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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!
I wouldn't doubt the 4-5 day period. Assuming your having them texture it, I'm no expert in this area but if you want it to look nice its a couple days just because of the drying period.
The 4-5 grand price tag is high. I would call them out on it. A lot of guys will throw an astronomical number out there when they are busy and don't have time for the extra work. If they don't get it, it's not a worry, but if they do get it, you bet your buns they'll take it.
Does part of the cost include the contractor removing the debris and disposing of it (including the old door)? They'll add a charge for you, even for that. If you can do the clean up yourselves, you might save a little that way.
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!
Those guys can stay in business because they most likely have plenty of work thats why they quote high prices now. There is plenty of work out there but an extreme shortage of skilled trade,workers due to the aging workforce and,no replacements coming in. Kids are only taught to go to college and a lot of them are afraid of hard work.
If you think it costs alot now wait until you see prices in about 20 years.
You're not a very good project manager. You get one bump in the road and your objective suddenly changes from patching the wall to vilifying a company's business practices. Shop around if they don't tell you what you want to hear, that's what everybody else does.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eightbitguy
Also feel free to post your own outrageous contractor quotes!
Sympathetic stories aren't going to get your wall patched so turn off the computer...you have contractors to call.
I wouldn't doubt the 4-5 day period. Assuming your having them texture it, I'm no expert in this area but if you want it to look nice its a couple days just because of the drying period.
The 4-5 grand price tag is high. I would call them out on it. A lot of guys will throw an astronomical number out there when they are busy and don't have time for the extra work. If they don't get it, it's not a worry, but if they do get it, you bet your buns they'll take it.
Would advise getting at least 3 bids.
No texture, just bare drywall. We'll be doing the finishing and trim work ourselves.
And I do have two other contractors that I've contacted, I just don't expect them to get back to me till monday or tuesday.
Does part of the cost include the contractor removing the debris and disposing of it (including the old door)? They'll add a charge for you, even for that. If you can do the clean up yourselves, you might save a little that way.
Nope, we will be demoing the door and taking the debris to the dump.
You're not a very good project manager. You get one bump in the road and your objective suddenly changes from patching the wall to vilifying a company's business practices. Shop around if they don't tell you what you want to hear, that's what everybody else does.
Sympathetic stories aren't going to get your wall patched so turn off the computer...you have contractors to call.
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.
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