Kitchen re-model cost

[Anonymous]

What kind of cabinets and how many?

Wood or painted?
Inset or overlay?
Fully custom?

What cabinet maker?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again - we're also adding a butler's pantry outside the kitchen ~10' wide, upper and lower cabinets with granite counter; re-doing floors there to match the new kitchen floor

In the kitchen, we are relocating the range and sink - so moving gas line, plumbing, new vents etc

My $80ish project includes all that too, and new windows. But we are keeping cabinets at $30.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you really think labor costs $60k? Come on.

If two guys work on the kitchen full time for 6 wks, that’s $125/hr per guy (I wonder how much they actually are paid). Now some of the work will be done by plumbers and electricians, but still...

[Anonymous]

Ugh this is so expensive. We bought our house in 2019 with the full intention of redoing the kitchen and one of the bathrooms, there's no way in hell we're going to ever get it done at these prices.

[Anonymous]

OP it sounds about right. We just completely gutted and remodeled our very large kitchen. We moved everything aroound, so new gas lines, electric, plumbing, overhead range ventilation that is flush with the ceiling. Top of the line appliances including two beverage fridges, custom cabinets, two dishwashers, two islands, brand new pantry, bar area, new floors. Hired a high-end kitchen designer and used their contractor. Labor was $55K. Total came in at $200K, but that also included refinishing all the wood floors on our entire first floor and painting the entire first floor.

It's spectacular. Good luck - everything is much more expensive now and hard to find good people to do the work. They're all swampped with work.

[Anonymous]

We recently did a kitchen remodel - down to the studs and flooring. We're in a typical DC row house, so significantly mush smaller than yours.
$15,000 - plywood base cabinets with all wood front doors custom painted
$7,500 - Quartz counters and backsplash (the quartz goes 18" up the wall)
$7,000 - appliances (some of which were bought pre-covid and I noticed that they've gone up. For instance our panel ready dishwasher was $700 but now $950)
$3,500 - designer fee
$45k - labor and some additional supplies like a new window

So, yes. It sounds like the estimates you got are to be expected and that's probably for a basic kitchen not a high end one.

here's a helpful blog post from 2018 from a designer in Arizona where presumably labor is slightly less expensive than here.

[Anonymous]

^blog post
https://juniperhome.com/2018/09/amex-post.html/

[Anonymous]

Sounds about right. We just did a kitchen remodel which I think came in at $120K all in. No structural changes.

[Anonymous]

I love it when someone in a 1.5+ million$ house is complaining about how much it costs to do basic upkeep and the necessary 20-30yr facelift on their suburban McMansion. Living in McLean you clearly expect to bring home your perceived worth from whatever job it is that you do, but you scoff at the idea of paying craftsmen a living wage to redo your kitchen. Buck up the $$$$

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We recently did a kitchen remodel - down to the studs and flooring. We're in a typical DC row house, so significantly mush smaller than yours.
$15,000 - plywood base cabinets with all wood front doors custom painted
$7,500 - Quartz counters and backsplash (the quartz goes 18" up the wall)
$7,000 - appliances (some of which were bought pre-covid and I noticed that they've gone up. For instance our panel ready dishwasher was $700 but now $950)
$3,500 - designer fee
$45k - labor and some additional supplies like a new window

So, yes. It sounds like the estimates you got are to be expected and that's probably for a basic kitchen not a high end one.

here's a helpful blog post from 2018 from a designer in Arizona where presumably labor is slightly less expensive than here.

The labor costs just seem crazy. How long did it take to complete the project? At these labor prices an increase in cost of appliances or lumber is a rounding error.

[Anonymous]

The labor costs don’t seem crazy to me.

[Anonymous]

PP here with the $45k for the GC/labor fees and some building materials: the project started in April and concluded in August. Labor included demo down to the studs and subfloor, the cost to properly remove the construction debris including asbestos subfloor, subs for tiling, moving electrical and plumbing, drywall, cabinet install, etc. 16 weeks = approx $2800/week for a small crew of professionals. If you think that's unreasonable, calculate what your hourly cost of compensation is including benefits, employer paid taxes, pension contribution etc.

I know the exact costs of appliances and most of the materials because we sourced and purchased directly. We estimated that of the $45k paid to the GC, probably $35-40k was for the labor.

Yes, $40k is a lot out of pocket but it's also fair and reasonable when considering that there are real people doing the work and providing for their families.

Even when you factor that there were days and weeks when they didn't work a full 8hr day/40hr week, we factored that the hourly rate came out to approx. $80-85/hr.

Again, that's for a small crew of people and our kitchen is approx 14' long x 9' wide.

Given the fact that babysitters charge upwards of $20-25/hr, I don't understand how you can argue that these "labor charges seem crazy."

To me it sounds like you have a "let them eat cake" mentality. Please get some perspective and place value in the crew working on your home. Chances are, if you care about them, they'll care a bit more about the work they're doing on your house.

[Anonymous]

Your crew was not making anywhere close to $80/hr, I promise you

[Anonymous]

Ummm...it is NOT 60K for labor. It is 60K for labor and materials. For us (pp who just finished a gut kitchen remodel) that included sub-flooring, flooring, framing lumber, copper pipes, PVC, electrical (wires, switches, etc.).

So, the 60K of labor and materials is likely no where near the hourly dollar amounts quoted above.

This would also include carrying costs for the GC (like insurance, etc.)

You can think it is ridiculous, but then don't get a new kitchen. The question is if it is close to what others are paying. My experience (just wrote my last check for the project in late December 2021) is that this pricing makes sense.

If you wanted to scale back- the cabinets seems like a natural place to start. However, if you are adding a sizable butler pantry with custom cabinets I would imagine 40K is the lowest you would find (and I wouldn't necessarily go with the lowest pricing on cabinets).

Good Luck, OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here with the $45k for the GC/labor fees and some building materials: the project started in April and concluded in August. Labor included demo down to the studs and subfloor, the cost to properly remove the construction debris including asbestos subfloor, subs for tiling, moving electrical and plumbing, drywall, cabinet install, etc. 16 weeks = approx $2800/week for a small crew of professionals. If you think that's unreasonable, calculate what your hourly cost of compensation is including benefits, employer paid taxes, pension contribution etc.

I know the exact costs of appliances and most of the materials because we sourced and purchased directly. We estimated that of the $45k paid to the GC, probably $35-40k was for the labor.

Yes, $40k is a lot out of pocket but it's also fair and reasonable when considering that there are real people doing the work and providing for their families.

Even when you factor that there were days and weeks when they didn't work a full 8hr day/40hr week, we factored that the hourly rate came out to approx. $80-85/hr.

Again, that's for a small crew of people and our kitchen is approx 14' long x 9' wide.

Given the fact that babysitters charge upwards of $20-25/hr, I don't understand how you can argue that these "labor charges seem crazy."

To me it sounds like you have a "let them eat cake" mentality. Please get some perspective and place value in the crew working on your home. Chances are, if you care about them, they'll care a bit more about the work they're doing on your house.

Thanks for your thoughts. I still think that $80/hr, in other words the equivalent of $150k a year is *a lot* for construction workers and also agree with some pps that most of the guys were probably making a fraction of that. Clearly I chose the wrong line of work!