Can't pull trigger on kitchen remodel

[Anonymous]

Based on your description of the kitchen remodel, we can probably do it significantly cheaper. We provide a free design and estimating service and have numerous references. We are also licensed (MHIC #91980) and insured. If you are in Maryland feel free to call or email to discuss.

Rosewood Construction LLC
www.rosewoodconstructionllc.com
240-398-8920

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hire an electrician yourself. Hire a handyman to do the cabinets, tile and other work, order the granite directly from a shop. You do not need a GC for all that. Yes, Home Depot, Lowes, and other shops have much cheaper cabinets.

m

This. The best way to save money is to manage everything on your own and not hire a GC. It will take longer and will be a pain but you can save tens of thousands. Get quotes from handymen for the tile work, painting, replacing cabinets yourself. Get a labor only quote and purchase the role and granite directly from the store. You can find someone who specializes in cabinets.

We saved around 30k doing our basement and the work is fine. A lot of the quotes we received from gcs were ridiculous. I'm talking 7k to repair and paint drywall versus the handyman doing it for 1k. Comparing the estimates is funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DO it. We waiting too long and just finished ours. I wish we had done it years ago. What a waste live in a subpar house when you don't have to. I think the $50K is probably not too high, either. In a townhome we got estimates for $30K-$40K.

That's because people pay ridiculous sums for renovations here. I'm talking paying 50k for one week's worth of work. These contractors are laughing all the way to the bank.

One contractor tried to charge us 5k to remove drywall and show an exposed brick wall. 5k. For someone to pull down the drywall and paint a clear gloss over the existing brick. I could technically do this myself. 5k is obsene and we only found this out from asking for a detailed estimate and going line by line. It showed us how we would be getting ripped off.

If you're smart about it and do the work you can avoid spending obsene amounts on simple renovations.

[Anonymous]

Ikea cabinets would make this way cheaper

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Check out IKEA kitchens.

This. They're also running their kitchen cabinet sale right now. We just bought all new cabinets for a small kitchen and got over $800 back in Ikea credit. A kitchen as large as yours would probably get at least $1000 back! That's a lot of stuff at Ikea if you need to outfit a kids room or buy shelves. If you don't want anything else from IKEA, I've also heard of people order some of their cabinets, then using the resulting credit to buy the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:op here. I would love to know how to do it for less. There is another recent thread here with some surprisingly low prices. Estimates are from general contractors or kitchen and bath contractors--no high end design firms. We are not moving any appliances and knocking down walls, just new cabs and granite counters, adding an island, hardwood floors, and recessed lighting. The cabs we are looking at are probably "mid-range" and appliances are modestly priced from Sears. I guess I could just buy inexpensive cabinets from hd or lowes and have a contractor install them?

Blech I wouldn't pull the trigger on this either. 50k for that? nope. Can't you do any of this on your own? Tear out the old cabinets yourself? Installing the cabinets yourself? Don't go cheap on the cabinets. That's my favorite part of our kitchen remodel. 100% solid wood and 100% drawers. It's life changing really. We used Cabinets to go and installed all the cabinets ourselves. Super easy.

OK so my suggestions:
do all the demo yourself
buy the cabinets by themselves (not through a kitchen designer). Surely you can measure?
install cabinets yourself or hire a handyman
Hire out the island or have handyman install the cabinets there
hire electrician for the recessed lights.
get the granite installed
Done!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hire an electrician yourself. Hire a handyman to do the cabinets, tile and other work, order the granite directly from a shop. You do not need a GC for all that. Yes, Home Depot, Lowes, and other shops have much cheaper cabinets.

And don't do it all at once.

We did a major renovation of our basement, but we DIY'd it and just did a little bit at a time. Demo one month, studs the next, wiring another month. We picked up bargains as we saw them, even if we knew we weren't getting to those part until the end (like flooring and fixtures). We hired in a few things, like plumbing and ductwork, and mixed others, like running our own wires and hiring an electrician to do the final hook ups.

