Hi all, I've been reading threads about renovations and learned a lot, but have some questions and would appreciate your feedback. My wife and I are looking to buy a 2 br in a brownstone in north park slope and have some renovations in mind. we are not yet in contract, but were thinking that we wanted to look at the place with a contractor to first gauge the feasibility of our ideas, before we... [more]
Hi all, I've been reading threads about renovations and learned a lot, but have some questions and would appreciate your feedback.
My wife and I are looking to buy a 2 br in a brownstone in north park slope and have some renovations in mind. we are not yet in contract, but were thinking that we wanted to look at the place with a contractor to first gauge the feasibility of our ideas, before we actually sign a lease (we're probably not going to buy it if we cant make at least some of the changes we want to).
1)is this done? will contractors look at places and give you their advice even if you haven't bought the place yet? we'd be happy to reimburse for his time. along those lines, is this something we should ask a contractor, or should we be bringing an architect? we wouldn't even necessarily want a full estimate, maybe a ball park, and more of a question of "is this feasible", or are some of our ideas just not possible for whatever reason.
2)its about 820 sq ft, not huge, we want to remove one wall to expand the living room, and build a wall to divide the master bedroom into 2 smaller rooms. we also want to replace kitchen counter tops & cabinets, potentially add a backsplash, and re-do the bathroom fixtures. we also want to add a little more closet space, and with wall movement, we're probably going to be adding doors and things too. we are NOT planning to re-do floors or change any electrical or plumbing, add an air filtration system or replace appliances
what do you guys think in terms of cost & time? i know it can take up to 2 months to even get the project approved (it's a co op), never mind the work itself, so if we buy this place we'd ideally like to do the changes before we move in, if possible. should we tell the contractor or architect we work with what our maximum budget is?
Thanks,
Alan
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Response by REL1
almost 14 years ago
Posts: 41
Member since: Oct 2009
You should see if you can get 2-3 contractors in to give you and estimate. (You might end up needing an architect ultimately to appease the coop board when you move the walls, but I would start with the contractor and he can tell you if you should ask an architect.) I would not tell them your budget but ask them to come up with estimates. (They should do this for free hoping you will hire them.) I think your challenge will be that there is a wide price range of kitchen and bathroom costs depending on how high end you want to go so there's going to be a wide range of estimates. Also some contractors will low-ball you until they get there and then charge you for change orders so I wouldn't give them your budget first and I would add maybe 15-20% to the cost that they give you and make sure in the price estimate that they have included everything (usually they forget something).
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Response by Primer05
almost 14 years ago
Posts: 2103
Member since: Jul 2009
alan6guy,
I would have at least be contractor look at the space with you and he can give you a budget based on the scope of work. If you are comfortable with him then you can tell him your budget and he should be able to tell you where you can save and where you should spend
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Response by alan6uy
almost 14 years ago
Posts: 6
Member since: Mar 2012
thanks guys--i meant to post this under "renovations" but i guess it came up under sales (can i change this?) sounds like we just need to bring somebody in for an estimate. the thing is, we haven't bought the place yet, and i dont think we want to sign a contract if the renos are out of budget/unfeasible, as we're just not happy with the current layout of the space. can anybody take a guess at price?
You should see if you can get 2-3 contractors in to give you and estimate. (You might end up needing an architect ultimately to appease the coop board when you move the walls, but I would start with the contractor and he can tell you if you should ask an architect.) I would not tell them your budget but ask them to come up with estimates. (They should do this for free hoping you will hire them.) I think your challenge will be that there is a wide price range of kitchen and bathroom costs depending on how high end you want to go so there's going to be a wide range of estimates. Also some contractors will low-ball you until they get there and then charge you for change orders so I wouldn't give them your budget first and I would add maybe 15-20% to the cost that they give you and make sure in the price estimate that they have included everything (usually they forget something).
alan6guy,
I would have at least be contractor look at the space with you and he can give you a budget based on the scope of work. If you are comfortable with him then you can tell him your budget and he should be able to tell you where you can save and where you should spend
thanks guys--i meant to post this under "renovations" but i guess it came up under sales (can i change this?) sounds like we just need to bring somebody in for an estimate. the thing is, we haven't bought the place yet, and i dont think we want to sign a contract if the renos are out of budget/unfeasible, as we're just not happy with the current layout of the space. can anybody take a guess at price?