order of renovations

Ceilings first (will create loads of dust).
Kitchen second (dirty industrial job).
Painting.
Then closet doors and shelves (don't want paint on them).
Floors last (don't want paint or scratches from kitchen overhaul).

1. Demo - Remove Popcorn, remove kitchen cabinets, remove bedroom flooring and molding, and remove closet doors
2. Skim Coat ceilings
3. Paint with primer and first coat
4. Install Floors and moldings
5. Install Kitchen and closet doors
4. Paint with second coat

The closet organizers and bathroom are better done before new floors.

In this order.
1.
4.
5.Try to leave bathroom as late as possible always after kitchen workmen etc will use it.
6.
7.
3.
2.
Painting always last.Never paint before all construction is finished.Make sure you get a good very good painter who wont splash your floors or put lines between molding and floor and leaves a great finish.

Best of luck.Keith

I didnt see other post-some do floors last but if you have a very good painter it wont matter-he'll have to touch up after floors anyway-if he gets paint on your doors/shelves/floors make him clean it off and send him packing he's not a pro:-)

Excellent. copy & printing this now (Keith - thanks for the extra tip on the bathroom. No offense to the men out there, but...yuk)

Do everything else before your floors nothing else gets damaged normally unless accident happens and finally painting-you want your floors to look spanking new if renting or selling on and your painter should have proper cloth sheets to protect them and soft shoes also.

Good luck

I'm very glad I asked-- I'm not using one person to oversee this ($). Thanks!

Agree with ksdg520. I would do virtually no work after new floors other than paint if that order suits you better and closets (installation of organizers is about the most painless part of the whole job--fwiw, I LOVE Creative Closets out of Westchester which is 50% the cost of California Closets and uses exactly same material with excellent customer service). Realize that a new floor remains somewhat "soft" for a few weeks while it cures. It is more easily damaged during that period even though it may dry quickly when done.

this thread rocks. how about this, if i have to take down 2 1/2 walls(drywall, not load-bearing), put up two walls, put in two doors (french), expose two walls of brick that are 10 x 12' each, and redo a large closet, what would be a good price to pay?

Depends on how strict your building is, with respect to contractors, insurance requirements, etc. I am able to use a handyman ($200/day) for work like this. It would probably take him 2 weeks, $2k (materials not included). If you use a licensed contractor, it could easily be 20k.

Yeah I agree it's all quite basic stuff nothing a good handyman couldn't do well.10 days or 5 for 2 guys to help with drywall/doors closets etc plus materials/skip.
Good Luck
$2000 labour sounds right

Also, you have to find a place to probably dispose of the debris.

thanks guys!

What do you call a skip in the states,this is where we put all our building rubbish in Ireland-a skip-then a truck collects the skip and brings it to the dump.

A dumpster.

nyc10023, can you recommend your handyman? If you don't want to post him publicly you can email me at lovewell@me.com. Thanks!

If doing a brand new kitchen, I think you need to do floors before that (otherwise, what is the kitchen sitting on?)

Anyone of the name of a good handyman who can facelift bathroom? Tiles, drop ceiling, lighting and painting.

Couple questions:
1) Does the floor guy install the molding as well?
2) Has anyone installed "city windows?" I heard they could go for as much as $900 a window, which seems steep to me.
3) Is it normal to ask to be let into the apt with a floor person or painter before you actually close to get measurements?

Also, the jobs we plan on doing before moving in are: 1) painting entire apt, 2) new floors, 3) moldings in entire apt, and 4) City Windows.

Do people recommend using a contractor or individual people to do each job? Can handymen in an apt do the painting? Can anyone recommend floor and/or painters?

NYCa123
Never want to skimp on windows, the number 1 source for escaping/entering temperatures and sounds.

For the Irish skips question in jepopardy form and popularity order..
What is a dumpster, roll off, or container.

Any recommendations on floor people or painters?

NYCApt1234--I just had a 1500 sq ft apartment painted (all walls, trim and ceilings) and wood floors (throughout) refinished (sanded, and three coats of 'Traffic' polyurethane applied. I used NYC Floorworks/cityworks for both--they did the floors first, then painted, then put a final coat on the floors, then did touch up painting. Great job! Great price! Contact is Marc Ringel--718.247.7279 (office number--talk to Tracie--she is very organized).

I used a painter named colin o'hara, recommended on another discussion thread, he is very reliable and does nice work, specializes in venetian plaster, ph #347-622-0309

fleurdelys, can you give a ballpark of the cost from Floorworks? I like the idea of one company doing the floors, trim, and painting. We have an 1100 sq ft apt, but are considering only putting hardwood in the living, dining, and hallways (and doing carpet in the bedrooms). Can we keep it under $15k?

