wyouser
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Post by wyouser on Mar 2, 2015 16:42:03 GMT -5
If you are doing the work yourself, practice deep breathing along with much patience! There will be many shuckie-darn moments. Also it is normal to be frustrated doing the dishes in the bathroom. If you have it hired out....again, practice patience.....(.but you will still be stuck doing dishes in the bathroom) In both instances, there will be more mess and debris than you anticipated. Oh, and remember to drink heavily until the project is completed....It will help when you total up the final cost of the project....
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Mar 2, 2015 16:44:48 GMT -5
Captain,
My Dad was an electrician and when they remodeled their kitchen he was going to do the electrical - he ended up deciding that he couldn't work FT and do his remodeling project justice without delaying the timeline..so he had the carpenter have his regular contractor do the electrical. They were never sorry.
Your house is not in Barrington, Oakbrook or Naperville is it? pfffth! Seriously, I thought you knew me . No, those zip codes are a little too rich for my blood BUT DH's boss and my boss live in one of them so I know what the houses look like (bbq's, xmas parties, etc). I know one of DH's college friends lives in Barrington and it is supposed to be the most la-ti-da suburb in Chicago (he is an Engineer). Nope, look up Barrington Hills if you want a good laugh. DH and I made a wrong turn and went to an open house there when we were house hunting. Cheapest house in the area for sale was $1.2M. Egads! She always talks about how many bathrooms she has ( and therefore she has to have a cleaning lady) DH says she is lazy and she has always been lazy.
On your DD's college fund... how much are you currently funding it with? current at $250 a month, was planning on taking it up to $500-600 a month - you said you planned to step up your funding...but maybe that is a place you have some room. Once DD gets to college you will still be able to cash flow some of her expenses and she could take out a GSL to fund some of her costs. This is a big unknown for us. My parents funded less than 25% of my college. It will be very different for DD because she will not get ANY needs based aid and I don't want her to graduate saddled with a boatload of SL's. I've BTDT and it kinda sucks. Our plan has always been to 100% fund an undergraduate degree at a reasonable in-state school (or cost equivalent).
I know you also said you don't want to reduce your retirement savings but since you are a CPA, I am figuring you are erring on the very conservative side and really could reduce your savings here and still make your goal or close to your goal. Appreciate the promotion but I'm not a CPA, my undergrad degree is in accounting and I have a master's in taxation. Yea, this is another big unknown. My projections say we're in pretty decent shape for retirement (as long as we keep saving). If SS isn't gutted we're golden. However I firmly believe it will be means tested more than it is now by the time we retire. Comments embedded above...part of what I'm dealing with to some extent is sticker shock because when we moved, we did go up a few pay-grades in terms of how nice the area is. Our new little area is actually a very desirable little enclave. Don't get me wrong, we lucked out on the price we paid for the house and how the hell the association agreed to let us in is beyond me. You know THOSE neighbors? Yep, that's us (grin). I promised DH I'd behave so we'll see how long it lasts.
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bean29
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Post by bean29 on Mar 2, 2015 16:50:17 GMT -5
Captain, just curious but why didn't you sit for your CPA if you have a Master's in Tax? With the Master's in Tax and a CPA designation would you net you more $$?
The only other person I know with a Master's in Tax is a CPA. Pretty sure she said some of her classmates were also lawyers.
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Mar 2, 2015 17:11:52 GMT -5
Captain, just curious but why didn't you sit for your CPA if you have a Master's in Tax? With the Master's in Tax and a CPA designation would you net you more $$?
The only other person I know with a Master's in Tax is a CPA. Pretty sure she said some of her classmates were also lawyers. You have the rare honor of corresponding with a slacker person who managed to pass three parts of the (then four part) exam in one sitting and get three 69's in a row on the auditing section. I blew my qualification and would have to sit for the whole exam all over again. (Yes, I sat the maximum four times). My college advisor didn't believe me when I told him when it happened (we're still in touch). When someone is qualified they supposedly don't give out 69's. That is just one point below passing. He actually suggest I request a re-grade. Meh. The auditing section is a LOT of memorization, something I absolutely suck at. Do you know how many types of audit opinions you're expected to memorize (shudder!). Back then I decided to get my MST and maybe sit for the exam at a later point in life. I've also picked up a few LLM level classes. However, not having that CPA designation hasn't held me back too much because I'm pretty much at the top of my game now career wise. I've been lucky to have two excellent mentors in my career and have focused on acquiring specialized skills that make me very marketable. In all honestly the only place I can go now is much bigger companies with higher levels of stress and I don't want that. Plus I am the primary wage earner for my family and run the tax function for my employer. I can't take the time it would need to prepare for the exam. And at this stage in my life, I don't really want to.
