Estimates for gut reno 1bdrm 725 sqft

I have done a similar reno many years ago when I bought my first apartment: it cost me $100K.

I believe you are looking at abt. the same number, possibly more, for a good quality reno.

regarding your question, if you are crazy to take this on: if it was a condo, I would say no. Since it is a coop, I say yes.

Sounds like the apartment I bought. I had some contractors in and they said between 100 and 125 K, depending upon what you find as the work progresses. They had to add a lot of new outlets, so there was a lot of channeling into the walls. That meant extensive plastering/skim coating.

re how ling it will take, between finding good contractor (taking bids and checking references), getting on said contractor's schedule, getting reno agreement in place and getting work done, I'd say best case scenario would be 5 mos., but I'd be prepared for 8 mos.

And don't skimp on architect - your project will go much more smoothly if you get a good one.

Pre war gut renovation: $150k min.

I just did one recently. Estimates were $125K and I ended up spending more like $175K. New electrical and replastering are very very expensive.

John75, you've got it wrong. If condo, yes, because you own the unit and thus the value of the renovations. If you're talking about a co-op, you're spending a boatload of money on a unit you don't own, only a proprietary lease. But I agree with Belgariad's estimate of $175, and perhaps higher. If you absolutely LOVE the unit and intend to stay indefinitely, then whether it's a condo or co-op really is irrelevant. (Just my humble opinion.)

thank you all for your comments and advice, much appreciated!

The new electrical, plastering, and painting cost me around 28K. The walls and ceiling had to be skim coated so that the patches for the electrical work didn't stand out. What looked like hairline cracks turned out to be craters because the place hadn't been painted or plastered properly in many years. They wound up using almost double the plaster/joint compound, etc. than anticipated.

Based on my experience, I'd agree w/ minimum of 150k, and would put the time at closer to 10-12 months from closing, given architects, contractors, DOB, and building management schedules. Don't understand why co-op vs condo makes any difference -- the 'you only lease the space' argument for co-ops is immaterial. What is material is your ability to afford it.

Aaron and Riccardo: if a coop, you need to sign an alteration agreement with the board i.e. the board has TO APPROVE your renovation before you proceed. Your fellow shareholder who lives right under your apartment or the one next door won't be too happy with a yearlong renovation and tensions arise, which many times delay a project of such scale in a coop building.

A condo is a breeze. This is the reason why I wrote to the OP that I would not pursue a gut reno in a coop building... too stressful of a process without guaranteed results of approval by the board.

I did a 1,200 SF renovation recently in a Park Slope prewar and it came to around $100K.

Whole apartment was not gutted but it was pretty extensive, would say quality is slightly better than mid range:

1) Gutted bathroom & kitchen, installed washer machine & new pipes to riser (plumbing 12K, will discuss labor below)
2) New electrical thruout + skim coating/plastering for holes left, moved fuse box from
basement to 2nd floor via dumbwaiter, ($15K)
3) Gutted bedroom plaster walls, put up new sheetrock walls
4) Skimcoated ceilings in dining room and living room, ($1,300)
5) Painted, ($2K)
6) Refinished floors, ($2,700)
6) Odds and ends left by main contractor ($6K)

I was the general contractor, hired the plumber, electrician and a contractor. It was tough to manage all this but I got thru. Contractor charged $19K in labor for gutting bathroom, kitchen and bedroom, installing bathroom & kitchen. I paid for materials, tub, sink, kitchen cabinets, (Materials were probably around $35K), appliances another 7K,

Used Viola Park for kitchen cabinets and really recommend them, closed in mid March, moved in in mid July.

crbnyc_26, I'm going thru renovating now and there are so many factors you can't know about, since you don't live in the building yet. For one, you should ask, "Is there a waiting list for renovating?" In my building there is and even though my plans were ready, I was not allowed to begin for months because other apartments were ahead of me. Also there were delays because the board made me submit my plans to the building engineer and it took several weeks to get approved. Then the Board had to sign off and it was summer and people were on vacation and it took longer than it should have. Then the plans had to be filed with the DOB and permits had to be gotten. That took 6 weeks because my Board doesn't let architects "self-certify," so we had to go the long route. So you may be ready but thwarted by things out of your control.

One big thing I would advise is -- and I did this thru my architect -- to get an electrician to come in and assess what you want to do and if the building is set up for it. My apartment had super old wiring and it turned out that there was a condutit that the wires had to come up thru from the basement (sorry, I'm sure I'm not phrasing this right, but you'll get the idea) and it was full and it was touch and go whether my wiring could fit into the conduit or whether expensive drilling up many flights of stairs was going to be involved. (luckily, we got in, but I can't imagine how expensive the renovation would have been if we hadn't.)

I think -- maybe it was Kylewest? -- on another thread here said. Be prepared to be shelling out a ton of money before anybody even picks up a hammer. Are the tiles in the coop's kitchen old? Then you'll be required to do asbestos testing and possible abatement. That cost me thousands of bucks. . . for less than 25 square feet!

We went thru a 3br 3 bath co-op reno. Two things I would have done first...If you know what walls will be coming down + if you want to take out the old wood floor and put in a new one, get someone in to test for asbestos. This will allow you to decide what to do. If you have asbestos, it changes cost a great deal. Next, get an electrical load letter (about $300-$400). The electrician will be able to tell you whether your planned/existing appliances meet building code/requirements. This could change the plans for your layout/appliances. Once your architect starts drawing plans, each change will cost you $'s. So as much as possible know what you would like done.

My co-op renovation experience was straightforward, had no problems with the board, neighbors, etc. My extended time period was mostly due to my own delays in getting an architect, and the contractor's availability -- there certainly wasn't 10 months of dust filtering through the hallways. The building approved the renovation about 2 weeks after we submitted the architects paperwork -- no problems, no delays. The building I'm in has firm rules about how renovations are to be done (notification of neighbors, work hours, hallway protection & cleaning, elevator usage, etc.), which minimizes disruption to neighbors and protects the building, and I'm happy for that -- it protects my sanity and investment. My reno included needing to break through the floor to replace plumbing -- building management helped coordinate w/ the downstairs neighbor to access their unit and they were fine with the minor disruption. A little while after I moved in the neighbors down the hall did a gut reno on their 2br unit -- by the time I came home each evening, you couldn't tell that there had been workers on the floor. There's a reason it's called a 'co-operative'. "Tensions arise" not because of the inherent nature of the property -- they arise because of the interations of people.

"interactions".

We got a 1240 sq ft 2 bd 2 bath coop apartment renovated in UES (mid 2014) and got estimates ranging from 35k to 65k but ended costing 80k.
Kitchen and 1 bath were untouched.
Added a 3rd bedroom pressurized wall (not sure how legal that is) in dining alcove, repainting, added recessed lighting things on 2 bedrooms and living room and removed a closet and expanded another closet. The master bath was a pain as it required some-like replacing the riser (marble on floor but just paint on walls, replaced tub with shower and mostly ikea cabinetry and kohler fittings. Placed parquet floors with prestained oaks and wood paneling below.

My boss went crazy high end full gut (subzero fridge, some german stove, marble on bathrooms, some high end kitchen cabinets, etc) with a prominent architect and paid 200k for a 1350 sq ft apartment on Madison Ave/60's, so i will be very surprised you guy for a 725 sq ft will be 150k (of course going high end can go as high as possible)

f1champ, do you mind sharing the details of the architect? the 200k is pretty inexpensive, after what I paid for mine.