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We have a bathroom that has a small separate toilet room. That toilet room has 2 pocket doors: one leading to the bathroom and one leading to a bedroom. There is also an open area above the door to the bathroom we would also like filled in.
The door is a standard size: 80" by 30", the upper area is a triangle shape that is 60" by 21.5." Both walls are 5" thick.
We will be demo-ing the door and trim, we want the contractor to frame in the empty area and then drywall over it (that's it). We will be doing the trim, painting, and finish work.
I called a few handyman type companies to get quotes and the first got back to me yesterday. They said it would be a 4-5 day project and would cost $4,000 - $5,000.
I just cannot imagine a situation where this even a remotely acceptable price for this amount of work! This is 6 or 8 2x4s and 3 sheets of drywall, max (one per door, and one to cut in half for the upper part). I am expecting this is *maybe* 1.5 days of work: 1/2 day to frame, 1/2 day to drywall and tape, come back the next day to sand it. I was expecting a cost somewhere between $800 and $1200 on the high side.
In my last house two guys framed my entire basement in 2 days and later drywalling the whole thing also took 2 guys 2 days. 4-5 days? Wow.
Also, completely separate from this, we also recently hired a mortar company to do tuck-pointing (re-doing all the mortar) on our mostly brick house. Two neighbors got it done within the last year and paid between $12-$14k. We got 3 quotes: one for $12k, one for $13.5k and one for a whopping $26k!
How can contractors stay in business when they're that far outside the pricing of their competitors?
Thoughts? Also feel free to post your own outrageous contractor quotes!
You do understand that the right way to do this is to open up the entire five feet of wall and remove the pocket door framing and reframe the entire area, right? Is there plumbing or electrical to deal with in this area or any tile that needs to be removed or altered? Did anyone actually look at the job or just quote you sight unseen?
I already have 2 other calls in. I'm not trying to vilify their business practices, I'm honestly wondering how companies can stay in business when they're that far off from the market? I also noted the tuck-pointing in my post, where one contractor (out of 5) was almost twice as much as the others. I'm just wondering if others see it as well, occasionally. We had some plumbing work done and all the quotes were within 20-25% of each other. So its not all contractors, obviously.
But it's a lot of them. It took me months to get new landscapers recently. The company I used for years has taken on a lot of rich people with much larger homes than mine, so he just didn't want my relatively small job anymore. I got bids of up to $700 for what the previous company did in two hours. I just kept interviewing people until I got one who charged me $200 for what I used to pay $150 for. The $700 guy called me back eventually and said he would be "willing" to do me a favor and cut his bid down to $500. I told him the job was already done PERFECTLY for $200 and he expressed doubt that I could get the work done "properly" for that price. They'll charge whatever they think the market will bear, I guess.
The main reason we aren't doing it ourselves is because I don't have the proper tools (miter saw, nail gun) and don't have a car big enough to get the drywall and lumber to the house (we have one car, a hatchback). Plus its worth it to me to pay someone $1000 to do it and not loose two weekends futzing around doing it. If all the contractors come back with 4-5k prices, I will certainly do it myself rather than pay that much.
The main reason we're doing this is because sounds travel all over the upstairs thanks to the open area above the shower connecting it to the toilet room. So any little tiny noise travels.
And while I know the "proper" way would be to rip the wall back another 2.5 feet and take out the pocket door framing, that isn't needed here as the only hardware is a metal track screwed into wood framing on the top. The plan is to unscrew it on the "open" side and cut it where the opening ends. No need to open the wall. We're going to reno the whole upstairs in 3-4 years anyway and at that point all the walls will come down. No sense in doing the same work twice.
Anyway, thanks for the knowledge everyone, in 20 years of home ownership I've never gotten these "stupid bids" before. But I guess proves the point that you should always shop around.
As a number of others have said, contractors quotes always depend on supply and demand. If they are looking for more work, they can be quite reasonable, if they are busy and don't really need your job, they will usually quote very high with the rationale that if you do accept their bid, they will find a way to do it and laugh all the way to the bank.