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bean29
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Post by bean29 on Mar 2, 2015 17:17:56 GMT -5
Thanks for the info Captain, and sorry taking the CPA exam didn't pan out for you. I chickened out - decided I did not want to put the work in to study for the CPA exam and then not pass.
I have now been out of school so long, I am sure I could not pass.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2015 18:29:02 GMT -5
Plan on adding some unexpected expenses to your estimates. They often happen. See if there are some smaller things you can cut out now and upgrade eventually?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2015 12:14:29 GMT -5
OK. Update for those that expressed interest. We met with the designer on Saturday. The last thing I remember before waking up in my bed was him putting the quote sheet in front of me. I mean seriously, I thought I was ready for this. I've done my homework yadda yadda yadda. DH really wants to do this in a certain way. I want DH to be happy, but... The quote is for about 25% of the homes' value. We will never recover that (DH disagrees - he thinks the area can bear it). I know it's about more than ROI, but gaahh! This is for a better than average (and yes we're moving a wall, re-doing all electric, moving plumbing, putting in cabinet genies, better grade cabinets etc.) re-model. It is unlikely we will ever do anything like this again. To throw some (gulp) numbers out there...I thought I was covered planning between $40-50K. The quote is for closer to 70k. That does not include appliances. $70K, ...$70K, ...$70K. I just can't wrap my head around that. Yea, we're in a nicer area now and all, but damn, that's almost another rental in my old area. So collective YM wisdom, this is an area/zip code with which this poor southsider has no experience. If we try to cut corners on the project we will have a nicer, but basically stupidly laid out kitchen. It really doesn't flow/function now (remember DH and I both worked food service so we have some experience in this). If we par down the household budget I could cover the difference in about a year. That would mean no vacation (again) and cutting back pretty heavily on the weekend trips. We're already pretty tight in other areas (dining out and groceries for example). We could cut charitable gifts but I don't feel right about that. DH isn't ready to talk about it yet (he thought I was high on my first estimate so this is an even bigger shock to him). We could come up with it quicker if we cut back on retirement savings, but I'm not ready to go there. WWYD? how are you paying for it now? can you get a HELOC? moving a wall and redoing plumbing and electrical are the big costs....but if there's no point to the remodel without doing that then you need to do it. can you go for less expensive cabinets and finishes? honestly, since I'm completely un-YM, if I could afford it I would do it. ok, read a little more. one of the things I think people get hung up on is whether or not to do something based on if they can recoup the cost....sometimes you just have to do things to make your quality of life better. I would get 1 or 2 more quotes and then just bite the bullet. I stand by my less expensive cabinets but you have to ask yourself will you forever wish you had gotten the more expensive ones.
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bean29
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Post by bean29 on Mar 3, 2015 12:41:56 GMT -5
Singlemomofmind has a point, are cabinets with dovetailed joints standard in the neighborhood? If you give that up, you can probably save significant $$. Also are these cabinets made by a cabinetmaker or are you ordering them from a cabinet manufacturer? You could get more quotes and see if you can cut corners there. Maybe your DH could go talk to a few designers and tell them you like the design, but the price is too high and see where they can cut back.
My DH is very handy...he will pound the nails, but he has never dealt with the designers. He told me what he wanted to do, I laid it out on paper, went to the stores, dealt with the designers, came home with the plans and then once we selected who we would deal with he might go talk to them, but I am assigning your DH to do this, because I think he has more time.
I do have to say though that one thing I am very sorry about is that when we were building our house, my schedule was very tight and my manager was unwilling to be very flexible. I left my husband to deal with things I should have paid more attention to. So maybe you should wait until tax season is over and then take the time off to make sure you get the best design/contractor possible for your budget.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Mar 6, 2015 18:16:53 GMT -5
Captain,
I thought your husband did some kind of home repair. Is he going to do any of the work himself?
