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Home > Estimate #1 and #2 oh dear....

Estimate #1 and #2 oh dear....

July 23rd, 2017 at 03:50 pm

So we put in the gas line for $700 and water pressure regulator valve for $700. I am feeling like things are crawling along. But slowly.

What we need to do is drywall/sheetrock the garage because it's a fire hazard and not up to code. The garage doors don't open and are also not up to code. The estimate from Costco for the garage doors is $3500.

Then redo the laundry room and put in new cabinets and windows and tear out the paneling.

And redo the bathroom downstairs as well.

So all new windows and paneling, moulding, trim, walls and ceiling. The ceiling is broken in multiple places. The garage is overinsulated but without the fire barrier. The rec room in the basement needs the same too.

So yes these are wants/needs. But we need to get the fire barrier up it's for our safety. It's grandfathered in since the house is 1966. But hey who wants to die in a fire? Plus the garage opener is improperly placed in the garage and could easily catch fire.

Long term fixing the windows will make it more efficient to the heat and cool the home. But the cost? We also are getting insulation put in the attic and 2 tube skylights.

So we got our first two estimates. The first estimate was completely over the top. It was $75-90k rec room, Laundry $20-30k, Bathroom $25-30k, and garage $7-10k. Meaning we were looking at low end $127k. That's ridiculous.

The second estimate has come in at $54k. I'm not sure if that's more reasonable or low. We still have two more bids coming in.

So DH is now suggesting he gets back into home repair and start to tackle some of this himself. I think we have someone do the drywall and sheetrock and moulding and then we do the cabinets and stuff ourselves. We haven't sat down yet with the estimates since we're still waiting. He's also suggested he do the fan and insulation in the attic since he's done it on our last house. He can also do the cabinets but we'll need to hire a handyman to help him since last time I did it. This time with the kids it's a lot harder to find the time.

I'm struggling because we can afford it. Should we just pay someone else to do it? Should we do some of it? Stuff we've paid so far well we've never tackled real plumbing. Not changing a flap or new seal on toilet or tightening a bolt. But valve and gas lines? I don't think we can do the garage doors ourselves either but maybe I'm wrong. And for $3500 I thought it wasn't a bad price for 2 doors, 2 openers, installation and disposal.

I always hear about how people did their renovations on the cheap. I don't understand how it can be done so cheap.

Posted in Home Renovation | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Estimate #1 and #2 oh dear....”

  1. creditcardfree Says:
    July 23rd, 2017 at 04:25 pm 1500827145
    1500827145

    I think it is wise to do what you can yourselves. That will at least lessen the cost. $3500 seems high for two garage doors to me. I would NOT do them myself. I would install a garage opener with my husband. We've done cabinets, so I would do that. I would also do all the painting if it were me, rather than hiring. I probably wouldn't do plumbing, but if it was somewhat easy I might. It's just a matter of having the right tools, which can be expensive. Can you consider yourselves contractors and hire each thing you need individually as you go? That may also be less expensive than hiring a contractor who hires everyone and then gets a cut for the managing and hiring, but if you find the right person, it may be well worth it!

  2. rob62521 Says:
    July 23rd, 2017 at 06:01 pm 1500832917
    1500832917

    AS CCF said, try to do what you can yourselves without going crazy to help save some moolah. But I agree, I would not want to live with the chance of fire danger.

  3. CB in the City Says:
    July 23rd, 2017 at 08:39 pm 1500842362
    1500842362

    Unless your husband is really good at DIY, I think it's usually better in the long run to pay a professional to get the job done right. Get some other estimates; they can vary widely. People who have done it cheap? Hmmmm, I'm afraid I've lived in some of the houses they moved out of, and it was not pretty.

  4. LivingAlmostLarge Says:
    July 23rd, 2017 at 09:27 pm 1500845234
    1500845234

    We are debating pulling some of the work and doing it ourselves and in parts. The driveway might be done with the garage doors and have someone else bid it out. The doors we can't do and the openers might be trickier because it's side loading and fold up because the garage is very low. They unfortunately have to reframe the doors because it's non-standard.

    I'm not sure about painting just because it's going to come with everything else. Plumbing is moving the shower head and cutting the wall down. We'll see. We could do the contracting thing but my DH doesn't want me to do it and wants it done right and nicely. UGH.

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