patrick.net

The rest looks right, but $18K seems inexpensive for an overhaul of a kitchen. Hardwood depends on the size of the area and kind of hardwood (engineered vs solid planks). We spent $5K for about 500 sq feet of engineered, installed, and that was a bargain for the quality of the floor.

Those prices can be negotiated much lower. Mostly because the cost of drywall labor(amongst other things) is now $13-15/hr, not $30/hr. Seriously, these donks will quote the moon, but there just isn't any business out there. Low ball away. Or find an friend or family member investor or property manager that works with a contractor and has already negotiated the price down.

But it doesn't matter because very few people have the cash needed for 20% down let alone tens of thousands needed to pay for a remodel.

And besides that, the vajayjay wins this fight every time. Once she sees the already upgraded home vs. the fixer, any chance the man had of saving money is gone. And heck, whats $800-900/mo more for the next 30 years anyway?

Actually, its probably worth it to avoid being nagged to death(if only guys were that lucky).

dodgerfanjohn says

Those prices can be negotiated much lower. Mostly because the cost of drywall labor(amongst other things) is now $13-15/hr, not $30/hr. Seriously, these donks will quote the moon, but there just isn't any business out there. Low ball away.

well that is bullshit.

JodyChunder says

dodgerfanjohn says

Those prices can be negotiated much lower. Mostly because the cost of drywall labor(amongst other things) is now $13-15/hr, not $30/hr. Seriously, these donks will quote the moon, but there just isn't any business out there. Low ball away.

well that is bullshit.

Property management relative of mine says it isn't. Ten guys turned him down. 11th guy got his business.

You do know that prices drop when demand goes down. Especially when not only does demand go down, but the money supply that was fueling the demand disappears.

You're not factoring in what that 108K investment does to the value of your property. If you are only replacing for esthetics then it does nothing for the value, but if you are extending and upgrading then you get more value for your house.
Especially putting barrel tiles on the roof vs fiberglass shingles.

Some houses are cheap because in the opinion of the Lemming Big Box masses, that rock solid 1950's cabinet needs upgrading with cheap inferior pressed board prefabbed Crap.

When I bought that was one of my criterion, a house that has not been molested by Home Depot urban flotsam.

I for one wouldn't trade my 8 inch thick plaster of pairs walls for all the dry wall in McMasion Meadows.

I've got a huge list of nice to do things to my home. Though I could do nothing and the things I would like to augment would still be solid in 15, 20 years. Though I'm certain, anything I do to the house, will be dated in 15-20 years.

I just spent 7K on a Kitchen earlier this year. And that was a Kitchen I plan on tearing out eventually. Knocking down the wall and incorporating the floor space into the Living room, and moving the Kitchen out onto the Patio area, then rebuild the roof for the new footprint. The patio is in the center of the house, with an aluminum overhang. My house is horse shoe shaped, with the two wings wrapping around the patio.

It was the last thing I planned on doing, but thanks to my Sis buying us a new Stove for a house warming gift, then my wife buying a massive fridge to match. The Fridge didn't fit in the space provided for circa 1950 fridges. So we had to rip out the rock solid cabinets and counter and put in new puzzle cabinets.

Though I spent that 7K then which I ultimately hope to rip out, I didn't have 50K or more it will take to do what I plan on.

The point is, the kitchen I upgraded, even though it is temp for my purposes, does nothing for the value of the home.
As it is still the same house with a new kitchen, by time I sell the house if the new kitchen isn't rebuilt, it may need to be replaced them. How ever, if and when I make the alteration to the layout of the house, by moving the kitchen and extending the living room, that will add value to the home.

Out here in Phoenix there's a lot of property that's cheaper to buy than build. But as someone suggested, labor rates have come down for those just needing work. The tough part is finding quality laborers who won't have you paying twice because his/her work fell apart.

Those are some very expensive maintenance items there. It costs a lot less to do that in CA, consider that it will most likely be a bunch of illegals doing the labor anyway.