Did they break it down in terms of floor/cabinets/countertop/trim/paint etc? Can you share that and the approximate room dimensions with us? It might be better to guestimate if it is reasonable. Also what type of cabinets are you getting custom/stock/raised panel/type of wood/finish etc. What is the floor material?
You have to be careful cutting corners, you are only going to do this 1x, so it is important you get it right. You may need to spend the extra $$. DH and I built our house 10 years ago. We just finished the exposed basement about 1 1/2 years ago and we have yet to build a deck/patio, but I have a few changes I would really like in the house. DH recently commented to me that if we change anything we will never recoup the $$ so we have to be very careful (his comment was inclusive of the deck/patio he wants).
I am not quite where I would like to be with retirement savings, so I am forcing myself to let go of most of the ideas I have to change things around.
The room will be about 18X13 (we're stealing three feet from the dining room to make space for the island). It's basically what I call a broken U (doorway at the curve of the U) with an island in the middle. The cabinets are around $22k. Raised panel, dovetailed drawers solid wood (cherry or quarter sawn oak) better than stock grade light or no stain. This is one area where I was way off I thought 14K would cover it. No, they are not what I call furniture quality, but I do want sturdy, solid cabinets. The pull out drawers added a lot more cost than I anticipated. That's another area I don't want to compromise on as I think it will be important as we get older. Floors are specked out at maple right now. Labor is about 20K, misc materials another 10K including floors, a new window (moving walls, load bearing beam (we're opening up a pass-through area) tile backsplash, take out a full window and build up a knee wall and put in a smaller window (for more cabinet space). Putting in a 10ft (not a typo) island with a raised end/eating area at one end and a separate prep sink at the other end. Undercabinet and task lightening. Quartz countertops. Yes, I could save about 3-4K going cheaper on the countertops but quartz is another hill I decided to die on. Yea, it's a REALLY nice plan. Like (if you know the area) Barrington, Oakbrook, or Naperville nice. I just gotta wrap my head around it being The Captain nice. DH and I both work full time. If DH tried to do any of the work it would draw out the timemyhouseistornup!!! timeline and I would probably go over the edge. I know myself well enough to know how much stress I can handle, and a partial DIY project isn't within my capacity right now. DH is very handy, but the man needs to sleep sometime. As far as retirement - I think we're in good shape there and we have $55K saved for DD's college (she's 12). She just aged out of daycare and I was planning on amping up the college savings (she will not qualify for any need based aid). I'm 48, DH is 46. We're not planning on moving anytime soon. Projected timeline is 6 weeks. I know part of what we're paying for is experience and a turnkey operation. Like I said, it's just a different zip code than what I'm used to and I need to know if it's reasonable. The quotes are at home, this is all I can remember. I'll post more later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks guys for all the advice! As you might recall we gutted our kitchen 2 years ago. I think our kitchens are about the same size and we spent about $35k including appliances. The appliances were about 5k. We also have a U shaped kitchen with an island in the middle. The open space between kitchen and living room is pretty big. We did take down a wall but no pony wall replacement. We also didn't have a load bearing wall or window replacement nor did we need to replace our floors. I spent about $250 doing repairs to about 10 tiles. Other than taking down the wall we kept pretty close to the same foot print. That saved a lot of money in multiple ways. I also acted as the GC aka fancy name for the scheduler and nag.
I'd re-think the wood floors. I don't think that wood floors and wet areas are a good mix. What's in the kitchen now?
I'll PM you a link to my finished kitchen photos. One thing that I really like are those double-side glass insert upper cabinets. That's the wall we took down. One of my goals was to open up the kitchen and creating a seating area so our friends could heckle the cook without actually going into the kitchen and getting in the way. The cook can also assign tasks and have a nice view.
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2015 13:48:49 GMT -5
Well I thought I had a thread going on this, but apparently not. DH and I want to remodel our kitchen. DH has permit ready blueprints drawn out (we've done this before) and we're pretty solid on what we want. Got one quote, for an ungodly amount. Picked ourselves up off the floor and started working on getting more quotes. (Note - first quote was for 25% of the purchase price of the home - just.not.happening!) Went to get a second quote. Made appointment, come to my showroom, etc. We get there (with blueprints in hand) spend an hour going through the sales spiel then get told it's $3,500 for a design (non refundable) that will get applied to the project if we hire her to act as GC. Oh, and ballpark on project? - between 35% and 41% of the purchase price. Umm no, we already have a design, and nowayinhell are we paying that much for a remodel. Yea, so two hours of my life wasted for that. Seriously, WTF? Yea, we moved up a few zipcodes but this is freaking crazy. I know Bonny and others, in nicer areas than mine, have touched on costs and they're no where what's being dropped on us. I'm at the point where home depot is getting a call. DH is going to call another home remodeler. We want to move a wall so we have space for an island. If we didn't have to move that wall, DH and I could do most of the work (yes - plumbing and electrical) ourselves (well mostly DH - he's the handy one - I just hold the screws). Ugg, just ugg.
