Rick Kelley Builders

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Rick Kelley Builders

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Design + build remodeling in Columbus & Central Ohio. Thoughtful remodels. Beautiful results. Since 1980.

For over 42 years Rick Kelley Builders has offered full building and remodeling design services to the central Ohio area that include room additions, kitchens, baths, finished lower levels, screened porches, and new home construction. We have an old time approach to the building business…you work directly with the owners, instead of a construction manager or superintendent. With Rick Kelley Builders you get what you want...the way you want it...on time and on budget.

10/19/2026

Can you live at home during a remodel?

Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, technically yes—but you may briefly question every decision that led you to this point.

The honest answer depends on the project. A bathroom remodel may be fairly manageable if you have another full bath. A kitchen remodel is different because your coffee maker, refrigerator and patience all end up sharing a temporary corner of the house.

Before construction starts, we talk through access, dust control, utilities, work hours, pets and which parts of the house will be usable. We’d rather have the inconvenient conversations early than surprise you after demolition.

Remodeling disrupts routines. Good planning doesn’t eliminate that disruption, but it makes it far more predictable—and keeps “Where is the toaster?” from becoming the defining question of your month.

10/16/2026

There are a few things homeowners regularly apologize for before a remodeling conversation:

“We don’t have everything figured out.”

“The house is a mess.”

“We’ve changed our minds three times.”

“We have no idea what this should cost.”

Please don’t worry about any of that.

If you already knew exactly how to redesign the space, solve the construction details, establish a realistic budget and coordinate the work, you probably wouldn’t need us.

Our job begins with listening: how you live, what isn’t working and what you hope the house will do better when we’re finished. The answers usually become clearer through the conversation.

And the house doesn’t need to be spotless. We remodel homes for actual people. We fully expect evidence that somebody lives there.

Bring us the problem. We’ll help you work through the possibilities—without judging the laundry basket you moved out of the photograph.

10/09/2026

After enough years in remodeling, you begin to realize that certain perfectly innocent phrases have much larger meanings.

For example:

“We might as well do it while you’re here.”

Translation: We are about to discuss three additional rooms.

“It should be a quick change.”

Translation: Nobody has opened the wall yet.

“We don’t really use that room.”

Translation: We would like to completely redesign that room.

“Could we just move this over a little?”

Translation: Plumbing, electrical and possibly several laws of physics may be involved.

“Can we save that?”

Translation: Please carefully remove this 80-year-old piece of trim that was installed by someone who apparently never wanted it disturbed again.

And, of course:

“While we’re at it…”

Translation: Nobody is going home early.

To be fair, we’ve said a few of these ourselves.

Good remodeling isn’t about pretending surprises and changing ideas never happen. It’s about thinking things through, communicating clearly and having people involved who know how to handle whatever is hiding behind the wall.

Because the wall always knows something we don’t.

rickkelleybuilders.com

10/07/2026

Central Ohio fall is lovely, brief and apparently wedged somewhere between 87 degrees and the first morning you have to scrape ice off the windshield.

Before Ohio decides it’s winter tomorrow, this is a good time to spend an afternoon checking the house.

Clean the gutters. Look at the roof. Check the grading and exterior caulking. Disconnect the hoses. Test the furnace. Test the smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms. Find the snow shovel before you actually need it.

None of this is especially glamorous. Nobody is going to ask for a tour of your freshly cleaned gutters.

But catching a small problem now is much better than discovering a large one when it’s 14 degrees outside and every contractor in Central Ohio is already receiving the same phone call.

Jeremy put together a complete fall home-maintenance guide—including what to inspect, why it matters and several mistakes he has personally made so you don’t have to.

Read it here:

https://www.rickkelleybuilders.com/post/fall-home-maintenance-central-ohio

10/05/2026

Fall in Central Ohio is that special time of year when it can be 78 degrees at lunch and you’re looking for an ice scraper by dinner.

Before Ohio remembers that winter is coming, here are five decidedly unexciting things worth doing around the house:

• Disconnect the garden hoses and prepare the exterior faucets for cold weather.

• Clean the gutters and make sure the downspouts are carrying water away from the house—not thoughtfully depositing it beside the foundation.

• Change the furnace filter and turn the heat on before you desperately need it. Finding out something doesn’t work is much more enjoyable when it’s 60 degrees outside.

• Test the smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms. If you can’t remember the last time you checked them, that’s probably your answer.

• Walk around the outside of the house and look for loose caulk, damaged trim and openings where water, cold air or ambitious woodland creatures might get in.

None of this will make your house look better on Instagram.