NYC--not sure about the cost of replacing floors --mine was a refinish and total cost was under 10K--I chose this company after interviewing several and based on Noah (urbandigs) reco--I, too. liked the idea of one company doing everything--much easier to orchestrate!

Hmm... I got a rough quote (from a floorplan) from Marc at Floorworks and it seems high. Am I wrong?
FLOORS: $15-19/sq ft
PAINTING: Labor is $4700 and I have to buy my own paint
MOLDING: Labor is $3800 and I have to purchase my own molding

I'm sure they will take measurements to tell me how much paint and molding to buy, though. Does this sound high??? The space that would get hardwood is about 550sq ft. (Not bedrooms). The painting and molding will be in entire apt (2 bedroom, 2 bath, about 1100 sq ft).

can anyone speak to the labor costs????

If you're willing to do some legwork, you can save at least 50% of the prices they offer.

You can go to Lumber Liquidators that sell the wood floors and the crown moldings. They are online as well as in Brooklyn warehouse. They have contractors that they work with who will do the job of the floors and the moldings, maybe even painting. Based on the prices quoted on their site, the hardwood floors should run you less then $10 psf installed.

Painting an 1100 sf apartment should be $2K inclusive. It's about 3 days worth of work for 2 people. Even if you pay $300 per day, then $300*2*3=$1800. You have to consider that there's almost no painting in the bathrooms and the kitchen.

Lumber Liquidators don't have the best quality wood. Premium in Bk (negotiable) is a notch up. http://www.premiumfloors.com/html/contact.html Someone told me that you get the best terms as the
first customer on a Sunday after the Sabbath.

Would anyone recommend Home Depot? What I liked about FloorWorks was that they could do all 3 things I wanted done. Home Depot seems like the next best thing, no?

Lumber Liquidators doesn't have a huge selection of woods to choose from....

NYCApt1234--I found Floorworks prices to be comparable in price to the other estimates I got and they did a great job--great amount of attention to detail. Marc checked on the job frequently as I could not always be there, called me daily with updates and was always accessible. I would think twice about Home Depot. My sister used them to install new wood floors in her house. They sub-contract and do not stand behind the work done. The installers moved my sister's fridge to install flooring underneath and then re-attached it incorrectly. It wound up leaking (slowly) under the floor, destroying the sub floor and buckling her new wood floors. Home Depot would not help her at all in getting the problem fixed. They claimed they were not responsible for the installer's work. She almost had to sue to get the floors repaired properly.

Nyc apt,

I would not recommend Home Depot, only for smaller items. Flooring is difficult just to say it should be this or that. What kind of floor? Do you need a new sub floor?

If you want prefinished flooring and you have a concrete sub floor you can pay anywhere from $3.50-$20.00 sq. ft. for the material.
More expensive, like everything else,better quality

Installation of prefinished should be around 4-5 sq ft

If you have something specific in mind let me know and i will tell you how much it should be

There is parque on the floors now and we want a basic oak hardwood, probably a natural or one shade darker than natural. Nothing dark or dramatic.

that's about $5 psf for 3" wide plank that's prefinished. removing the floor will cost some, not sure how much.

I don't think I need a contractor; it's not a huge job. And if I did hire one I would just be adding to the premium.

If you are not doing it yourself then a contractor is exactly who you need. Something most people dont know. If you hire a wood floor guy directly, which is totally fine to do he will charge you one price. if i hire him he will charge me a lower price and i get the difference but at least there is some quality control over each project.

For regular oak, stained floor with poly and subfloor already in place that should only cost roughly 10-13 sq ft including the wood.

You would probably need the moldings changed as well, another reason for a contractor as the wood floor guys do not install base molding and if they do it does not come out all that great.

Mind you I happen to be a contractor who does bigger jobs (full gut renovations) so I am not telling you this in order to hire me.

For floors, I cannot recommend Floor Store of West End Corp on W 96th St enough. If you believe in buying local, you will be ecstatic that such high quality work can be contracted at a reasonable price on in your neighborhood. The finished product exceeded my expectations, and they offered great service. The job was done exactly on schedule. These guys are first rate. If you live on the UWS, please support them.

Pmg,

How much do they charge per square foot? How many projects did they do for you?

The floor store of west end corp demolished the old parquet and baseboards, installed a top quality engineered hardwood (25 year warranty; can be refinished 2 or 3 times) with a top quality glue, installed and painted new larger baseboards. Their customer service (in home materials samples etc), work quality (attention to detail) and cleanup were terrific, and they got the job done on schedule in a few days. The net cost was just over $14 psf, but they don't charge per square foot; they bill for materials and for labor.

one more thing: the installer put time warner cabling through the wall and behind the new baseboards, which was sweet.

Did he patch the walls behind the moldings? How do you know he used top quality glue? When was the project done, did he put anything under the floor?