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Those are the type of unforseen circumstances I am expecting.......I was thinking much worse when I heard "horror stories", like someones new 2nd story collapsing or someones roof blowing off in a storm because they did not use hurricane ties....
As long as I don't have too many of the unforseen circumstances.......I think we are mentally prepared for it. Since we will be staying with local family, they will be free to do what they must to get it right.
Key1
The horror stories have more to do with "unforeseen" things popping up during the renovation. These lead to massive construction delays and cost overages.
When doing a renovation like this it requires that everything be brought up to code. Codes change every year and if your original house was built back in the 50's or even 80's chances are there are things that were compliant back then that aren't today. Electrical, plumbing, insulation, even structural. You don't hear about these things until the inspector comes and notifies you.
If your plan includes stripping the entire house to the studs, upgrading all the electrical, HVAC, insulation, and plumbing then you have less to worry about since the only thing left would be structural issues(foundation cracks, rot in framing, adding a header etc.). But if you didn't plan on the above they can come as quite a shock.
I appreciate all of the feedback, but it is all mostly "gloom and doom". Is it really that bad to do a major home remodel? Does anyone have any good experiences to share? Or should I just consider cutting my losses now?
Key1
I've seen some lovely work, but they mostly involve independent overview hired by directly the owner, either the architect or the construction manager works directly for the owner and acts entirely for their benefit and bottom line to keep the crew moving and the overage down.
You seem to have hired the architect and construction manager from the same company that hires the crew. They have incentives to finish on time and under budget but there is plenty of incentive to find overruns here and there or added value in change orders because you're not looking at all the fine print, you've trusted them to do all of that for you when it might not be in their interest to do so.
Don't cut your losses, but have a lawyer and an independent architect review everything before you sign anything. Yes, they will cost you, say a thousand or two now but when the roof isn't on your house and the friends you're staying with are annoyed you're on the couch for three extra months you'll be thinking two grand isn't that much at all.
I appreciate all of the feedback, but it is all mostly "gloom and doom". Is it really that bad to do a major home remodel? Does anyone have any good experiences to share? Or should I just consider cutting my losses now?
Key1
No way! Do the remodel. I finished an attic in my last house and added a full bath. Surprises we had where some HVAC issues( had to use spray foam insulation to get the r-value necessary to handle the new living space on existing boiler). Had to sister all floor joists under the bathroom to support the load of fixtures and tile(this was only necessary because they cheaped out when building the home and the joists only overlapped halfway). Had to swap out a window since current code required bigger than were in there for a living area, which then required siding work. Had to upgrade to hardwired smoke alarms in the entire house.
Renovation was supposed to take 3 weeks and ended up taking 1.5 months. The whole point is to hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
Well .............the good news is that you have set me up for a miserable experience so at worst, it will be as expected
And if by some miracle it turns out to not be to bad, then great.
I really appreciate your honest insight and experiences.
I am moving forward.
Key1
It never works out the way you want it to. I've had several friends go through complete remodels (one tore the roof off of her cape and added a full second floor that went out over the garage - it's gorgeous, but they went through heck and back and their share of arguments with the contractor) and it NEVER goes even close to as smoothly as you hope.
Mine was supposed be done in 6-8 weeks…still not finished 7 months later and we've been told it's b/c the work that needs to be finished up is outside and it's been cold. They started in July and stopped showing up in early October.
If you make any changes along the way make sure you get an all-inclusive price for the changes if they include additional work in a separate contract. Also make sure that you aren't being charged for the same thing in the original contract and the change order contract. Meaning that if you, for an example, expand a deck by a few feet and you get charged for your contractor to have to dig larger holes for the footers as if you weren't charged for the digging of any in the original contract - when you were. You should only be charged for the extra material/work, not all over again.
I hope that makes sense.
I guess the best way to say it is make sure you don't get doubled up on.
One more thing - if you are moving out, make sure you put ALL of your valuables in a safe place. Friends of mine moved out for 6 months & when they moved back in (little things like finish carpentry and painting were left) my friend was in her kitchen ready to slice bagels up for her kids. She turned around to reach for the knife block and there was no knife block - and she had two. Pretty expensive set of knives in each. The GC did make good on it and reimbursed her.