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ArchietheDragon
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Post by ArchietheDragon on Jul 28, 2015 13:55:34 GMT -5
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emma1420
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Post by emma1420 on Jul 28, 2015 13:57:15 GMT -5
Have you considered going to a place like IKEA, and then contracting someone to remove the wall and hiring sub contractors for things like the counters? Or even ordering cabinets from a place like Barker? If you can do most of the work yourself then i think you have a lot more options.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Jul 28, 2015 14:01:26 GMT -5
Here's an idea....
When we did our kitchen counters last summer, we used a local design store for the countertops and back splash. The designer I worked with was incredible, and she was a world of information as to who was good and who was not. She was able to put us into contact with a finish carpenter (which, as it turned out, did the finish work on this house when it was built in 1994ish).
Maybe if you go to a good place but doesn't do this work, they'd be able to help you out if you use them for a particular part (like counters, flooring, etc.)?
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kittensaver
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Post by kittensaver on Jul 28, 2015 14:03:11 GMT -5
It sounds like (except for time constraints) - - maybe you guys could DIY this/act as your own general contractor? Not all the work personally done by you, but hire out contractors phase-by-phase to get it done?
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2015 14:13:29 GMT -5
Archie - thanks! I've abused my mod powers and merged the two threads. Don't think the OP will mind.
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2015 14:15:55 GMT -5
Have you considered going to a place like IKEA, and then contracting someone to remove the wall and hiring sub contractors for things like the counters? Or even ordering cabinets from a place like Barker? If you can do most of the work yourself then i think you have a lot more options. Having the ability to do something is very different from having the capacity. I just don't think with my schedule there's enough time. DH would have to do most of the work and it would take forever and we'd likely get divorced. Since I happen to LIKE being married to DH we're trying to avoid that little scenario.
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2015 14:20:03 GMT -5
Here's an idea.... When we did our kitchen counters last summer, we used a local design store for the countertops and back splash. The designer I worked with was incredible, and she was a world of information as to who was good and who was not. She was able to put us into contact with a finish carpenter (which, as it turned out, did the finish work on this house when it was built in 1994ish). Maybe if you go to a good place but doesn't do this work, they'd be able to help you out if you use them for a particular part (like counters, flooring, etc.)? Yea, that's what we thought we were getting with the lady we met on Saturday. But I'm not paying $3,500 for a design. Would've been nice if she had mentioned that little detail up front. Her cost estimate (ok I'll spill it) was between $80-100K. Yep, not a typo. Back to square one. I'm seriously at the point where if someone comes in with a reasonable price (to me at least) and tells me it will take 6 months, I can live with that.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Jul 28, 2015 14:22:56 GMT -5
Her cost estimate (ok I'll spill it) was between $80-100K. Yep, not a typo.
Holy shit!
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2015 14:23:39 GMT -5
It sounds like (except for time constraints) - - maybe you guys could DIY this/act as your own general contractor? Not all the work personally done by you, but hire out contractors phase-by-phase to get it done? We've never done this before. I'm chicken enough to admit this is not the project I'd like to experiment on.
