Contractor Estimates
Am I way underestimating the cost of a simple kitchen/bathroom update in a pre-war co-op apt? All we want to do is install Ikea cabinets, new floor & counters in a 10×6 kitchen, reglaze a bathtub, redo a shower stall, and put in new vanity. Our budget is $20-25k and estimates so far are $35k-42k…
Am I way underestimating the cost of a simple kitchen/bathroom update in a pre-war co-op apt? All we want to do is install Ikea cabinets, new floor & counters in a 10×6 kitchen, reglaze a bathtub, redo a shower stall, and put in new vanity. Our budget is $20-25k and estimates so far are $35k-42k which seems like a lot for not that much work. Am I way off?
pampers28, search through the archives and come up with more names and get more quotes. It won’t hurt and there are a bunch of people that recommended contractors that are more than capable in doing the job at a good price. I’ll tell you from first hand experience that my bathroom complete gut and reno quotes ranged from 4K for the job all the way to 22K for the SAME EXACT job. Sooo, you never know.
I actually think that my co-op will replace shower pans but I’m going to check — thanks for the reminder! The contractors we’re seeing are all 1-2 man ops so no big companies. That’s one of the reasons I thought they’d come in cheaper.
We don’t want to spend more than we think we might get back in a sale in 2-3 yrs. Of coure, no one knows where the market will go but it seems silly to invest more than $25k when the apt is in pretty good shape to begin with. The sponsor who updated the place a few yrs before we moved in just did so very cheaply so it looked nice at first but hasn’t worn particularly well.
In any economy, this one in particular, $20-25k is a lot of money.
Mopar, the co-op is NOT responsible for installing new shower pan. Where did you get that idea? No where in any co-op proprietary leases that I have seen did I see co-op responsibility for that and I’ve seen plenty. Maybe in some rare cases co-op opts to doing that but that doesn’t meant every co-op does.
I think your estimates are legit based on your wants and I have a feeling you’re being overpriced. Shop around. I did somewhat similar to what you are looking for and it costed me about 15K (with materials). Given I went with a sort of handy man as opposed to a large contractor guy with stuff of people. I personally like dealing with one person and know that he is doing all of the work.
Oh sorry, didn’t see your comment about granite and porcelain. I’m not up on costs for those items.
Get three bids, everything spelled out in detail and exactly the same, from three different contractors recommended to you.
Re cost of flooring and counters: What kind are you installing? Depending on what you’re doing, you could spend very little — like about $2,000. Or you could spend a lot if you want granite, etc.
Re shower: The coop is responsible for demo and installing a new shower pan, you are responsible for tiling. It will cost approx $800 for the labor.
I would not start experimenting with putting a new shower into the tub, etc. If you do that, you also have to replace the plumbing in the walls, and might even have to get a new tub if the old one uses an outside waste line.
I’ve seen other recs for All Renovation on Brownstoner but I thought perhaps they specialized in bigger jobs like brownstone renos. Worth a try. Thanks.
Forgot to add link: http://www.iswesttile.com/
I wouldn’t work with anyone that gave an estimate with no breakdown of the costs.
Why don’t you call All Renovation and have them come and take a look? They have one of the best reputations in the industry. We did not work with them because we ended up going with a different house but they came out and gave us an estimate on a job which seemed really fair.
It sounds like the contractor who gave you the 35k bid will be sourcing the materials for you. Check out the link below. This place is a tile importer/distributer located in NJ. We are going out there next weekend because they were selling the exact same Calcutta basket weave tile for $11.95 sf that we saw at a very reputable retailer for $48/sf.