Phases of Construction - Floors, Paint, Cabinets and Trim
Once all your sheet rock is in place, be sure to have the installer come back and make sure that the cut outs around junction boxes and switches are finished properly, otherwise, you'll have gaps showing behind switch plates. Once this has been done, you're ready for the next part: Floors, paint, cabinets and trim.
Some people will install floors first, then cover them with protective material throughout the remainder of the project. Others will wait until after the house has been painted before installing floors. It really does depend on you, your floor installer and your painter.
Your trim and doors should be installed and in place before painting. However, that leaves the question of baseboards, especially if your floors have not already been installed. Some painters will insist that baseboards be installed before the floors are installed because they don't want the liability of damaging floors. Depending on the finish you're looking for it may not be a problem as long as you leave a wide enough gap between the sub-flooring and baseboard such that the floors fit snugly between. If you think that there might be a gap between the floor and baseboard after installation, shoe molding can easily be put in place. As well, if you're going for a modern look, you might not want shoe molding which makes the gap issue a bigger concern.
Another thing to consider are the installation of cabinets. The cabinets have to be installed before they can be painted. However, some cabinets might need to be installed after the flooring has been put in place. For example, I had my cabinets installed by IKEA. Since these cabinets did not require painting, it wasn't a project that required me to schedule with the painter; however, IKEA wanted to do the install after the floors were installed. They were designed to sit on top of floors and I had the option of keeping the area between the floor and cabinets empty or installing a kick-board.
Your plumber will require tile be in place as well before they can install toilets. Your bathtub, with the exception of claw-foot tubs, will more than likely be put in place along with the rough in plumbing so, you will tile up to the tub.
Once these items are completed, you can begin to move forward to your finishes.... the most exciting part of your home-build as this is where your individuality really comes to life and begins to show.