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2015 14:29:51 GMT -5
Her cost estimate (ok I'll spill it) was between $80-100K. Yep, not a typo.Holy shit! Yep. Absolutely ridiculous. I'm glad you guys are backing me up. I could find a way to make it work if we really wanted to, but I think that's just crazy. The property will never recover near that amount (but it's not about cost recovery - it's about lifestyle - yea that's what the second to last designer said) and I'm not doing it. We're near a very swanky area where I'm sure folks do pay those amounts. But we won't. We have a few flippers in the area who seem to do good work. I'm thinking of contacting one of them to see if they are interested in this kind of job. They know how to come in, work fast and make it look nice without spending too much. Don't want any corners cut though, that's my only concern with going that route.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2015 14:34:41 GMT -5
I guess my point is that even when you think something should be simple, something really stupid can really throw a monkey wrench into the process. Needing to remove cabinets and finding a discontinued sink were our monkey wrenches. Totally agreed. Our new house has a flat electric cooktop. We hate it. We talked to a handyman about what needed to be done to put in a gas-on-glass cooktop, which we had at our last place and LOVED. You need to run a gas line, you need to vent it, yadda, yadda. I could not find a range with a gas-on-glass top except for a $2,900 Electrolux that got bad reviews (control panel was too exposed to heat from the range and would melt and stop working). We found the GE cooktop we wanted at a Sears Outlet and got a great price. Then the handyman calls and says that he doesn't know if he can cleanly detach the cooktop from our electric range and just plop on the gas one. Umm, the new cooktop is on its way and non-refundable. It arrives today.
We may need to hunt for another range that has a cooktop that's easily separated, or even one low enough we can build on top of it. Or we can situate the new cooktop on the island but then we need to put in a new vent. And I was so happy that the cost of the cooktop, unlike everything else we're doing, came in under budget.
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2015 14:35:04 GMT -5
And looking at the date on the original thread I started I just realized we've been at this for almost 6 months.
Patience, Captain, Patience.
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kittensaver
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Post by kittensaver on Jul 28, 2015 14:35:03 GMT -5
It sounds like (except for time constraints) - - maybe you guys could DIY this/act as your own general contractor? Not all the work personally done by you, but hire out contractors phase-by-phase to get it done? We've never done this before. I'm chicken enough to admit this is not the project I'd like to experiment on. OF COURSE you have your own comfort level (!!), but it sounds like something you could do. We did it when we had to undertake $70k+ in repairs on our house after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. We didn't start out that way (being our own GC), but we ended up doing it (long story . . . not worth repeating here).
If you understand what needs to happen and in what order (and it sounds like you do), you can draw up a working time line and then hire folks one at a time for each phase (demo, assessment of damage/issues/repairs/unknowns/oopsies before new construction begins, framing, rough electrical/plumbing, inspections along the way, floor installation, cabinet installation, countertops and finish electrical/plumbing, appliance installation, paint and trim, etc).
It will take time, especially if you are interviewing and hiring job-by-job. But I'm pretty sure somewhere along the way you will find a construction worker or contractor who you like and who does good work - - and you will take him/her on to finish the job. At least, that was my experience and the experience of several other families in our old neighborhood (we ended up trading referrals around).
Good luck whatever you decide.
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mmhmm
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Post by mmhmm on Jul 28, 2015 14:48:55 GMT -5
And looking at the date on the original thread I started I just realized we've been at this for almost 6 months. Patience, Captain, Patience. Gosh! I'd be so frustrated I'd have ripped the kitchen to pieces by now! I admire your fortitude! As to the quotes you're getting, that's mind-blowing! When I need something done, I go to the guy who replaced my roof for me a few years ago. He knows everybody and is a giant teddy-bear! He can always direct me to someone who can do the work well at a reasonable price. I've got someone coming on Wednesday to tear the wallpaper out of my kitchen and breakfast nook (I hate wallpaper in kitchens! I want scrubbable paint, dern it!) and paint the walls. Ask around. Somebody is bound to know somebody like my "teddy-bear" who can help you sort this out. I found this guy through my banker, of all people!
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The Captain
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2015 15:02:22 GMT -5
We've never done this before. I'm chicken enough to admit this is not the project I'd like to experiment on. OF COURSE you have your own comfort level (!!), but it sounds like something you could do. We did it when we had to undertake $70k+ in repairs on our house after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. We didn't start out that way (being our own GC), but we ended up doing it (long story . . . not worth repeating here).
If you understand what needs to happen and in what order (and it sounds like you do), you can draw up a working time line and then hire folks one at a time for each phase (demo, assessment of damage/issues/repairs/unknowns/oopsies before new construction begins, framing, rough electrical/plumbing, inspections along the way, floor installation, cabinet installation, countertops and finish electrical/plumbing, appliance installation, paint and trim, etc).
It will take time, especially if you are interviewing and hiring job-by-job. But I'm pretty sure somewhere along the way you will find a construction worker or contractor who you like and who does good work - - and you will take him/her on to finish the job. At least, that was my experience and the experience of several other families in our old neighborhood (we ended up trading referrals around).
