Food for thought before renovating.

[badmomma]

You have to cover your bases before you begin. This
means planning and more planning. Contact the important
people for permits ecetera.

Quite often, it is necessary or desirable to remodel your home. This article provides an overview of some of the economic and stylistic issues that you should consider when undertaking this endeavor.
Topics
Remodeling Your Home
Budgeting Basics
Bang for Your Buck
Planning for Permits
A Written Contract

Food for thought before renovating.

Check this article out and see what they suggest that you do. I like
the part about the written contract. It covers all the bases and will
help you remember what you need for or from a contractor.

[JaredfromIndiana]

Those numbers really blow me away on the budget. $13,000 for a bathrom remodel? Are they getting a golden throne?? LOL!! I know that I am here in el cheapo Indiana so my costs are much lower on that. If I have to completely gut a bathroom it will probably cost me around $2,500 and that includes labor.

Probably $4,000 for a vinyl siding job, Vinyl window replacements, average double hung window is $200 a piece installed, and roof replacement is around $4,000 average.

Definitely a contract with the contractors. Ours are very detailed and have a penalty of $150 a day for each day they go over on the agreed time. Dealing with contractors in my opinion is the worst part of this business.

Again, my two cents.

[flip_it_fast]

I too would agree that these prices seem way too high. If I have to pay anywhere around $13,000 for a bathroom remodel, I had better have a "throne" made of diamonds in there! The rest of the tips are really good. I also agree you need to have an extremely detailed written contract in laymens terms with no loop-holes to be found.

[thohome]

That renovation must be in MoneyVille. Because around here too you can renovate a bathroom a heck of alot cheaper than $13,000. More like $1,500 to $2,000 Tops if you are gutting everything to include the walls. They must be using alot of marble and slate tile and alot of high end fixtures.

[flippinout]

I have seen shows on television where the bathroom remodel was going to cost like $32,000, shoot, thats a good downpayment on an expensive house.

[hometowngrl53]

When we redid out whole bathroom last year it cost us around 3000 for the whole thing but our bathroom is a small one only 12 feet by 8 feet so i guess thats still high for even one that small we gutted the whole bathroom and redid everything form floor to ceiling

[Lady Flipper]

Originally Posted by JaredfromIndiana

Definitely a contract with the contractors. Ours are very detailed and have a penalty of $150 a day for each day they go over on the agreed time. Dealing with contractors in my opinion is the worst part of this business.

Again, my two cents.

That's where I got hung up - next time I will definitely use a penalty for tardiness.

I got excellent work delivered, but very late. I'd like to use the same people again because of competence and also they had very useful suggestions, some of which cut costs.

But the speed was terrible. I do have to take into account that I am in a sparsely inhabited area (as in the boonies ) and there are not that many qualified people. These guys have their regular customers and need to take time periodically to take care of them.

Hard to find the balance here, since the choices of contractors are very finite.