Home Remodeling Costs (Plano: sales, contractors, drywall)

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by prasen

what is the typical cost for a bathroom remodel. there are wallpapers in the wall. need to strip them out and paint them in neutral colors. replace the floor tiles, change the toilet and add a double wash basin i.e. .

so what will be the typical labor cost to break it and smoothen it out and how much time are we looking at for this?

There is no such thing as typical labor cost and time frame for a remodel. Just your toilets can range from 50-2500$. You do not know what is behind the wallpaper or under the tile. Get your material list and several quotes. As busy as contractors are in DFW be patient!

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by TheOverdog

That sounds a little high to me for non-load bearing, but there may be some electrical or hvac issues I'm not aware of. It just seems high because removing a load-bearing wall is only a $1500 premium, which involves an engineering sign-off, city permits, purchasing a beam (can be inexpensive or can be hundreds of dollars for the cost of the beam alone) and a few hours of attic work if the beam is hidden.

Drywall patching work is done by barely skilled labor in 2015, so even though 20 feet is a pretty big span, that seems like a big premium. At that rate, it might make sense to remove the drywall (not the framing) yourself, as it is just a hour or two of work with a hammer and a dumpster. Did the contractor break it out? How much was flooring vs carpentry?

Heck, if it's actually non-load bearing, you could remove the framing yourself too.

The 20 dollar question is still - load bearing or not.

Getting permits at Ft. Worth is a version of Russion Roulette. Getting an engineer to deal with a single wall project is pretty much the same.

An ATT technician left a 3 foot crackour living room ceiling when he stepped off a rafter a few weeks back. Due to other circumstances we had carte blanche. Getting a contractor to deal with a specialty ceiling (built up, round corners, texture, height) . This unskilled labor came in at 3k. You cannot find someone to do a small job!

[octo]

Originally Posted by EDS_

I'd disregard all of the posts about the quote being way high or union shop wages etc.. Most people are utterly clueless about construction in general and especially small scale construction/demo jobs in DFW now. Or they are OK with poor-boy level work.

But what's your qualification? From your posting history you are a 1%er who probably spends $5k on getting the lawn mowed so for you this is small change.

I GC'd my own house and am fairly up to date on construction costs. The high quote was a "fishing for a sucker" quote. This is fairly typical. Out of five quotes I typically got three silly expensive ones. But more power to them if they can get people like you to pay $100+/hour for unskilled labor.

[TheOverdog]

This is silly. You can go to Home Depot and see for yourself how much drywall costs. Hint: It's cheap. Installing it requires almost no tools. If you can spread pizza dough, you can mud seams. It's not hard, it's just boring. The OP didn't mention having a fancy ceiling and the floor is carpet, none of that is expensive materials. The OP also didn't mention that replacing several hundred square feet worth of carpet was included in the bid so it's fair to assume it is not.

If you did this yourself, you'd be spending $300 max minus the flooring. So $1500 is reasonable if it is not loadbearing. And please stop with the 'contractors are unavailable' bs. I've had work done recently. It was no big deal to get a reasonable estimate.

[aggieplaya]

Good luck finding anyone to tear out a 20ft wall for $1500. They have to haul off all that scrap to a dump site, and I hope they are really good at texturing as well ini making the patched seams blend in with the rest of the texture as that can be an eye sore if not done properly. Maybe the overdog will be willing to take the job at that price, if so I would say GO FOR IT!

[LeagleEagleDFW]

If I wanted to do it myself, I would have asked how to do it, not how much a fair price for a contractor to do it is. I have neither the time nor the skills to do serious home remodeling. I have absolutely no desire to do so, either. And I'd rather have someone to blame if it's not done perfectly.

I've got two other bids that I am waiting on, and if they all come back in the same range, then I am going to assume that's the going rate and pick who we liked best. If this one is significantly cheaper or more expensive, then my suspicions will be raised.

[aggieplaya]

Originally Posted by LeagleEagleDFW

If I wanted to do it myself, I would have asked how to do it, not how much a fair price for a contractor to do it is. I have neither the time nor the skills to do serious home remodeling. I have absolutely no desire to do so, either. And I'd rather have someone to blame if it's not done perfectly.

I've got two other bids that I am waiting on, and if they all come back in the same range, then I am going to assume that's the going rate and pick who we liked best. If this one is significantly cheaper or more expensive, then my suspicions will be raised.

A very sound/logical approach. Let us know what the quotes end up being when you get them, I'm curious to see the range across the market for this job.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by octo

But what's your qualification? From your posting history you are a 1%er who probably spends $5k on getting the lawn mowed so for you this is small change.

I GC'd my own house and am fairly up to date on construction costs. The high quote was a "fishing for a sucker" quote. This is fairly typical. Out of five quotes I typically got three silly expensive ones. But more power to them if they can get people like you to pay $100+/hour for unskilled labor.

Yea, I just finished my afternoon olive oil foot rub.

3. My brother is an architect, developer, contractor and occasional contracting partner
2. My best friend is a contractor and 2 or 3x per year contracting partner
1. I've done a fair amount of commercial interior finish out contracting myself. Number 2 and I are kicking off a pretty cool job in Plano next week as a matter of fact.

Try getting your unskilled guy to answer the phone let alone install a blind Parallam, blind sight-made custom beam etc. or steel in the attic when the ceiling begins to sag, the roof buckles, the water heater(s) rupture as the owner prays the iron gas pipes don't snap.

You know as well as I do that until a partial demo is complete, I don't care if the owner supplies plans indicating the wall isn't load bearing, there is no way to know. Sure you can eyeball it and be right 90% of the time it's the 10% that poses a big problem.

So far as high bids go.........sure there are sucker bids made every day.

Even more low-ball BS bids are made by contractors knowing all along he'll find myriad reasons why the job will ultimately cost 1.5/2/3x the bid.

There are also thousands of real bids made around here every week by pros who stand behind their bids who also have the money to fix screw-ups. Pros who also work with experienced subs who actually stand behind their work as well. Subs who are not ex-cons, dopers/tweakers, or illegals.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by aggieplaya

Good luck finding anyone to tear out a 20ft wall for $1500. They have to haul off all that scrap to a dump site, and I hope they are really good at texturing as well ini making the patched seams blend in with the rest of the texture as that can be an eye sore if not done properly. Maybe the overdog will be willing to take the job at that price, if so I would say GO FOR IT!

Word.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by LeagleEagleDFW

If I wanted to do it myself, I would have asked how to do it, not how much a fair price for a contractor to do it is. I have neither the time nor the skills to do serious home remodeling. I have absolutely no desire to do so, either. And I'd rather have someone to blame if it's not done perfectly.

I've got two other bids that I am waiting on, and if they all come back in the same range, then I am going to assume that's the going rate and pick who we liked best. If this one is significantly cheaper or more expensive, then my suspicions will be raised.

That sounds like a good plan.

I haven't read the entire thread........is there any known electrical in the wall, a 20 foot wall in most cases will have a plug or two. Also is there either a bathroom or kitchen just below?