It may, however, help you avoid meeting a plumber in your pajamas at 2:00 in the morning—and that seems worthwhile.

Save this for the weekend or share it with someone whose garden hose will otherwise remain connected until February.

rickkelleybuilders.com

10/02/2026

Fall in Central Ohio is beautiful. It is also your house’s annual reminder that winter is coming whether any of us have emotionally prepared for it or not.

A quick walk around the house now can prevent a much less enjoyable conversation in January:

• Clean the gutters
• Make sure the downspouts carry water away from the house
• Test the smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms
• Disconnect the outdoor hoses
• Check around windows and doors for gaps and drafts

None of this is especially exciting. It is, however, considerably cheaper than discovering a frozen pipe or overflowing gutter the hard way.

Which one is still on your list?

09/30/2026

Before we start talking about cabinet colors, countertops or the exact shade of white that is somehow different from the other 47 shades of white, we look at how the kitchen actually needs to work.

That means traffic flow, storage, work areas, how the kitchen connects to the rest of the house—and the little daily annoyances that have been quietly driving you crazy for years.

Because a beautiful kitchen is great. A beautiful kitchen that makes an ordinary Tuesday morning easier is even better.

What is the one thing you would change about your kitchen if you could?

09/26/2026

This is Gracie.

She is our almost 10-year-old Corgi, approximately 56 pounds, and—due to some health issues—built more like an overstuffed ottoman than an Olympic athlete.

Avery is our 24-year-old daughter, currently in her final year of law school and therefore very familiar with stressful situations.

This story involves both of them, a golf cart and one very important detail I overlooked.

A few weeks ago, Avery and I took the golf cart to Giant Eagle. Gracie came along because if she hears the garage door and suspects the golf cart is involved, she appears out of nowhere like she’s been summoned by ancient Corgi magic.

I parked, ran inside and left Avery and Gracie waiting. About fifteen minutes later I came out and noticed the cart was no longer where I had parked it. Avery looked completely rattled. Gracie looked innocent, which should have been my first clue.

“You left the key on,” Avery said.

A very nice lady had stopped to pet Gracie. Gracie repositioned herself to maximize the scratches and parked her substantial backside directly on the accelerator.

Our golf cart does not gently roll forward. It launches.

So Avery suddenly found herself steering from the passenger seat while trying to remove 56 pounds of determined Corgi from the gas pedal as the cart headed toward a shopper and a parked car.

She stopped it. Everyone survived. The nice lady looked like she had accidentally launched a space shuttle.

Gracie looked around as if to say, “That was fun. Where are we going next?”

Details matter. It’s true in remodeling, and apparently in Giant Eagle parking lots.

Mostly, though, turn off the key.

—Jeremy

09/25/2026

Well, it finally happened.

Gracie has a stroller.

Before anyone thinks she has simply become even more spoiled—and, to be clear, she has—there’s a real reason for it.

Gracie has Addison’s disease, which has caused some weakness in her back end. Some days she can take a nice long walk. Some days she gets tired halfway through. And some days her legs look at the rest of her and say, “You’re on your own.”

The problem is that Gracie still wants to go. She wants the fresh air. She wants to patrol the neighborhood. She wants to judge the landscaping choices of everyone in Upper Arlington.

So yesterday I bought her a stroller.

She can walk when she feels up to it, ride when she gets tired and continue supervising the neighborhood from the comfort of what is essentially a Corgi-sized mobility chariot.

At Rick Kelley Builders, we spend a lot of time figuring out how to make homes work better as people’s needs change.

Apparently, that philosophy now extends to dogs.

Gracie has reviewed the finished project and seems pleased. Although she has already mentioned that the cupholder is on the wrong side and would like to discuss air-conditioned seats.

—Jeremy

09/24/2026

The least expensive time to make a remodeling decision is before someone is standing in your half-demolished kitchen waiting for an answer.

That doesn’t mean you need every k**b, light fixture and grout color selected before you call us. You don’t.

But appliances, plumbing fixtures, tile, lighting and cabinetry all affect what gets built around them. Choosing those things early gives us time to coordinate the details instead of discovering on a Tuesday morning that the refrigerator needs three more inches and the tile is six weeks away.

Good planning does not eliminate every surprise. This is remodeling, after all. Houses enjoy keeping a few secrets.

But it does mean fewer rushed decisions, fewer expensive changes and a much calmer project.

You don’t need everything figured out before you contact us. Helping you figure it out is part of the job.

https://www.rickkelleybuilders.com/remodeling-overview

—Jeremy

Address

7521 Concord Road
Delaware, OH
43015

Telephone

+16144372013

Website

http://www.rickkelleybuilders.com/

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