Good luck whatever you decide.
OMG - I'd completely forgot about that!!! Yea - you do know what you're talking about. Checking with the neighbors is a good idea. I'll ask around.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Jul 28, 2015 15:32:00 GMT -5
Captain,
I thought your husband did some kind of home repair. Is he going to do any of the work himself?
Did they break it down in terms of floor/cabinets/countertop/trim/paint etc? Can you share that and the approximate room dimensions with us? It might be better to guestimate if it is reasonable. Also what type of cabinets are you getting custom/stock/raised panel/type of wood/finish etc. What is the floor material?
You have to be careful cutting corners, you are only going to do this 1x, so it is important you get it right. You may need to spend the extra $$. DH and I built our house 10 years ago. We just finished the exposed basement about 1 1/2 years ago and we have yet to build a deck/patio, but I have a few changes I would really like in the house. DH recently commented to me that if we change anything we will never recoup the $$ so we have to be very careful (his comment was inclusive of the deck/patio he wants).
I am not quite where I would like to be with retirement savings, so I am forcing myself to let go of most of the ideas I have to change things around.
The room will be about 18X13 (we're stealing three feet from the dining room to make space for the island). It's basically what I call a broken U (doorway at the curve of the U) with an island in the middle. The cabinets are around $22k. Raised panel, dovetailed drawers solid wood (cherry or quarter sawn oak) better than stock grade light or no stain. This is one area where I was way off I thought 14K would cover it. No, they are not what I call furniture quality, but I do want sturdy, solid cabinets. The pull out drawers added a lot more cost than I anticipated. That's another area I don't want to compromise on as I think it will be important as we get older. Floors are specked out at maple right now. Labor is about 20K, misc materials another 10K including floors, a new window (moving walls, load bearing beam (we're opening up a pass-through area) tile backsplash, take out a full window and build up a knee wall and put in a smaller window (for more cabinet space). Putting in a 10ft (not a typo) island with a raised end/eating area at one end and a separate prep sink at the other end. Undercabinet and task lightening. Quartz countertops. Yes, I could save about 3-4K going cheaper on the countertops but quartz is another hill I decided to die on. Yea, it's a REALLY nice plan. Like (if you know the area) Barrington, Oakbrook, or Naperville nice. I just gotta wrap my head around it being The Captain nice. DH and I both work full time. If DH tried to do any of the work it would draw out the timemyhouseistornup!!! timeline and I would probably go over the edge. I know myself well enough to know how much stress I can handle, and a partial DIY project isn't within my capacity right now. DH is very handy, but the man needs to sleep sometime. As far as retirement - I think we're in good shape there and we have $55K saved for DD's college (she's 12). She just aged out of daycare and I was planning on amping up the college savings (she will not qualify for any need based aid). I'm 48, DH is 46. We're not planning on moving anytime soon. Projected timeline is 6 weeks. I know part of what we're paying for is experience and a turnkey operation. Like I said, it's just a different zip code than what I'm used to and I need to know if it's reasonable. The quotes are at home, this is all I can remember. I'll post more later tonight or tomorrow. Thanks guys for all the advice! Cap, I'm with you on the pull out drawers in the cabinets. I replaced the shelves in our lower cabinets with pull outs shortly after we moved in. One the my better decisions. While our cabinets aren't the quality that yours seem to be, I paid $400 - $500 for the 14 pull out drawers in 2006 and put them in myself.
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Bonny
Junior Associate
Joined: Nov 17, 2013 10:54:37 GMT -5
Posts: 7,437
Location: No Place Like Home!
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Post by Bonny on Jul 28, 2015 16:29:26 GMT -5
My kitchen cost about $35k but that was in Dec of 2012 and things were pretty slow. You are likely to be paying a premium if your local economy is doing well. I was staggered about how expensive our deck stair replacement bid was. Both materials and labor is at a premium because so many people are spending on consumer goods.
My first suggestion would be to wait until the next slowdown.
Next best suggestion is to see if you can at least wait until December or January. Typically construction is really slow during this time and contractors will appreciate an indoor job and that will be reflected in the price.
I was the GC for both the kitchen remodel and the double bath remodel. We had worked for this contractor before and I was willing to do the scut work of scheduling the other subs.