I just ripped out my rock solid 1950's cabinets and put in some puzzle cabinets took the walls down to the studs and added new electrical copper plumbing.
The cabinet quality is cheaper but it looks nice and clean so probably did add value to the house.

If you want to take a fixer upper and turn it into a magazine quality kitchen you're looking at around 30k.

Los Angeles Owner says

New Copper Plumbing = $15K ?

Why are you replacing the copper pipe? I had a house built in 1950, and there was nothing wrong with the piping. If it's a newer house that used the plastic piping, is it leaking?

You cost are also highly dependent on who is doing the work. If you hiring a general contractor who you are basically just writing a check to and he is handling all of the details, costs will be very high. If you are hiring the plumber contractor or roofing contractor yourself, you already cut out one middle man. And if you doing it yourself, cost will be way less.

I remodeled a bathroom at the height of the bubble market. I did the demolition work myself, hired a plumber to do the plumbing work, he also titled the walls, framed a window, sheet rocked, and Spackled the walls. I also hired someone to refinish the tub in a different color. I did everything else, total cost $5,500 for a total redo of a small bathroom (ripped the walls down the the studs, but didn't replace the ceiling).

I sure you can do the same for less today.

Los Angeles Owner says

$18K for a kitchen

Sounds low for a kitchen. Really depends on the size of the kitchen, what's there now, what you want done and who is doing the work. If you hiring a general contractor who is ripping everything down the the bare walls and putting a new floor in it's going to be at least triple that. if you just talking about new cabinets, sink and counter tops, 18k seems doable.

Los Angeles Owner says

$18K for a kitchen
$15K x 2 Baths = $30K
Windows x 13 x $400 each = approx. $5K
Flooring (hardwood) = $10K
New Roof = $30K
New Copper Plumbing = $15K ?
Pool Remodel/Plaster/Pump/ = $10k

I would say eventually our house could need all these remodels... $118K total.

Nothing NEEDS upgraded/remodeled.

Nothing NEEDS upgrading/remodeled. So why are you pricing it? If everything is working fine, nothing is leaking what's the point? Why would you say the house "could" need all these remodels. Over a 40-75 year period maybe, maybe not.

All the window's? I've owned houses with original 75 year old sashes that worked just fine after some clean up and fine tuning. A full remodel on both bathrooms? Why? If you can take a shower or flush the toilet what's the problem? Some paint, a new cabinet, a couple new faucets can transform a bathroom. Kitchens can be made dramatically better with some new cabinet doors, hardware, paint, and a little tile for well under 2k. I once took salvage yard 60's cabinets put in new wood doors, painted the interiors, and veneered the face frames for $500 including buying the cabinets. Looked terrific, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. New hardwood flooring replacing what? Why can't the current floors be sanded and varnished? New copper plumbing? Is it leaking somewhere? Copper plumbing should last forever in the absence of very acid or base water. Same deal with electrical. If the wires are plastic coated romex than they should last basically forever. Even if they aren't it's not a big deal, but they should be checked every now and then. There are plenty of houses in the east that still work fine with bx or even a few still using knob and tube wiring. I had some knob and tube circuts in my 1840's house in Scranton PA. If I needed to open the walls anyway I would have replaced them, but otherwise they were fine so I left them alone.

The way houses sell for under 100k is the vast majority are just fine as they are or at worst need clean up and paint. If you want to open your checkbook and say make Martha Stewart envious than yea that's gonna cost you.

Why is everyone talking copper plumbing anyway? Is it required in the bay area? I used pex in my last remodel job and loved it. Wouldn't use copper again. The theoretical advantage in life doesn't begin to make up for the effort to install or high cost of copper pipe. Plus you have a manifold in the basement so you can cut off any individual water line if anything does go wrong.

dodgerfanjohn says

Those prices can be negotiated much lower.

yes, the lower you get , you might get lucky!

mexicans contractors with no license

mexican no se habla ingles

chinese contractors are cheapest.

but the fact that if you live in a fortress, any contractor will think money is falling from your backyard tree.

chip_designer says

dodgerfanjohn says

Those prices can be negotiated much lower.

yes, the lower you get , you might get lucky!

mexicans contractors with no license

mexican no se habla ingles

chinese contractors are cheapest.

but the fact that if you live in a fortress, any contractor will think money is falling from your backyard tree.

