Our project is off to a slow start - somewhat long story

16 years ago

I have only posted a few times and have yet to figure out how to post pictures but felt like sharing about the start of our kitchen renovation. After about two years of planning we signed a contract last Saturday for a renovation of our kitchen and master bath. The plan is to move the washer dryer from a closet in our very small and busy kitchen upstairs into space taken from our master bath. We had a huge whirlpool tub we never used so we are using the space for a laundry closet.

We did the demo ourselves to save some money. When we knocked a hole in our soffits(several weeks ago) we found what looked like all of the plumbing for our upstairs(just my luck). When we showed it to our contractor he said that although it was alot of plumbing it could all be relocated into the walls or ceiling so we could have cabinets to the ceiling. Based on this assessment we went ahead and signed the contract and demolished the rest of our kitchen.

Well two days ago his crew came to start on framing and in the process changed wall sizes and door openings in ways we had not planned but that the contractor said were needed for the plumber who was coming today. I said yes to all the changes(what else could I do).

Today the plumber came and about half way through the day was saying things like "this is impossible" and "it can't be done". He called our contractor who came over to see what the deal was. Meanwhile I am just standing there thinking about all of my plans being changed and wondering what it might mean financially if the plumbing is much harder that they figured it would be. Add to it that the plumber disconnected all of our upstairs water so no showers at home for the third day.

At the end of the afternoon it seemed like they had a new plan to try to get the plumbing rerouted tomorrow and Monday. The plan sounded very involved and not even certain. I am scared and am thinking I should have kept the old kitchen or just moved to another house.

Anyway I just wanted to vent and knew the folks here would understand how this feels.

I am hoping for better things tomorrow!

Comments (4)

debbie_2008
16 years ago
WOW, I would be livid! The contractor should KNOW the plumbing could be moved and should the costs his plumber would charge. I assume this is a plumber sent to your home by him? I'm sure it can be done, but who knows how long and how much. Good Luck
Buehl
16 years ago
I'm so sorry you're going through this uncertainty and stress.

I would wait another day or two to see what they come up with...but I would ask to know how much it's going to cost if they have to do some creative plumbing. Red flags go up when I hear a plumber or contractor say "impossible" and "can't be done" since that's what I was told for our venting issue which also involved moving some plumbing.

Don't accept that it's impossible. If they come back with an outrageous figure, then bring another plumber, unaffiliated with your contractor and current plumber, in to give you his opinion & estimate. Sometimes they just don't want the hassle the job will require and sometimes it's a matter of lack of imagination/creativity (or, "thinking outside the box").

If it turns out it's going to be too expensive...you might consider hiding the plumbing inside the top portions of your wall cabinets and, if there's any wall space not covered by cabinets, build a mini-soffit b/w the wall cabinets you do have. The mini-soffit may not need to be quite as deep as the original...maybe only a few inches....if you can hide the bulk of the plumbing behind the cabinets.

Good luck!

HTH!
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weissman
16 years ago
What does your contract say? Is the plumbing relocation part of the contract? How is it priced? If it's fixed price then they'll have to eat the additional expense, not you. Good luck.
bethlcsw
Original Author
16 years ago
Well the good news is that the plumbers showed up bright and early today to try to get started on the re-working. They soon discovered they needed a part or something and have headed to Lowes so who knows when they will be back.

To give a bit more detail : When we saw the plumbing initially in the soffits a few weeks back we were alarmed. The contract was re-worded to include relocating a whole bunch of plumbing but to be honest plumbing terms are like Greek to us so we were still concerned. We cut several more holes (large ones) and had the contractor come over and look in them and say that what he was seeing was covered in the price he had quoted us. We actually did this 2 or 3 times before signing the contract just to be sure he saw all that needed to be done. He also had the plumber(the same one who is doing the work) come look at it before we signed the contract.

However there is some wording in the conrtact that says that if plumbing issues are discovered that could not be viewed through the holes it could result in increased charges. This wording is what now scares me and now sounds too vague. I guess I will have to wait and see how today goes.

When they were looking at it and the contractor came over to help solve the problems yesterday he made no mention to us about it costing us more but we didn't ask either. I was afraid to open up the possibility with him.

By the way, they are already back. That was the shortest trip to Lowes I have experienced. I hope they got what they needed.

Here we go!

Our project is off to a slow start - somewhat long story

Comments (4)

debbie_2008

Buehl

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Our project is off to a slow start - somewhat long story

Comments (4)

debbie_2008

Buehl

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bethlcswOriginal Author

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