I'm a Plumbing & Heating Contractor, and you can start by saving money on buying the fixtures and faucets on your own. But please keep in mind that you're responsible for any return trips for defective fixtures and faucets. I've found that online retailers are beating my price at the supply house for faucets, so you might want to start there. Stick with brand named faucets, and leave the $60.00 faucets on the shelf where they belong. Sticking with brand names will be beneficial to you for warranty issues down the road. You want your Plumber to be able to get parts for you if need be. Moving a toilet could be one of your biggest concerns (money wise) cause it might not be feasible. Venting comes into play, and so does the rest of your drain lines in the floor. It's not just a simple "Hey let's move the toilet over here"...there is a lot involved with that, so keep that in mind. Any licensed Plumber should tell you the same thing. However, 5" shouldn't be that much of a concern...but it could be. Shower Plumbing shouldn't be an issue at all, but keep in mind water lines are not allowed by any code to be on an outside wall if that's what you're thinking. Shower drain should be cut and dry. If you have copper in your home, keep in mind the price of copper is through the roof right now. Pex would be an alternative...and don't even think about CPVC...it's junk. If you have CPVC, you can adapt Pex if you want, but you can also stay with CPVC. Everything else you listed seems cut and dry. Good Luck on your project.

Take a look at her portfolio. If all the kitchens "sort of" look the same, is she designing for the homeowner or for herself? I've worked with several designers over the years, a few are exceptionally talented in that they can take the homeowners ideas and translate them into a working reality. Others seem to take the homeowners ideas and twist them and tweak them until they look like the designer's dream kitchen. I think the biggest thing is to know how you use your kitchen. What you love about it. What you hate about it. Everything from unloading groceries to adding the garnish to the plate prior to serving. I always try to think workflow. Are ingredients near prep areas. Are utensils/pots/pans/baking sheets near their respective areas of use. My idea is to not have to walk around one side of the island to get your silplat, than walk around the other side of the kitchen to get your rolling pin, then one cabinet for flour, yet another on the other side for baking powder, etc. Hot stuff. When you take something out of the oven can you turn around and place it on a counter? Or do you have to walk across the room before you find a temperature-safe surface. Wet areas versus dry areas? All the way to doing the dishes. Most righties prefer the dishwasher to be to the right of the sink. Then, once taking things out of the dishwasher, can you simply place things in an adjacent cabinet or will you have to walk all over the kitchen putting things away? I like putting the utensil drawer and the plate/glass cabinet/drawers in between the work area and the main eating table. That way someone setting the table doesn't intrude in the cooking zone. One thing my wife loves is that on our cooking island, the bank of drawers just to the right of the cooktop, I built a deep drawer and lined it with metal. She keeps all her cooking oils as well as a few other liquids in that drawer. Easy access when cooking, and the metal lining makes the drawer bullet...er...oil-proof. When out kids were young, anything they might need (cereal, for example) was in a pantry or cabinet outside of the cooking zone. One cook or two? Just adults or kids too? Can one person prep while another cooks without banging elbows? Aisle widths? I like 44-48" between an island and a run of cabinets. You can have a drawer/door open on one side and open a drawer/door on the other without banging doors. Or one person can be at the cooktop and another can pass behind without the person at the hot stove being distracted. The most basic advice I can think is to picture yourself in the kitchen. Envision unloading groceries. Think about food prep, how will you have to travel around the kitchen for typical meals? Will it be an efficient Point A, to B, to C? Or a tour of the countryside, going from Point A, to F, to L, to B? Think about cooking. Serving. Cleanup. I've had owners that wanted friends to be nearby so they could socialize while the owner cooked. I've had owners who insisted that there be a barrier of some sort so friends couldn't see them cook. Drawers versus doors? Our kitchen has all drawers for undercabinet storage. Fab-u-los-oh. For us at least. Electricity? Outlets in the backsplash or plugmold? If plugmold will you mind the dangling wires? Ventilation? If you have a mega-BTU cooktop you'll probably want overhead ventilation. How about appliances on top of the counter? Will you have any? Will they be in the open or in appliance cubbies/garages? Having a slicky-clean kitchen is nice, but if you're an everyday cook will you eventually tire of taking things in and out of appliance garages? I designed our countertops as 30" deep, so the lower drawers are 28" deep. Lots o' storage. Plus, with the 30" deep countertops, my wife can leave certain appliances out and still have working space in front of them. Different strokes for different folks. But having a convenient kitchen will make your space work with you instead of against you. All that typing, I think I worked up an appetite!

The payment schedule question is in #4 above in the SCHEDULE paragraph. When we talked about this wiht the contractors, I made sure that they knew that I expected a payment schedule with the bid. These are preliminary questions but they do set a tone of expectations. In fact one contractor said that from our meeting he knew which subcontractors he would put on our job because I'd be more interactive than some owners. Obviously I am early in the process and no expert, but I am hoping that this might help someone.

Hello I believe her question was to see if they should get estimates from architects or contractors. Of coarse an architect can provide you an estimate but most of the time it is completely off in left field. I can't tell you how many times we speak with homeowners and they show us their plans. The architect designs a $500k alteration when the homeowners budget is in the $300k range. Contact some reputable contractors. Get as many bids as you feel are necessary but 3-5 should be suffice. Contractors like myself have in house architects and will include the plans as part of the package. You can also contact an architect. More times than not, his plans will cost more than it would if you went with the contractor. You can read more on our blogs if you like: Here is a link that might be useful: Bergen County Contractors