Opening up floor plan - Moving stairs, electrical, ductwork and adding beam

[Anonymous]

We pulled out a wall between our tiny kitchen and useless dining room (I don't know what the previous owners were thinking when they built the addition off the kitchen). Adding a beam to replace the structural support of the wall wasn't trivial, but it's not complicated or anything.

I'd say it's doable BUT!!!! you need someone who knows what they're doing (including permits, etc). It's not something you should mess around with.

Our updates were relatively inexpensive because my BIL was just starting his own contractor business and gave us free labor in return for using our changes to promote his company so I can't speak to actual price. I'd say it's cheaper and less of a headache than moving, but it's not going to be a minimal cost and still be a pain while it's going on.

Good Luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We pulled out a wall between our tiny kitchen and useless dining room (I don't know what the previous owners were thinking when they built the addition off the kitchen). Adding a beam to replace the structural support of the wall wasn't trivial, but it's not complicated or anything.

I'd say it's doable BUT!!!! you need someone who knows what they're doing (including permits, etc). It's not something you should mess around with.

Our updates were relatively inexpensive because my BIL was just starting his own contractor business and gave us free labor in return for using our changes to promote his company so I can't speak to actual price. I'd say it's cheaper and less of a headache than moving, but it's not going to be a minimal cost and still be a pain while it's going on.

Good Luck!

Don't worry. There is no way on earth we would attempt to do this ourselves. I think a smart contractor would make this his niche area. So many bad floor plans out here. They would get a ton of business! Any chance you would recommend your BIL's company?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I have a feeling no one on this board has done this type of renovation. Please respond if you have!

They do this kind of thing all the time on the HGTV shows. Property Brothers, Love it or List it, Flip or Flop. I'm sure the construction costs are more here. Just want to get a sense (effort & $) for it.

We DIY most things. We've done doors, windows, hardwood, trim, painting, redid the drywall in the basement after the contractor screwed it up, leveled the basement floor, electrical and plumbing so yes we know. We pieced out our basement with some DIY some paid. Its very very expensive and those shows are all fake. Nothing is like what they describe. Replacing our ductwork in the basement of a tiny house was $2K. Electrical for the basement was $8K. You need to call contractors. Anything structural will be very very costly.

Thank you! This is exactly what I was hoping to see. We're pretty handy and do a lot of DIY stuff but not to the degree that you all have! Did you hire a HVAC guy for the ductwork or was that partly DIY?

I'm prepared for significant costs for this. Might need several beams and new columns and new footings and then the stair/rails. Just want to have ballpark numbers in mind. I'm thinking it's in the 10's of thousands, not 100's.

No way I would touch anything structural without getting an engineer out. What you are proposing isn't a $20-30K job. You could DIY things but you don't see to have any knowledge if you are asking these questions.

We hired out for the duct work. We planned to DIY but our HVAC needed replaced so we had him do it.

[Anonymous]

^^^dont worry. Not going to do the work ourselves. Just wanting to know the cost of materials & labor. I've found that a lot of the area "builders" I've spoken to are not actually doing the work. Glorified project managers who don't have any real skills. I'd like to hire a structural engineer and then hire licensed contractor to do the work and cut out the overpaid middle man.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^dont worry. Not going to do the work ourselves. Just wanting to know the cost of materials & labor. I've found that a lot of the area "builders" I've spoken to are not actually doing the work. Glorified project managers who don't have any real skills. I'd like to hire a structural engineer and then hire licensed contractor to do the work and cut out the overpaid middle man.

That is how it works. They are basically GC's who sub it out. We parted out ours and it has been very difficult as most don't want to deal with homeowners and they have done a shotty job. If you have little home improvement knowledge I wouldn't recommend parting it out yourself. Its going to be very costly. You need to be realistic that your job is not HGTV and those shows are scams and this is real life. We had the knowledge to manage it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^^dont worry. Not going to do the work ourselves. Just wanting to know the cost of materials & labor. I've found that a lot of the area "builders" I've spoken to are not actually doing the work. Glorified project managers who don't have any real skills. I'd like to hire a structural engineer and then hire licensed contractor to do the work and cut out the overpaid middle man.

That is how it works. They are basically GC's who sub it out. We parted out ours and it has been very difficult as most don't want to deal with homeowners and they have done a shotty job. If you have little home improvement knowledge I wouldn't recommend parting it out yourself. Its going to be very costly. You need to be realistic that your job is not HGTV and those shows are scams and this is real life. We had the knowledge to manage it.

I was able to redo our basement this way. Hired the electrician, drywall guy, and flooring guy ourselves. Saved a ton of money and very happy with the final product. It took months but well worth it IMO.