Guessing kitchen demo, replumbing and rewiring was about $3,500. All new plumbing and new wiring. Outlets carefully placed for electric micro/oven combo, cooktop, stove vent, water purifying system, appliances and extra outlets inside the appliance garage.
Appliances total cost for Fisher Paykel panel refrigerator, Fisher Paykel double drawer dishwasher panel ready, KitchenAid micro/oven, Bosch 36" gas cooktop was about $11,000 after tax and delivery.
Big splurge was the fancy range hood which is going to be about $2,300 with the mechanical vent included
Kitchen cabinets custom made and painted, including natural maple refrigerator area, delivered and installed about $17,500
Probably another $5,000 for quartz countertops, sink, faucet, lighting and appliance installation
Does not include new flooring
So, now I know how people can spend $35,000 for a new kitchen
Good question on front curb appeal. I wanted to work hard to give this box some curb appeal. The front is going to have a big porch overhang with a hanging light and deck that goes over to the left in front of dining room. With wide stairs in front to a new walkway from sidewalk.
We started to build it and realized that we cannot build the front porch until the stucco is complete on the house. We cannot build the extremely complex exterior stairs up to rooftop deck until stucco is complete either because it butts up to the house. So, for now, we have to go up a steep ladder inside to get to the rooftop deck to continue to work on it
We passed all our major inspections last week. It was brutal trying to get everything done. Rough Plumbing, Rough Electrical, Framing, Roof Nailing, Deck Nailing, Gas Pressure, HVAC Installation, Bathtub and Shower drain test. We also had to fill all the ABS pipes from the vents on roof. Of course, as soon as there was pressure in the vent lines we discovered a big leak in old plumbing that was in the kitchen from original house.
I’m not sure if I mentioned this but the owner wants a fully sound proofed house. I explained that we can do everything possible but the large windows will be the failure point. We ordered the windows with a thicker outer piece of glass, but there’s a lot of glass in the house upstairs. I’m not going to go into details, but it will be about $8,000 extra and a lot of work for everything she wants. We are following some guidelines that someone told her about for building music studios!!!
It took us 5 days x 3 guys to get the house fully insulated. We are using Rockwool Safe N Sound and special order Rockwool R30 in ceilings with acoustic putty around every exterior opening (outlets, lights, etc), hot water pipes insulated, some green soundproof caulk stuff and a layer of mass loaded vinyl stuff in attic. We passed insulation inspection on Wednesday and we are already 50% done with 5/8 drywall installation everywhere. The exterior is getting the black paper and chicken wire, the roof deck is completely built, 25% done with the special deck proofing stuff on the balcony, exterior landings and roof deck.
Today we are driving around tile stores because she has got to make some final decisions on tile and color of master bath vanities.
I loaded a couple of pictures
Budget is at $200k to date and I estimate another $90k to finish the house. The construction is running about $25k over original estimate and she is running at least $50k over her owner budget
She is still going to hear noise from the outside…sorry but she is. Most recording studios I have been in (and I’ve been in more than a few) have no exterior windows at all in the actual recording space.
The soundproofing is likely to deal with being almost right under the flight path rather than street noise. That still won’t help on the roof deck! We’re about a mile further away and the noise is noticeable although not disruptive. We do occasionally have to observe the “OB Pause” when talking outside.
I’m pretty smug and feeling good about my 10% overage with all the curveballs thrown at us. At least 1 to 2% of that is because the house was so full of termite damage and completely out of square under the covers. The front of the house was lower than back of house because back was an 80s addition. Lots of shimming and adjusting to get everything raised to 9ft evenly before we could start building 2nd floor.
The owner, however is way out of budget and still going. She wants a whole house water purifier system, she wants dual zone 96% efficiency HVAC with air conditioning, she wants dual tankless water heaters, custom railings on the balconies and roof deck and on and on. Luckily, I made clear that all those types of things were outside of the original estimate because you never know what people want.
Her biggest problem is distraction. She gets sucked in by ‘on sale’ emails daily. Yesterday she sent a laundry floor mat on sale. “Did I think it would work in her laundry room?” Really??? You cannot even decide on your bathroom cabinets which are holding up the schedule and you want to buy floor mats??? Where is that dang floor mat going to be stored while we finish building the house??
My new rule, which is being enforced gently, is anything she orders that is not for immediate install has to go to her rental apt until needed. Mostly because if anything is delivered after 4pm it is promptly stolen off porch
I confess that sounds like me. At least the thinking of ordering stuff that’s on sale at too good to pass up prices. In my case, they’re for a house on which our builder has yet to pour the foundation.
On the other hand, no one has had to wait on any decisions from me about the 1001 selections required. If anything, I’ve been pushing for the builder to order certain things early due to supply chain problems. His plumbing supplier didn’t take it seriously and weeks after I okay’d the “final” selections found out that some items were discontinued by a major manufacturer in the time between my sign off and the time the order was finally placed. Since the house is being built on slab on grade, it’s pretty important to know where to rough in the plumbing. Days of frantic searching eventually resulted in replacements that won’t require the plans to be modified.
We’ve offered several times to rent a conditioned storage facility within 5 miles of where the house is being built. I think the builder may finally agree that makes sense.
Coralbrook, I hope your homeowner will get her act together. I think you’ve been more than patient. Maybe it’s time to tell her that she has X days to finalize all selections or you will either have to make them for her or charge her $$$/day extra for the delay.
Geez, today she sends me a link to a lighted make up mirror she wants installed above vanity. I told her 3 weeks ago she needs a battery operated one or tell me now because all electrical is done and inspected and walls are getting closed up. Of course she now wants this special one that is hard wired. This requires opening up a tall piece of drywall, stealing electricity from an outlet, which we should not do, drilling through studs to run wire and then patching all the drywall. At this point I’m putting a price tag on everything. $200 if you need to rewire for this mirror
FWIW when we custom built our house years ago, our builder had a change fee for every request that came in after a certain date. He would give ample warning about deadlines for decisions, like you have done. After that it was an auto fee on top of all the labor costs and potential delays. I wish I could remember the amount. It was enough that people thought twice about even asking.
[quote=“coralbrook, post:258, topic:2101220”]
At this point I’m putting a price tag on everything
[/quote] - As you should!
When we built our house in 1993, the builder (a firm, which had a few houses in progress) had a $100 change fee. That was on top of the parts/labor cost of the change. But it was good because there was a nice paper trail, no confusion.
