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February 23, 2007
Help estimating renovations
We're looking at an old brownstone to buy, but before we put in a bid, we'd like to do a walkthrough with someone who can give us ballpark figures for what needs fixing. This is our first foray into home ownership and we're excited and terrified about renovating. Before I make a bid, I want to have a vague idea of how much more money we're going to shell out to get things going properly.
Thanks for any recommendations of people and/or estimates on things like a new roof, fixing wood floors around old radiators, etc.
Comments
OP,
You need to be a little more specific in terms of what you're getting...What you're looking to do....How much time you have... How much $$$ you have.... Do you plan on doing the reno yourself??...etc.
Renovations is a very very vast subject and in order for the responses to be meaningful to you, there needs to be some sense of scope.
So give us Size of your place, condition, & what you want to do for starters.
Posted by: NewStoner at February 23, 2007 3:05 PM
I dont think its wise to just get an idea. You need to have estimates in writing.
I say this b/c we did this very thing before buying a brownstone and this contractor (who comes highly recommended on this board I might add) ended up wanting to charge us a lot more when we asked for it in writing.
Posted by: Anonymous at February 23, 2007 3:11 PM
Original Poster here -
Thanks for the ?/comments so far...
I don't expect to hold anyone to the amounts I'm quoted, but I have no idea what it costs to put a new roof on a 20X50 building, for example.
Yes, we do plan to do as much as the work as we can ourselves with the help of contractors for stuff that needs a pro - leveling, electrical work, etc. The house has been in the same family for 60 years, and it doesn't look like they've done much. The garden floor will need new floors - they've got crap linoleum on top of subfloor. The bathroom will need redoing and we'll need to install a kitchen on the parlor floor...
Again, we're handy, but I don't know how much anything costs, and while I'm combing the internets to get prices, I'd love to hear from some vetrans how much this stuff ends up being. We're not thinking fancy, just solid.
BTW, was anyone else peeved at how the NYT reno piece this week didn't bother to mention the cost of things here in...NEW YORK?
Thanks again for your input!
Posted by: anon at February 23, 2007 3:20 PM
It's just better off to look at it sq ft wise...I think you'll drive yourself bananas if you try and price out each individual piece in a project where it sounds like you need to do a major amount of work...you're talking about a renovation not a fix up or replacement of one specific area...
That being said, a roof is between $5K and $7K!!
Posters on this board will tell you of ranges between $75 and $450 per sq ft to reno (illustrated with colorful epithets about why you can't do that for so little or why you're so stupid to pay that much)
Posted by: Anonymous at February 23, 2007 3:33 PM
It's not easy estimating renovations. The devil is in the details!
Posted by: Rick at February 24, 2007 6:00 AM
Before I signed my contract I brought my contractor in to give me a very rough estimate. He gave me a number, which I didn't believe, and then he said that that number probably wouldn't be good for too long - something about Chinese copper and the price of doors; I stopped listening because I had started to drift in my mind to a place where I could restore every inch of the house for far less than what the contractor was saying. I thanked him and then chuckled to myself, thinking "What a poor, deluded man. It's a wonder he gets any business."
Then, we had an inspector come in. I asked him casually how much he thought it would cost to renovate the whole place. He gave me a range - and the bottom number was exactly what the contractor had said.
Almost two years later, and midway through the renovation, they were both proved right and we're still trying to figure out what corners to cut in order to stay anywhere near the ballpark of those first numbers.
I guess what I'm saying is, have a couple of knowledgeable people come in and give you their opinions. You'll get a good ballpark idea and can refine later when you're actually going to get the work done. You won't be able to get exact, sign-on-the-dotted-line numbers until you have plans drawn up and figure out just what you want to do.
But don't underestimate anything. Take the lowest number that anyone gives you and add on about 25% just to be safe. Better to be nicely surprised than completely devestated when you find out you can't do most of the things you wanted to do.
Posted by: Amy at February 24, 2007 1:24 PM
Look, without a good set of drawings by an architect or building professional you're basically committing yourself to getting hosed by your contractor who has both the knowledge and the incentive to increase teh cost and the scope of the project. Many of you home buyers have no experience with construction so you have little way of knowing when you're being overcharged or when an item is unnecessary. For example heating and AC contractors can design you a heating and AC system, but they're going to oversize it, both because they don't want you complaining about it next year and because they make more money that way. Also, without drawings there's no way to know exactly what you're agreeing to.
I had a contractor once tell me that his original price included installing ceramic tile, but didn't include the price for thin-set, which he then tried to mark up as some super duper tile bonding agent that cost a lot of money(he got fired). But that's not something that everyone knows. I tell people all the time, get an architect, or get an engineer to give you numbers. You don't ask the barber if you need a haircut and you don't rely on contractors to tell you what something should cost.
Posted by: Dan at February 25, 2007 10:55 AM
I'm an architect, and I have to say that it is impossible to tell how much something will cost if you don't know what the tastes of your client are. Renovating a townhouse in Manhattan can be $500-$1,000 per square foot. From what I hear on this site, it's considerably less expensive in Brooklyn, but I take that to mean that the super-rich are just not visiting this blog on a normal basis. No one, architect or contractor, will be able to give you anything remotely accurate. They can only give you an average, or a range of prices. the more difficult thing, is that each house is different. When you're renovating, you never know what you will find hidden behind the walls that will cause problems. If you're going to by the place, you'll by it because you're willing to live through the renovation, regardless of what it costs (within reason of course). It's always going to cost more than you think. And by the way, if anyone gives you a price, I would multiply that by 150% or 200%...
I don't mean to be a pesimist, but that's the way it usually works out.
Posted by: architect at February 25, 2007 4:16 PM
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