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I live in Nassau. I am looking to remodel two bedrooms in my house and need help understanding what is a reasonable price to pay someone to do this. The rooms are 11x9' and 11x14' with 8' ceilings. The remodeling work will consist of removing/replacing all sheetrock, reinsulating, replacing three double hung windows as well as four interior doors. I've gotten two estimates but i think they are too high. Can someone please provide me with a rough idea of what i should expect to pay per feet for drywall (three coats of spackle), basemolding, windows and interior door replacement?
Also, since the rooms are going to be gutted to the studs, does it make more sense to use new construction or replacement windows. I have a contractor who i've worked with in the past who gave me an estimate $800 higher for labor if i chose to go with Andersen windows vs. vinyl replacements. Is this reasonable?
You're question starts of fine but get's a little confusing towards the end and you left out information.
1. What are the estimates you got so we can say if the are high or not
2. The person that you've worked with before. He gave you an estimate of $800 higher than what for labor?
3. Do these estimates include materials or are they just for labor?
I do think the price is a bit high, however you're having them do everything.
So consider the following, a lot of contractors will charge you about the cost of the window to install the window so depends on the cost of the windows that can easily run you upwards of $2400.
The doors you are installing can add another $1200 to your cost. If you add insulation (their markup) maybe $500-$600 your already at $4k. Then demo would probably run you about $1200.
If you feel the cost is too high I would do one of the following
1. I would ask for an itemize cost, breaking out the work(labor) and cost of materials.
2. This is an easy one. If you're not moving any framing or anything like that I would do the demo myself (don't you always wanted to take a hammer to that wall)
3. Purchase your own materials and just hire the guy for the labor.
No one does all these trades well. Good drywallers won't install insulation. Good insulation installers don't install drywall. In fact, those who install the drywall (well) won't be the ones who spackle. Molding installers won't do any of the above.
When you hire a jack-of-all-trades you will get less than what you pay for unless you're the one making informed choices about the material specifications and know what it would cost you to buy them yourself. Find out how many sheets of drywall you need and price them out. Do the same for the insulation, windows, doors, etc. Then, when you get quotes (not estimates) you'll know if you're paying too much or not.
No one does all these trades well. Good drywallers won't install insulation. Good insulation installers don't install drywall. In fact, those who install the drywall (well) won't be the ones who spackle. Molding installers won't do any of the above.
When you hire a jack-of-all-trades you will get less than what you pay for unless you're the one making informed choices about the material specifications and know what it would cost you to buy them yourself. Find out how many sheets of drywall you need and price them out. Do the same for the insulation, windows, doors, etc. Then, when you get quotes (not estimates) you'll know if you're paying too much or not.
Although I agree in sprit a bit, I don't think counting drywall sheets is going to help anyone here.
people who do it all, are not going to be the best at all of it. However, you're replacing drywall and molding in 2 rooms, you're not GCing a large project here.
I'd price out the windows and doors you want. those are really your only major costs in the project. The rest of it adds up somewhat, but no individual item costs a lot.
most likely, there are 2 reasons why your replacement window quote is lower. 1) in general replacement windows are cheaper than new construction windows, and are a lower quality. 2) there is extra work involved in replacing with a new construction window. Even assuming you don't have to mess with the framing in the wall, you have to removing all the trim on the outside of the house, and marry up the new window to the existing siding. With a replacement window, you really just pop out the old sashes and are putting your replacement in the existing trimmed out opening, with basically caulking stop molding being all that is used to finish the opening.
If you're not happy, get a 3rd quote. You can crunch numbers all you want.... you still need to get someone to do the work. Telling someone what they should be charging... is probably not going to work
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