BirdDog Design & Build

"Recently finished a primary bath remodel. Cannot say enough about BirdDog! Seamless from start to finish. These guys are seriously detail oriented professionals — nothing is a problem for them. They showed up every day, put their heads down and really exceeded our expectations! It's nice to have people working in your house who care and respect your home. They were even quiet and clean during demo!"
— Frank, five stars on Google

The line we keep coming back to is the last one.

Nobody puts 'quiet and clean during demo' in a brochure. But if you have ever had a crew in your house, you know it is close to the top of what you actually worry about — along with whether anyone turns up on Tuesday.

That is the part of this job that has nothing to do with tile. Showing up. Sweeping the floor before you leave. Treating somebody's house like they still have to live in it while you work.

We do not buy leads. Almost everything we take on comes from someone telling a neighbour — so if we have worked on your home, a review genuinely goes further than you would think 🙏

If you've searched "bathroom remodel cost Baltimore," you've seen a number around $11,000. Then you call a licensed remodeler about a full renovation and hear $30,000.

Both are real. They're describing completely different jobs — and working out which one you're being quoted is the single most useful thing you can do before signing anything.

We wrote the whole thing down: where the gap comes from, what's usually missing from the cheaper number, and what a permitted, to-the-studs bathroom actually costs around here.

Read it before you compare quotes 👇

Let's talk about the contingency line on your estimate, because homeowners often read it as padding.

When we price a project in an older home around here, there's a number in there for things nobody can see yet. Not a cushion for us — a stated amount for what might be behind a wall that hasn't been opened since the house went up.

Here's the reasoning. We cannot see behind tile until we take it off. In a house of that age, what's back there is frequently past its service life, and finding it is the normal outcome rather than the unlucky one.

So we do three things. We show the contingency as its own line rather than burying it in the price. We tell you in advance what would actually trigger it. And if we don't use it, you don't pay it — it doesn't quietly turn into our margin at the end.

A quote with no contingency isn't cheaper. It's just less honest about what nobody can know on day one.

Own a house from that era? What did you find? 👇

"How much does a kitchen remodel cost in Maryland?"

We get asked this constantly, and most of what's online is useless — either a national average that means nothing here, or an answer so vague it helps nobody.

So we wrote down what we actually see in Baltimore and Harford County: three tiers, what sits in each one, and the handful of decisions that move the number most. No sales pitch and no magic ROI percentage, because nobody can honestly promise you one.

Worth ten minutes if a kitchen is anywhere on your list 👇

Happy Labor Day from all of us at BirdDog. 🇺🇸

The photo is a brick chimney in a Baltimore County house. Somebody laid it by hand, brick by brick, roughly a century ago, and it is still standing and still doing its job. Nobody signed it. That is most of the trade, really.

If you're spending the long weekend looking around the house and quietly making a list — we understand. That's genuinely how most of our projects start.

No pitch today. Enjoy the weekend, and thank you to every tradesperson who spends the rest of the year making other people's houses work properly.

Back on site Tuesday.

Finished this one in Baltimore County.

The brief was simple: the tub never got used, the room felt cramped, and the whole thing was dated. So the tub came out and a proper tiled walk-in shower went in — same footprint, no walls moved.

White hex on the walls, black penny round on the shower floor, sage on the one wall that could take it. Black fixtures throughout to tie it together.

The part you can't see is the part that matters: new supply lines, proper waterproofing behind the tile, and a vent fan that actually moves air. That's what makes it last.

Thinking about yours? Have a look at what's involved 👇

A proper introduction, since a lot of you are new here.

We're BirdDog Design + Build — a family-run design-build remodeler in Middle River, working across Baltimore and Harford County.

Design-build means one team handles all of it: the drawings, the pricing, the permits, the trades, the schedule. You're never standing between a designer who has never met your plumber and a contractor who didn't help draw the plan. That gap is where most renovation horror stories actually begin.

Kitchens and bathrooms mostly, plus finished basements, additions, decks and whole-home renovations.

Over the next few weeks we'll show you finished projects and answer the questions we get asked constantly — what things really cost around here, what Baltimore County actually requires a permit for, and what we find behind the walls of a 1950s house. Ask us anything in the comments.

Hey Friends, it’s been awhile!
We haven’t been posting much lately, but We’ve been hard at work transforming kitchens, bathrooms, basements, outdoor spaces and more!
We just finished up this bathroom in Bel air, our 7th project in the same neighborhood! A testament to the quality and craftsmanship we pride ourselves on.
We would love the opportunity to discuss your next project!
Give us a call 410 881 9010 or visit www.BirdDogDesignsco.Com

Let us know, what’s your favorite part of this bathroom?

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