Bidding, Part II
Almost six months ago, I accepted my fate: this project is going to cost a lot more than I had hoped and anticipated. On the plus side, I’ve been waiting so long, I’m in a position to do that somewhat comfortably. But that doesn’t remove the feeling that everything is just that little bit out of reach.
After getting a bid roughly double the original labor and materials estimate, I figured it would at least be worth exploring what it would cost to do “everything,” meaning mostly adding a gut remodel of the apartment’s bathroom to my project scope.
Earlier in the week, the contractor visited again to finalize pricing on that, and I think it’s pushed me to make some decisions.
First, the good news: my contractor is ready to go. It’s likely the kitchen portion of my project will get going next month, in March.
The bad news: it’s still very expensive. The latest bid for both my kitchen renovation and the gut remodel of the bathroom comes to a cool $81,000 or so. I think it’s important to share that number. There’s something deeply frustrating about seeing all these renovation projects on TV or on blogs, and the authors making it seem like pluck and effort are the reason you don’t live in an Instagram-ready home. This stuff is expensive.
That $81,000 isn’t the totality of the project’s cost either. I’ve already spent around $10,000 on cabinets (still hanging out in a warehouse somewhere in New Jersey), and doing the kitchen and bathroom would require about $10,000 worth of appliances, another $5,000 for bathroom fixtures, and then some amount for me to relocate while my apartment is being ripped apart. Add that up and the total cost comes to around $100,000. Put differently: more than I’d like to spend right now.
Plus: there are a few more smaller tweaks I’d like to make — adding wardrobe space in the bedroom, replacing some very bland millwork in the living space — that would add even more to that number.
There’s still some finalization to be done, but for anyone interested, the contract as currently specified looks something like:
- $810 for permitting
- $3,100 for project management
- $4,300 for site preparation and demolition
- $20,000 for carpentry
- $11,300 for electrical
- $15,800 for plumbing
- $2,700 for drywall work
- $3,400 for painting
- $20,500 for tile and counters
Having never done this before, I was also interested to understand much more specifically when and how the cost is spread over the duration of the contract. If you’re curious too, the breakdown looks like this:
- Around 10% at contract signature
- Around 25% when work begins
- Around 20% when framing plus rough-in (first fix) plumbing and electric is completed
- Around 15% after the cabinets and tile are in
- Around 15% after flooring and second fix plumbing and electric is completed
- Around 15% after final inspections and completion of work
As I can’t really swing dropping $100,000 right now, the thought is to break the project into two phases: do the kitchen now, and then do the bathroom maybe a year from now after my finances have had a chance to recover. Based on the earlier bid, I’m hoping that I can get the kitchen-only portion down to around $55,000, putting me somewhere like $65,000 including the appliances I’ll buy myself. It’s a lot of money, but I’m in the fortunate position that I can spend that pretty comfortably.
I should have an update next week on exactly what comes of that. I’m a little nervous, to be sure. Home renovations are notorious for being stressful, complicated, and running over budget. But after the very unpleasant experience buying my apartment — which really was at the absolute limits of what I could afford at the time — I’m very happy choosing the slightly more conservative path. Spending $65,000 is a pretty dizzying concept. But I also have the money, and enough beyond that set aside for a pretty catastrophic worst-case scenario.