By doing it this way (bits and pieces) we were able to spread everything out in a way that we just paid out of pocket, only touched savings once (for a couple thousand and we paid it back the next month or two), and we never noticed the money leaving the account because it was all manageable. If we were purchasing something big, like floors or wires, we just skipped eating out a bit to stay on budget.

Now, I do not recommend stretching a kitchen reno out over two-three years, but you can break it down over months to makeit more budget friendly.

For example, start with recessed lighting. Go find and Angie's list deal, and get that done first.

Over the next couple of months, watch for sales/clearance of fixtures, faucets, garbage disposal, and appliances. When you see a good deal, buy it and store it in your basement or garage. Just do one every couple of months, unless you find a huge bargain you can't pass up. Or bargain shop the little fixtures and small appliances in advance, then do the cabinets/countertops/floors, and add the big appliances one at a time.

Do your own painting and wall prep. That will save a lot.

If you are worried about money, don't do everything at once.

[Anonymous]

No way should you spend 1/3 of your savings on a cosmetic kitchen overhaul. Your instincts are correct.
IKEA kitchens are used in high-end houses because they are good, and look good. The old, old version of IKEA cabinets were in our house when we bought it. Still haven't filled them up. We have empty cabinets!
There are appliance builders warehouses around that sell appliances lower than any store. Google.
There are good tiles available at big box stores. Use them, and have them perfectly, expertly installed.
No way should you spend that amount of money on a house you may leave in 7 years. You get SOME of your money out of renovation, but almost never do you get all of it.
Good luck and let us know what you decide.

[Anonymous]

10:11 here.

OP, what conditions are your csbinet boxes? Are they solid, high quality wood?

If they are in good condition, you can remove the doors, strip them down, then just order new doors, drawer fronts, hinges and hardware online. That might save you money as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:11 here.

OP, what conditions are your csbinet boxes? Are they solid, high quality wood?

If they are in good condition, you can remove the doors, strip them down, then just order new doors, drawer fronts, hinges and hardware online. That might save you money as well.

Lipstick on a pig. Cabinets are the most important thing in a kitchen. Besides, the new cabinets aren't doors anymore, they're 100% drawers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hire an electrician yourself. Hire a handyman to do the cabinets, tile and other work, order the granite directly from a shop. You do not need a GC for all that. Yes, Home Depot, Lowes, and other shops have much cheaper cabinets.

And don't do it all at once.

We did a major renovation of our basement, but we DIY'd it and just did a little bit at a time. Demo one month, studs the next, wiring another month. We picked up bargains as we saw them, even if we knew we weren't getting to those part until the end (like flooring and fixtures). We hired in a few things, like plumbing and ductwork, and mixed others, like running our own wires and hiring an electrician to do the final hook ups.

By doing it this way (bits and pieces) we were able to spread everything out in a way that we just paid out of pocket, only touched savings once (for a couple thousand and we paid it back the next month or two), and we never noticed the money leaving the account because it was all manageable. If we were purchasing something big, like floors or wires, we just skipped eating out a bit to stay on budget.

Now, I do not recommend stretching a kitchen reno out over two-three years, but you can break it down over months to makeit more budget friendly.

For example, start with recessed lighting. Go find and Angie's list deal, and get that done first.

Over the next couple of months, watch for sales/clearance of fixtures, faucets, garbage disposal, and appliances. When you see a good deal, buy it and store it in your basement or garage. Just do one every couple of months, unless you find a huge bargain you can't pass up. Or bargain shop the little fixtures and small appliances in advance, then do the cabinets/countertops/floors, and add the big appliances one at a time.

Do your own painting and wall prep. That will save a lot.

If you are worried about money, don't do everything at once.

What did you do for cooking/food?

I would bite the bullet and not stretch it out over months unless you have an in-law suite or kitchenette. I'm only 3 weeks into my kitchen remodel (with fridge, microwave, Instant Pot in basement) and cannot imagine purposely stretching it out to save a bit of money. OP, better to save and wait a bit and do it all at once. Think about the reality of functioning without a kitchen day-to-day, and decide how long you really want to put up with that!