Well I can't look back now. I have pulled the trigger .
I didn't post when I put the bids out because the contractors may be reading my posts for all I know and I did not want to undermine the process until I signed the contract which I have done.
I only gave the plans to 4 contractors to bid on.
contractor 1: Recommended from friend
contractor 2: was for complete modular
contractor 3: from internet
contractor 4: . is full "soup to nuts" firm
I will discuss each and what drove my final selection (to my surprise it was not money )
The cost for square foot number I will provide is based on the total square foot where work is planned which means the entire house and garage. Beyond the addition the existing structure is getting walls torn down, new floors, ceilings ripped out, new fixtures, new siding, new electrical, etc.
I don't like writing an entire book in 1 post so I will continue in the next post (right now)
Contractor 1 was recommended by a friend. This contractor had worked for a much larger firm for quite a while and had went out on his own a few years ago. He has worked on complete new construction of homes BUT he has never added a 2nd story to an existing home, his internet site is under construction, and he is not rated on the better business bureau. For these reasons he was not selected. Also his quote was the highest at $160 per sq foot. of course this means the addition was 160 per square foot, the existing remodel is 160 per square foot, and the 600 ft garage was $160 per sq foot. That could be reasonable (based on Karen's posts) for an addition, but that would be an absurdly high cost for just a garage, but I do not have cost breakouts so it is all averaged together. The reality is that the garage portion is probably less and the addition portion is probably more.
If some of you geniuses out there want to assign a more realistic cost per sq foot to the garage, then I could subtract the garage cost from the total and have a more realistic square foot cost for just the addition/remodel.
Contractor 2 was for a mostly modular build with additional "stick built remolding of existing".
He had originally bid as I mentioned in a earlier post for a complete new home. Now he has bid off of my plans and though not exactly the same, they are very close (2x6 exterior walls for modular versus 2x4 for everyone else). His company has a good website and BBB rating I just (unfairly I'm sure) have a little apprehension going with modular guys to do the entire job as a big portion of it has nothing to do with modular. He was not selected. His new bid came in close to the top at $154 per sq ft (averaging everything in so that it is apples to apples). He was my 2nd choice by the way.
Contractor 3 came to the house and never bothered to enter my home even though I offered him entry. We just talked in his truck (both times) he claimed he has done this a million times and as long as he has the plans that is good enough. He was very aggressive and almost threatening (intimidating). I almost felt like he would beat the hell out of me if I did not select him for wasting his time . All the others gave me a written bid with some details and this guys bid was just verbal. Also he needed 50% of the money up front and another 30% the first day he shows up (10% midway) and the final 10% when done. My gut was saying no "F'n way" (of course I did not say that out loud as he was much bigger than me.) His verbal number was the cheapest by far at 75 per sq foot (for the same entire job averaged the same way as the others to keep it apple to apples). He was not selected.
Contractor 4 is the one that I have been working with all along. They say and do all of the right things, they are overly thorough and seem to know exactly what they are doing. Their bid was not the highest or the lowest but "my gut" tells me this one is at least the most trustworthy and thorough and these traits alone were the biggest drivers for the selection. Hopefully 4-8 months from now I still have nothing but praise for these guys. If it all works out I will ask their permission to share their name in case someone is interested in an actual real life experience reference. (They said they plan to put my home's before and after pictures on their website) so all will be able to see it. I expect them to start in the spring.
Thank you all so far for your contributions, opinions, and experiences, please keep them coming.
Key1
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contractor selection criteria i used
. All the others gave me a written bid with some details and this guys bid was just verbal. Also he needed 50% of the money up front and another 30% the first day he shows up (10% midway) and the final 10% when done. My gut was saying no "F'n way" (of course I did not say that out loud as he was much bigger than me.) His verbal number was the cheapest by far at 75 per sq foot (for the same entire job averaged the same way as the others to keep it apple to apples). He was not selected.
