Suggestions for bathroom contractors... (Pittsburgh: rental, house, construction)

[eschaton]

Hey all,

We've redone just about everything inside our house since moving here in 2007 except for our bathroom, which has been on our to do list for several years now. We need a complete gut and remodeling - nothing in the existing bathroom is worth saving. We also have heating problems in our bathroom, which is always twenty degrees colder than the rest of the house in the winter, and have a "dressing room" area when you head into the bathroom that we want turned into a closet.

We've tried looking for contractors for the last few months more seriously. One was very highly rated on Angies List (Bathroom Solutions), but he didn't send us the right bid, didn't include a lot of elements (like fixtures), and ultimately didn't want the job after it took us a month to get back to him. The latest one we went to seemed very professional, but we had sticker shock when the price came in - $36,000 for the cheapest remodeling option! We bought the house for $53,000, and although we expect to sell it for somewhere between two and three times that price, this seems a little high to us given the size of the house. So a more affordable bid is needed. Any suggestions for something below this, but above "builder's special" levels would be much appreciated.

[SlurmsMcKenzie]

Posted in a thread a few days ago about Commonwealth Remodeling. I had them replace the subfloor and flooring in a rental and was quite happy with their work.

[luabear]

We recently used Mabro in Regent Square to do a bathroom addition (converting a walk in closet into a bathroom). I can not say enough good things about them. We are very happy with the work and the bathroom is beautiful! I highly recommend them!

[Goodjules]

I am getting bids to renovate my kitchen, a bathroom, and a bunch of other things from the following contractors:

Commonwealth Remodeling
Rick Horn Construction
J&B Remodeling
Erik Wingard Contracting
JP Sipes*

I have not done work with any of them before. None of them did anything at our initial meetings to turn me off. But I did think some were more thorough than others. Once I get bids I'll let you know how their pricing is. All got excellent reviews on Angie's List. I'm also going to ask for references and to see completed work and job sites.

How detailed their bids are is really important to me. I worked at a company that gave extremely detailed estimates so I'm a bit of a stickler. I want to know what I'm paying for and I want to be able to compare apples to apples.

* Haven't met with them yet.

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Hey all,

We've redone just about everything inside our house.

I'm in a similar situation. Had a budget of around 20k for a bathroom remodel. Basically we have a storage room/wasted space that acted as a small second floor kitchen when the house was a duplex, a very small bathroom adjacent to it, and a wall between the two that needs to come out.

My wife didn't believe me when I told her that I was worried about the cost of having the project done by a contractor, or that our budget was likely insufficient. I realized that it would be cheaper for me to quit my job and do the whole thing myself for under 10k than it would be to contract it out. Right now I'm repointing the brick in the bathroom before I frame the walls, drywall, relocate the sink, and take out the wall seperating the two. I've given myself about a month to get it done.

[robrobrob]

Originally Posted by juliegt

I am getting bids to renovate my kitchen, a bathroom, and a bunch of other things from the following contractors:

Commonwealth Remodeling
Rick Horn Construction
J&B Remodeling
Erik Wingard Contracting
JP Sipes*

I have not done work with any of them before. None of them did anything at our initial meetings to turn me off. But I did think some were more thorough than others. Once I get bids I'll let you know how their pricing is. All got excellent reviews on Angie's List. I'm also going to ask for references and to see completed work and job sites.

How detailed their bids are is really important to me. I worked at a company that gave extremely detailed estimates so I'm a bit of a stickler. I want to know what I'm paying for and I want to be able to compare apples to apples.

* Haven't met with them yet.

We used the same guy for a few projects, kitchen, recessed lighting, deck, converting a window to a sliding glass door, and knocking a few walls down. We also have found another guy that likes smaller jobs. Anyway, we trust both guys and both have done work for a bunch of friends too. The way they do it is to charge for time and materials. So, we never ask for a detailed estimate. Both guys give us a ball park estimate on time. Our main contractor took our kitchen down to studs (floor, walls and ceiling), knocked a wall down and enlarged an opening in load bearing wall and rewired the whole thing and was done in 9 days. It is amazing what 3 guys can do in a week. The coutertop was the hold up.

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Q-tip motha

My wife didn't believe me when I told her that I was worried about the cost of having the project done by a contractor, or that our budget was likely insufficient. I realized that it would be cheaper for me to quit my job and do the whole thing myself for under 10k than it would be to contract it out. Right now I'm repointing the brick in the bathroom before I frame the walls, drywall, relocate the sink, and take out the wall seperating the two. I've given myself about a month to get it done.

We've done the semi-DIY thing before. For our kitchen, we put in the floor and hung the cabinets ourselves, and only used outside contractors for plastering, plumbing, electricity, and the counter-top. For our attic we didn't use a GC, and I did all the initial demo myself.

That said, we're not in the situation where we can do this now because:

1. We have a three year old (and another on the way)
2. It's our only bathroom minus a Pittsburgh potty in the basement. We can get showers at the gym, but I want it out of commission for as little time as possible.

[XRiteMA98]

I have a guy who is thorough and will do everything you need and dream but he is not cheap. He will convince you why he is not cheap. If you want his name and nb please PM me. I have his card at work.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by eschaton

We've done the semi-DIY thing before. For our kitchen, we put in the floor and hung the cabinets ourselves, and only used outside contractors for plastering, plumbing, electricity, and the counter-top. For our attic we didn't use a GC, and I did all the initial demo myself.

That said, we're not in the situation where we can do this now because:

1. We have a three year old (and another on the way)
2. It's our only bathroom minus a Pittsburgh potty in the basement. We can get showers at the gym, but I want it out of commission for as little time as possible.

Is turning the Pittsburgh Potty into an actual (half) bathroom first a possibility? Some walls, ceiling, sink, and flooring could make it pretty usable and might add a little to resale value.

[Q-tip motha]

Originally Posted by eschaton

We've done the semi-DIY thing before. For our kitchen, we put in the floor and hung the cabinets ourselves, and only used outside contractors for plastering, plumbing, electricity, and the counter-top. For our attic we didn't use a GC, and I did all the initial demo myself.

That said, we're not in the situation where we can do this now because:

1. We have a three year old (and another on the way)
2. It's our only bathroom minus a Pittsburgh potty in the basement. We can get showers at the gym, but I want it out of commission for as little time as possible.

We seem to have similar life experiences in this dept. Did my kitchen myself save for the gas line, electric, and the flooring. Same situation with the bathroom. Millworker shower/bath in the basement, only other bath is the one I'm working on, and we have a 1yr old. The difference in our circumstances is that I had the mis/good fortune of gutting the thing completely save for the floor and the facilities 2 years ago, and its been some kind of horror room (or as we like to call it "in transition") ever since. If I hadn't done that and cleaned up the majority of the mess already I probably would've had to contract the work out as well.