Basement Remodel (not costing too much)

[n1ey]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Absolutely, I have trouble finding a handyman for small jobs at my mothers house rather frequently.

How much are fellows asking you when you look to clean her gutters? I am shocked. They won't even come for less than $500 for a basic ranch.

Bill

[QuilterChick]

Originally Posted by n1ey

How much are fellows asking you when you look to clean her gutters? I am shocked. They won't even come for less than $500 for a basic ranch.

Bill

Sounds like they don't want the job if that is their price for a basic ranch. $500 is nuts. My handyman does the gutters when he power washes the house. $175 for all once a year. Move south lady, move south.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by EmilyFoxSeaton

This is one of the biggest problems. At this point I get blown off by almost everyone i call. That has been the same since i moved in. One reason I went to the designer.

Occasionally, for smaller jobs when I'm having trouble getting a call back I've turned to larger handyman services like Mr. Handyman. They probably charge twice as much but they call back. So, you can either have cheap or great service. Take your pick.

Originally Posted by n1ey

How much are fellows asking you when you look to clean her gutters? I am shocked. They won't even come for less than $500 for a basic ranch.

Bill

Seriously? I pay less than $100 to have my gutters cleaned and on one end of my house the gutters are way up there.

[Arya Stark]

So I went to "home advisor" and put the job out for bid. I also contacted about 10 businesses. Unfortunately I haven't heard a thing. I am considering just doing it myself and leaving the lay out as it is. I don't LOVE the lay out but, if I were able to make the place look finished I think I could count it as space for resale purposes and not spend a ton of money to make it. I might call out Mr. Handman (I Have used them and liked them) for the problems that I run into or mess up.

[alidmc]

It's a busy time of year for contractors. If you can wait a bit, you might have better luck. I reached out to a handyman to take down some wallpaper for me and never heard back. I can only imagine that he is booked up with people who are getting their houses ready to sell in the spring.

[bugelrex]

Doing it yourself has some pitfalls

Since you are concerned about resale, the buyers may notice it wasn't done to code. They may request credit to bring to code or require you bring to code before sale

You mentioned the basement is dry, but you have to ensure condensation and moisture doesn't build up where cold meets warm. This is one thing I wouldnt dare to DIY if I wasn't experienced. You could turn your basement into a mold nightmare

[johngolf]

Originally Posted by EmilyFoxSeaton

So I went to "home advisor" and put the job out for bid. I also contacted about 10 businesses. Unfortunately I haven't heard a thing. I am considering just doing it myself and leaving the lay out as it is. I don't LOVE the lay out but, if I were able to make the place look finished I think I could count it as space for resale purposes and not spend a ton of money to make it. I might call out Mr. Handman (I Have used them and liked them) for the problems that I run into or mess up.

Call Mr. Handyman for an estimate.

[Arya Stark]

Originally Posted by bugelrex

Doing it yourself has some pitfalls
Since you are concerned about resale, the buyers may notice it wasn't done to code. They may request credit to bring to code or require you bring to code before sale

Well I am assuming that would have been caught on my inspection. I don't plan on doing anything myself that would be complex. Just take the footprint I have there and now and do the best with it. Paint, add flooring, keep the foot print (even though I dislike it) and use Mr. Handyman for any of the real troubling parts. Such as I dislike the ceiling.

I have been basically reaching out to people for like 3 years. I am a bit hesitant on Mr. Handyman. I have used them in the past and I get the feeling if you call and say "can he or she do this or that" they say yes.. no matter what. I don't want to give them anything more than discrete relatively easy jobs.

[Arya Stark]

So I finally got some people to come out.

Contractor A: Handyman / carpenter. About 70+ and, my first impression... addled. Almost every time I have someone out they tend to be old. I guess they have the time on their hands. At this point I have SUPER dumbed down and minimized the project and every single time it seems like people can't understand me. I just want a wall moved back. Is that so hard? In the middle of speaking he seemed to think that I wanted to replace my ceiling but -- the ceiling wouldn't match. So why would I do that?

At this moment I don't think he will get the job.

Contractor B: Home improvement guy. About 60, my first impression... much better. He did seem to get the project and seemed to be able to converse naturally about it. He also seemed to get that I didn't want to spend 100K on a small alteration. He seemed to have common sense. He seems much better.

Anyone have any thoughts on what it should cost?