Renovation Club
With great pleasure, my wife and myself closed on a Brooklyn brownstone early October of 2005. We went the ‘gut renovation’ route. Compared to a ‘finished’ 3 family on the open market, we came in pretty good taking into account purchase price and estimated renovation cost. Our main hurdle at this point in time is…
With great pleasure, my wife and myself closed on a Brooklyn brownstone early October of 2005. We went the ‘gut renovation’ route. Compared to a ‘finished’ 3 family on the open market, we came in pretty good taking into account purchase price and estimated renovation cost.
Our main hurdle at this point in time is the total cost associated with the renovation. The loan (Wells Fargo) has a ‘cap’ on renovation costs. As a result of this ‘cap’, based on the contractor’s estimates (rip off), there is a huge differential between the costs and available bank funds for renovation. After reviewing the contractor’s estimates, its clear to me that the margins are pretty high especially on raw materials. My goal is to minimize the costs by doing some of the work myself and purchasing all the raw materials. In making this decision, it occurred to me that my situation might not be unique; there are others like myself with new and existing homes. My solution, a non-profit renovation club aimed at minimizing costs associated with labor and raw materials for its members – where its member would pool skills sets to complete targeted projects.
LABOR
I am not contemplating extreme labor-intensive projects. There are certain areas where I believe the inexperienced can quickly learn – such as:
* Painting
* Stripping wood
* Laying wood floors
* Landscaping – my wife has done landscaping for 3 homes in Bed Sty.
RAW MATERIALS
After reviewing my contractor’s estimates on raw materials, it was clear to me that his margin is somewhere between 30% and 40%. As a result, I immediately decided I had to purchase my own materials: obviously, Home Depot was not an option. With great luck, I was able to secure a relationship with my cousin’s contactor. He (the contactor) is willing to purchase all my raw materials at cost price (for a small fee of course). My comparison thus far shows 20% in savings.
Over the next few weeks, I would like to get some feedback- ideas, suggestion, caveats etc. After some digestion, I would like to meet with those of you interested in forming this club.
Contact Info:
* Cell 917-847-5033
* Email kmorant@hotmail.com
The previous comments substantiate all of the gray areas and pitfalls in construction. I’d be happy to have a buck for all the contractors I’ve met who can’t even manage to respect me long enough to get my money. Perhaps an assessment of the work rating the degree of difficulty might help. Don’t be proud, much of the work you just have to write a check for. Virtaully all of us buy thinking and desiring to do it all at once — but most of us do it over time and learn as we go.
Terrible idea — good luck, you’ll need it!
My friend was helping me build my deck last summer and he cut off his finger tip with the circular saw. I have been working with tools my whole life without any injury. It cost me $1800 to take care of that finger tip. Make sure you weed out the clutzes before you invite them into your home to do any work.
Those contractor postings remind me of brokers complaining when homeowners decide to sell on their own. Construction is not rocket science. If you’re smart and handy get a how to book at Home Depot and get to work!
thanks for your comments, unfortunatly there are many people that think this is a good idea and they have been contacting via email and phone. So far we have over 50 responses, I guess we will all sit in our moron bag together doing our small DIY’s and smiling all the way. We will still leave the real work to the contractors… everyone has a specialty:)
Don’t be consumed by negativity
Happy New Year
As a long time painting contractor, I have to agree with the above posters. If you have hired a contractor to buy your materials for cost and are then paying him a small fee it really is not for cost. Who is going to inspect everything to make sure it’s what you really paid for or to return broken or damaged goods to the supplier? What about waste? If your contractor is not paying for his materials what’s keeping him from asking you to buy a few dozen more boxes of sheetrock screws than you really need.
I am a contractor in New York. I am sick and tired of arrogant home owners, like yourself, who have no appreciation, understanding, knowledge, expertise, or training in the realm of construction. You have no awareness of the outrageous insurance costs associated with operating a construction business after 9/11, or the enormous liabilities associated with life safety issues during and after construction, or the immense amount of time spent required to translate architectural, engineering or any other type of drawn or written design documents into built reality. Please go ahead and form your wood stripping club, I wish you all the best of luck, you moron.
My off the cuff reaction is that this is an admirable but ultimately lousy idea. In my experience you can shave costs here and there, and it’s good to put in the time to do so if you have it, but at the end of the day you more or less get what you pay for. So hire a contractor who will let you purchase your own materials (but who will ultimately charge more than he otherwise would because of that lost profit center), and do some of your own work if you feel you can do it to your own satisfaction, but don’t have some stranger novice laying your floors or painting your walls.