We've built a couple homes and done some basement finishing ourselves as well as self-contracting some work here and there. There is a wide variety of prices you'll be quoted on the same job. In fact one contractor quoted on framing in our basements on two of our new homes. The first time he quoted almost twice the amount he quoted the second time 7 years later....even though both were approximately the same size.
Fact is, you can't really blame them. I'm in the commercial furniture business myself. I've been in situations many times where I'm so busy I can't really handle anymore. If someone asks me for a quote, I'm likely to mark it up higher than I would if business were slower. If they accept it, I'll figure out a way to do the project properly since I'm willing to work overtime or hire a helper because I'm going to make some serious money....otherwise, they are free to fine someone else who's got the time and will perhaps offer a lower bid.
I have run into the same thing with an entry door project. I had a pre finished/ pre hung fiberglass entry door with a side light sitting in my garage ready to go. One quote I received was for $1800 and an estimate that it would take 24 hours to install. Needless to say, I shopped around and found a guy who quoted me $525. He did all of the trim work, raised the door a bit for some new flooring and hauled off the old door, and it looks great. Now on the other hand I have been bidding out a retaining wall project and ended up going with the highest bidder on that one. because he was able to come up with the best design and actually built me a small mock wall to demonstrate the look and what type of materials would be used. And I just got the impression that he really knew his stuff.
You do understand that the right way to do this is to open up the entire five feet of wall and remove the pocket door framing and reframe the entire area, right? Is there plumbing or electrical to deal with in this area or any tile that needs to be removed or altered? Did anyone actually look at the job or just quote you sight unseen?
^
This.
There's a right way and the wrong way. Apparently, the OP doesn't realize that there's more involved.
The main reason we aren't doing it ourselves is because I don't have the proper tools (miter saw, nail gun) and don't have a car big enough to get the drywall and lumber to the house (we have one car, a hatchback). Plus its worth it to me to pay someone $1000 to do it and not loose two weekends futzing around doing it. If all the contractors come back with 4-5k prices, I will certainly do it myself rather than pay that much.
The main reason we're doing this is because sounds travel all over the upstairs thanks to the open area above the shower connecting it to the toilet room. So any little tiny noise travels.
And while I know the "proper" way would be to rip the wall back another 2.5 feet and take out the pocket door framing, that isn't needed here as the only hardware is a metal track screwed into wood framing on the top. The plan is to unscrew it on the "open" side and cut it where the opening ends. No need to open the wall. We're going to reno the whole upstairs in 3-4 years anyway and at that point all the walls will come down. No sense in doing the same work twice.
Anyway, thanks for the knowledge everyone, in 20 years of home ownership I've never gotten these "stupid bids" before. But I guess proves the point that you should always shop around.
Why not invest in the tools and have your drywall supplier deliver?
Also, you'll need sound Batts to help stifle the noise. Opening up the wall into which the pocket door recedes will allow for more sound Batts in there, as opposed to a hollow void.
Sounds high, but they will charge what the market will bear. Also depends on the competitiveness of the area you live in, how many trades people vs. customers? I'd figure on anywhere from $50 to $100/hr, so maybe 2 days plus materials, $800 to $1600 labor then $500 in materials(?). So, high side around $2K? Did they give you an itemized estimate? How did they break it down?
Why not invest in the tools and have your drywall supplier deliver?
Also, you'll need sound Batts to help stifle the noise. Opening up the wall into which the pocket door recedes will allow for more sound Batts in there, as opposed to a hollow void.
Out of curiosity, is your house pre 1978?
Its a 1931 home, but the upstairs was completely renovated in the 80s, so everything up there is modern.
And to all: after more discussion we decided to cover over the small section above the shower ourselves and then just permanently close the door (with a couple of L brackets) then put in some additional trim (to fill the slight openings on the sides/top), then use it as an "accent" wall painted a different color. It'll be obvious what it is, but then we can put a dresser on the other side and just live with the door sealed off that way for a few years. 90% of the noise comes through the upper open side anyway.
Thanks for all the input, everyone!
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