Just because everyone else is stupid doesn't mean you have to be. EVERYTHING is negotiable, especially something like this. Even big contractors have lulls in business and as was pointed out, contacting each job by yourself rather than using a general contractor, is a pretty huge savings right off the top.

As an extreme example, in 2006 when things were still in full swing, a friend had most windows in a 5500 sq ft house replace. Good quality stuff with the gas in the middle of the double panes and so forth...including 3 sliding glass doors, and at least 15 windows including very large ones. He originally was quoted $25K, but wound up paying $6.5K after agreeing to let the home be shown as a model home. The contractor never used it for that purpose though and I'm convinced my friend only paid the cost of materials and the contractor did it simply to keep his guys working and paid.

Estimate seems high for some of the items.

The kitchen - looks like you're going cheap on the cabinets/appliances - or you're just not upgrading everything.

My father in law and I re-did his kitchen with commercial/top of the line everything. Contractor quoted us $50k. We we're able to knock it out over the course of 4 weekends for under $20k. This included running new gas/electric etc....

The GOP says

I just spent 7K on a Kitchen earlier this year.

How did you spend such a low amount on a kitchen? Even an IKEA Kitchen will cost more than that.

I was quoted $8,000 for a new roof of about 2,700 square feet. That is for a shingle roof.

Im'a painting contractor in So Cal (so is my brother in law, same town too) this economic downturn has slashed our margins by 1/2. There are too many painters and not enough work. There are plenty of painters who will paint quote ridiculously low prices; I cut and pasted the following from craigslist and sent it to my brother in law last week:

Hey Eric,
Found a painter who charges $80 per room. Maybe U should hire him!

,Discount construction,specials,exterior homes painted $900-$1800 805-212-**** drywall repairs $100-$200,woodrot,termite damage repairs $150-$500,interior painting $80 per room,other services available 805-212-****

This guy is quoting less than 1/4 what we charge for a room!
.

HousingWatcher says

I was quoted $8,000 for a new roof of about 2,700 square feet. That is for a shingle roof.

yeah i think i over-estimated the roof quote... I guess $30K would be more for a LIFETIME roof... asphalt is probably under $10K easy for my house... but lasts 20 years max.

JodyChunder says

dodgerfanjohn says

Those prices can be negotiated much lower. Mostly because the cost of drywall labor(amongst other things) is now $13-15/hr, not $30/hr. Seriously, these donks will quote the moon, but there just isn't any business out there. Low ball away.

well that is bullshit.

Well Mr Jody...please look at this one. This is a new house. It has no history of ownership. It is a 4 bed 2 bath house with has over 2,600 sq ft of living area on a .17 acre lot. It has an attached 2 car garage, central air wood flooring and a tile roof. It is not an REO or short sale, it's just a plain average house with included granite kitchen counter and all the typical built in kitchen appliances. It is one of hundreds just like it. The asking price is $38/sq ft, or $99,000 and $200 down payment using Homepath from FNMA. Guess what? This is still priced TOO HIGH.

What about the location? Its only two miles from Palm Springs which is known for its million dollar PLUS tract houses and Mega McMansions on tiny lots. Yes Desert Hot Springs has many of the same amenities as Victorville. The only problem is, there is a new city regulation that requires city registration of new HOUSE for sale signs...WHY? Because half the town is for sale or boarded up.... You may see two new houses sitting alone vacant...with a few acres of empty homesites nearby.

Check out this link--> http://www.trulia.com/property/3071306347-13128-Quinta-Way-Desert-Hot-Springs-CA-92240

For a decent kitchen that is going to last a long time, your looking at a minimum of $40,000. I have been seeing more and more higher end kitchens lately. My next door neighbor has all GE Monogram appliances. A quick Google search finds that his refridgerator costs more than all the appliances in my house combined:

http://www.worldwidevoltage.com/ge-zse27sgt-ss-refrigerator.html