[Anonymous]

^
Oh, I just reread and realized this was a basement remodel. Yeah, kitchens you want to get done ASAP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hire an electrician yourself. Hire a handyman to do the cabinets, tile and other work, order the granite directly from a shop. You do not need a GC for all that. Yes, Home Depot, Lowes, and other shops have much cheaper cabinets.

m

This. The best way to save money is to manage everything on your own and not hire a GC. It will take longer and will be a pain but you can save tens of thousands. Get quotes from handymen for the tile work, painting, replacing cabinets yourself. Get a labor only quote and purchase the role and granite directly from the store. You can find someone who specializes in cabinets.

We saved around 30k doing our basement and the work is fine. A lot of the quotes we received from gcs were ridiculous. I'm talking 7k to repair and paint drywall versus the handyman doing it for 1k. Comparing the estimates is funny.

We mostly DIY'ed our kitchen. I got nicer cabinets as a compromise. We paid a handyman to help us hang the cabinets and do some minor plumbing and electrical (we worked with him). We are now doing our basement and are just hiring for specific jobs. It is much harder, takes longer, and now we gave up and are DIYing till we get to the next stage. I'd rather save the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hire an electrician yourself. Hire a handyman to do the cabinets, tile and other work, order the granite directly from a shop. You do not need a GC for all that. Yes, Home Depot, Lowes, and other shops have much cheaper cabinets.

And don't do it all at once.

We did a major renovation of our basement, but we DIY'd it and just did a little bit at a time. Demo one month, studs the next, wiring another month. We picked up bargains as we saw them, even if we knew we weren't getting to those part until the end (like flooring and fixtures). We hired in a few things, like plumbing and ductwork, and mixed others, like running our own wires and hiring an electrician to do the final hook ups.

By doing it this way (bits and pieces) we were able to spread everything out in a way that we just paid out of pocket, only touched savings once (for a couple thousand and we paid it back the next month or two), and we never noticed the money leaving the account because it was all manageable. If we were purchasing something big, like floors or wires, we just skipped eating out a bit to stay on budget.

Now, I do not recommend stretching a kitchen reno out over two-three years, but you can break it down over months to makeit more budget friendly.

For example, start with recessed lighting. Go find and Angie's list deal, and get that done first.

Over the next couple of months, watch for sales/clearance of fixtures, faucets, garbage disposal, and appliances. When you see a good deal, buy it and store it in your basement or garage. Just do one every couple of months, unless you find a huge bargain you can't pass up. Or bargain shop the little fixtures and small appliances in advance, then do the cabinets/countertops/floors, and add the big appliances one at a time.

Do your own painting and wall prep. That will save a lot.

If you are worried about money, don't do everything at once.

What did you do for cooking/food?

I would bite the bullet and not stretch it out over months unless you have an in-law suite or kitchenette. I'm only 3 weeks into my kitchen remodel (with fridge, microwave, Instant Pot in basement) and cannot imagine purposely stretching it out to save a bit of money. OP, better to save and wait a bit and do it all at once. Think about the reality of functioning without a kitchen day-to-day, and decide how long you really want to put up with that!

You didn't read my post. We did this for a basement and not only saved a ton but also did not feel the pinch.

As I said, I would not recommend stretching it out like we did for a kitchen, but I would recommend doing it in bits and pieces like doing tue lights separately, spending a few months picking up different fixtures and supplies as they come on clearance or sale, then doing the cabinets/counters together using things you have picked up along the way, then updating appliances (again, on sale).

OP does not need to do it all at once and at $50K if he can be patient and a smart shopper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:11 here.

OP, what conditions are your csbinet boxes? Are they solid, high quality wood?

If they are in good condition, you can remove the doors, strip them down, then just order new doors, drawer fronts, hinges and hardware online. That might save you money as well.

Lipstick on a pig. Cabinets are the most important thing in a kitchen. Besides, the new cabinets aren't doors anymore, they're 100% drawers.

Actually, some of the older cabinets are much nicer quality workmanship and wood than newer cabinets. If they are solid wood the boxes can easily be refinished without compromising beauty.

Drawers only may work well for you but they are impractical for many. A mix of drawers and cabinets might not be trendy or the flavor of the day, but they are very functional and make much more sense in terms of storage and usage.