I worked with our local cabinet store who provided both kitchen and bath layout designs for "free" (I think a more accurate description is "as part of the price"). We were also repeat customers. He also gave us a referral for a very inexpensive plumber.
Finally, while I live in a VHCOLA area my town is very blue collar/middle class. All of my subs live within 1mi of my house. They LOVE working local and with a repeat customer who respects their work and who is quick with the checkbook.
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The Captain
Junior Associate
Hugs are good...
Joined: Jan 4, 2011 16:21:23 GMT -5
Posts: 8,717
Location: State of confusion
Favorite Drink: Whinnnne
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2015 16:45:55 GMT -5
Well Bonny, I can wait until December or January. Hell, I'm working so much during Jan-March it would be perfect if they did it then. I'll just get a pillow and sleep in my office. I'm perfectly comfortable letting DH handle the details. Anything will be nicer than what we have now. We have another guy coming on Saturday. This one is recommended by a contractor who was highly recommended (we've seen his work) but who we can't use do to conflicts of interest. Can't go into details but dayum, it's a small world sometimes. I just want this done. Promised DH we'd do this before the bathroom and I want a soaker tub dammit!
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moneymom
Familiar Member
Joined: Mar 26, 2014 11:33:25 GMT -5
Posts: 624
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Post by moneymom on Jul 30, 2015 11:05:16 GMT -5
Last year we did a kitchen gut remodel. I cringe at talking about the money spent, but here it goes. It was $65k. We live in VHCOL area and some of the items in the kitchen are higher end (mainly cabinets) but for the most part, everything is mid range. Our kitchen is not all that big. We had to move a wall and added a breakfast bar. When I look at the breakdown of costs, everything seems on par with what it should be. It's just amazing how things add up. Our kitchen was original to the home prior (over 50 years old) and I am hoping we can keep our current kitchen for a lifetime. We tried hard to go with timeless. The splurge was the custom made cabinets by a local woodsman. That was $16k but the kicker was we had our hearts set on a darker stain and wanted the cabinets to be top notch so staining ended up being an additional $6k!!! I didn't realize that the cabinets were a higher price because they had to use nicer stain grade wood for the look we wanted. So going with white painted cabinets would have saved us a small fortune.
I have zero regrets about our remodel. We had to skip some vacations for it. It took 6 weeks to complete (I was impressed) and I wouldn't change a single thing. It's SOOOOO functional and even though it's only been a year, I really think this is a kitchen for a lifetime.
Good luck... I recall how stressful the planning was. We also initially thought we could spend $30 - $40k.
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The Captain
Junior Associate
Hugs are good...
Joined: Jan 4, 2011 16:21:23 GMT -5
Posts: 8,717
Location: State of confusion
Favorite Drink: Whinnnne
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Post by The Captain on Jul 30, 2015 11:42:51 GMT -5
Last year we did a kitchen gut remodel. I cringe at talking about the money spent, but here it goes. It was $65k. We live in VHCOL area and some of the items in the kitchen are higher end (mainly cabinets) but for the most part, everything is mid range. Our kitchen is not all that big. We had to move a wall and added a breakfast bar. When I look at the breakdown of costs, everything seems on par with what it should be. It's just amazing how things add up. Our kitchen was original to the home prior (over 50 years old) and I am hoping we can keep our current kitchen for a lifetime. We tried hard to go with timeless. The splurge was the custom made cabinets by a local woodsman. That was $16k but the kicker was we had our hearts set on a darker stain and wanted the cabinets to be top notch so staining ended up being an additional $6k!!! I didn't realize that the cabinets were a higher price because they had to use nicer stain grade wood for the look we wanted. So going with white painted cabinets would have saved us a small fortune. I have zero regrets about our remodel. We had to skip some vacations for it. It took 6 weeks to complete (I was impressed) and I wouldn't change a single thing. It's SOOOOO functional and even though it's only been a year, I really think this is a kitchen for a lifetime. Good luck... I recall how stressful the planning was. We also initially thought we could spend $30 - $40k. Thanks for this post - it's VERY helpful. The quote (post #17) that knocked me out had about 22-24K for cabinets I think? That's one area I thought was out of line and reading your post seems to affirm it (they were semi-custom - not custom). I don't even have that much $ worth of furniture in the whole house...
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