phase card with at least one step now has a persistent + Add a step row at the bottom of its inline step list — on the project timeline, on the editable project page, and on mobile. Click it, type the title, hit Enter — the step appears at the bottom of the list and the counter pill ticks up by one. Empty phases keep the existing "Add the first step →" affordance. Story 0008 shipped.

  7. Strict fixed-layout project and phase cards

    Every project and phase card now has a fixed width and a uniform header — budget chip, title, goal or description, dates — so two cards look like the same kind of thing whether the project runs a week or a year. Duration shows up as the card's height. Phases gained an editable description field that fills the goal slot. Story 0007 shipped.

  8. VAT incl/excl toggle on phase budgets

    Phase budget editor gained an Incl. VAT / Excl. VAT segmented toggle, with a 21 %/9 % rate picker on Excl. Type the contractor quote as written; we do the math. Storage stays incl-VAT — no API or MCP changes. Story 0006 shipped.

  9. Editable single-project page

    Click a project title to open its own page and edit the name, goal, phase dates, and phase budgets all in one place. Story 0005 shipped.

  10. Stylised projects menu

    Big-card projects with goal, dates, budget, and inline step checkboxes. Drag a phase to reschedule, or grab the grip column to shift the whole project. Story 0004 shipped.

  11. Steps and People

    Phases now contain steps with owners. Story 0003 shipped.

  12. Track the budget

    Expenses, funding sources, and a full audit trail. Story 0002 shipped.

  13. Add a project with phases

    Projects, phase templates, and the shared timeline. Story 0001 shipped.

Run your renovation, not a spreadsheet.

Free during the public build. Built in the open, on a real renovation.

Try it free