Bathroom Reno

if you are keeping the shower and and tub in place, i think you can get this done for under 7500, not including materials.

When I had mine done last year, I got quotes from around 2K to 10K! Just for labor... I couldn't believe the discrepancy in the estimates. It's a tiny bathroom, too. All I can add is, get a LOT of estimates, and you will be shocked at the answers. NYC construction is such a racket.

Thanks for your feeback. Broadwayron, would you recommend your contractor? What was your final cost for labor?

my advice on this. if you have any amount of time, get yourself a manual, buy the materials at home depot or lowes and do it yourself.

Replacing a sink and retiling is eminently doable for a laymen. Replacing a tub and/or shower body, that requires professional help. But just retiling and a sink is cake work, believe me. Plus if you screw it up terribly, its an easy fix and at minimal cost unless you bought italian marble tiles or something. A nice sink at HD will run you $150-200. Do not waste your money on the $1000 sinks. Waste of money and you cannot tell the difference, particularly for a simple rental.

I agree with TA. You can be your own contractor. I just did a countertop and sink in my kitchen. The whole project was much cheaper because I did the legwork of coordinating the various people involved (demo, plumber, granite people) and bought the sink & faucet via the internet for a steep discount. For your project, do the demo yourself, haul the waste out to the curb at 1:00 AM, learn how to tile, and call a plumber when you need the water hooked up to the sink. Good Luck!!

Have any of you experienced problems with coop boards when doing the work yourself?

Most coops (at least all I've ever looked at or would consider living in) require only licensed plumbers and electricians do that work. Tiling? Fine-do your own. Toilet change? No way in most buildings. Simple vanity change? You can probably get away with it, but you'll have to avoid being caught carrying the new one in and old one out. In the end, it usually isn't worth trying to do end runs around coop rules. The downside risk seriously outweighs the cost of doing it right. Follow the house rules. Or don't live in a coop.

We tried a few times "do it yourself" and it always backfires. Talk to the super. Often it is the fastest and cheapest way to get the job done.

I was my own GC on a bathroom reno in the city ten years ago, and it came at about $7K then. You are doing less work than I did, but I still think in the city, it's a $5K job now.

The easiest way to estimate is to price out your materials, and figure out that they'll be about 25% of the total cost of the job.

There's a lot of work in a bathroom reno that you're probably not thinking about. The demolition is actually the most expensive stage, because even with a "tiny" bathroom, you're creating significant amounts of trash, and your building has to pay to get it carted out. You could install your own sink - I agree a cheap sink is fine -- but you do run the risk of cracking it, so I wouldn't.

Also, tile work is actually tougher than it looks, and I wouldn't counsel a first-timer to try it themselves. (You'll get the tile down, but unless you're great with a miter saw, it will be easy to see that it was a first-time job).

The cheapest solution is usually to get your super to be the GC. If you want to DIY part of the job, do your own painting.

ali r.
{downtown broker}