Too cheap for them to be putting all of those cabinets together and do all of that drywall repair/painting from electrical disruption. Plumbing is way cheap too. Backsplash as labor only, for a fairly straight subway is OK, if the drywall quote includes flattening out the walls instead of the tiler. Where’s the flooring quote? What kind of prep work has to be done for that choice?

All in all, it’s about 5-7K light for you’be actually described. And it’s missing 10K at least for things that will be needed. Plus the appliances, and appliance electrical, plumbing, and installations. Of which the electrical and plumbing is the biggest question. Appliances could be 10K, or 40K. And could demand a whole electrical panel upgrade, or just a new dedicated line. Or, just a slight shift in location.

I’d be pretty leery of this Scope of Work moving forward. Especially since it seems that there isn’t much review of specs of products and their requirements being considered. And things that you need are missing. Seems more of a handyman out of his depth than a real GC doing the quote here.

Hi Sophie - I was hoping you would chime in :) My husband is quite handy, so we will be doing the drywall repair from the electrical (he's done it plenty of times in the house before without issue). I agree the plumbing is cheap, and technically what he's spec'ing there is just an allowance. There's no flooring quote as we're keeping the floors as is.

We already have the appliances picked out and are paying for those separately. They will be installing the range hood, range, and refrigerator, whereas my husband will be installing the dishwasher (which he installed once before). You make a good point regarding the electrical panel upgrade, so I will be sure to consult our electrician on that prior to moving forward.

Before we put a signature on it, it sounds as if we need to be crystal clear with the KD about what the expectations are and whether or not these costs are reasonable (or likely to skyrocket once we figure out what "really" needs to be done).

Thanks again for your input; I greatly appreciate your expertise!

Doing drywall DIY is a waste of human capital. A Oro can do it better and faster. Plus, it’s a hateful job. Make that part of the Pro’s work.

The flooring had better be in stellar shape, and very well protected. Which brings up something else missing from the project. Dust control and finishes protection. That’s a MUST. I’d trade the drywall in for DIYing that. Zip walls and plastic everywhere. Ram board and cardboard. Cheap filters on the air intakes, and the ones in the kitchen takes off. HEPA scrubber during the messy parts creating a negative pressure in the room so nothing escapes.

Lol good to know re: drywall. The last thing my husband and I need in our house is more hateful jobs.

The flooring is random width mahogany, and I'm pretty sure my husband would eviscerate me if we removed it. It is truly unlike any other flooring I've seen (we have it throughout our entire downstairs), so needless to say it's staying and will absolutely require protection. Do you have recommendations for where we could go to get the basics you mentioned (zip walls, ram board, cardboard, etc)? Also, good call on the HEPA creating a negative pressure in the room. Will need to look into that, as well.

Just want to chime in I agree with Sophie on the drywall. I am currently redoing my own kitchen from the foundation up completely on my own, the materials alone are over 80k for a kitchen a bit smaller than yours. Literally the only job out of this whole process I will never do again is drywall! Whatever thousands I saved was not worth my time and frustration. Good luck!!

catinthehat - Thanks for your comment and insight! Out of curiosity, did you have to drywall full sections of the wall or just patches in the wall/ceiling? I'm not anticipating large portions of the kitchen needing to be drywalled (which may be ignorant of me), as we are not completely gutting the kitchen, but rather replacing the cabinets with new ones and removing the soffits above them. In our case, I imagine drywalling where the soffits once were will be our biggest hurdle, though I'm not sure how much of a hurdle that will actually be...

My master bath cost 20k more than your quote. It seems way too good to be true. My smaller kitchen quotes with keeping plumbing and gas in place start at 80k and go up substantially with inset cabinets. I am in a high cost of living area, CT outside of NYC.

Hi there,

I had to do both. Everything from 4x12 sheets to small patches in areas where electrical was modified but the wall did not need to be ripped out. I’ll be honest it took me as much time if not more to patch those smaller areas compared to the large sheets. If I was forced to do drywall for a living it would be new construction only. The main issue is feathering out the drywall compound enough so it seamlessly matches the remainder of the existing wall. Not only that, it has to be feathered in just the right way so the inevitable bulge does not mess with any of the features in your kitchen that require a flat point of reference. Feathering, sanding, squinting, and repeat over and over. It is truly an art, I know I spent at least 3x longer than a true professional would have. I would rather go in my attic and rerun the 2000 feet of wire needed as part of the remodel in the summer than do drywall again =)

43K? Wow that is low. Is that the only bid you have gotten? I agree with the above, look over your contract with a fine tooth comb. Study every details and specify an end date. You don't want them doing your kitchen on weekends after their regular job. You want them to have the means and crew to finish this in a timely manner so you will not be disrupted. And in your contract plan for the unexpected. Wiring or plumbing that has be replaced or that may need to be changed, asbestos, delays,... And research your KD and or GC. Make sure they are a partner in your project and someone you can trust. I am in the middle of it and some days it is challenging. There are definitely some things I would do differently.

what to expect when renovating

An inset door design of any kind is never a "lower end" cabinet, and your drawers are smaller than with an overlay cabinet. Not knowing you layout or what you've picked in terms of add-ons, vetting the price for you is impossible.

catinthehat - thanks for providing such a detailed response. I can see how the feathering process could be excruciating (particularly for people like me and my husband, who are perfectionists and love to nitpick). We will take into serious account your and Sophie's suggestions about outsourcing that part of the work

roarah/boxerpal - we are definitely not in a major metropolitan area, though we're not super rural either. The KD comes highly recommended to us, and it's been a pleasure working with them so far. As I mentioned, the prior quote is really just for the cabinets, counters, and labor to install both. We are not gutting the kitchen, knocking down walls, or rearranging the space. It's essentially a cosmetic upgrade, but I can understand those can be pricey regardless. I suppose part of my question was in response to a prior search on this forum for full kitchen renovation estimates, many of which were falling under $40k. Considering the proposal doesn't add in the cost of $$ things like the range, fridge, hood, hardware, faucets, etc., I just wanted to gauge whether it was in keeping with other's experiences. I will absolutely be going through the contract with a fine-toothed comb, and excellent point about expecting the unexpected. That has been the motto of our house since we moved in :)

Carolina K&B - I should clarify that I wasn't insinuating the cabinets themselves are "lower end", as much as the cabinet face style was one of the cheaper styles offered (i.e., didn't have applied moldings, raised panels, etc)

regarding DIY drywall... I drywalled one entire wall in my first home myself just fine. When my husband and I did a kitchen reno in our first home I confidently assumed I could easily patch up the walls. No, no, no! What a mess I made! Patching small holes? Sure I can. Installing a complete single wall? Maybe. Patching up ceiling changes and the like? No way!

What I was trying to get across (inartfully) is that the difference between the inexpensive door and the most expensive door isn't going to equal a hill of beans in terms of the overall cost. Compared to the rest of the cost, it will be like ordering an extra side at a restaurant. If the cabinets seem to take up too much of the budget, consider going with an overlay door unless you have a particular look you're trying for.

Often, if walls are significantly out of plane, or damaged by electrical runs, it makes more sense to remove the existing drywall and shim/sister the studs, and rehang new. It depends on the house. Take a long straight edge and find the high and low spots in the floors and the ceilings both. Then the high and low spots on the wall. It's better to use that knowledge on the front in to design a response to the issues, than it is to find out in the middle of the installation, and have to brainstorm a fix and endure a delay.

I too think that the quote it low for the level of inset from Conestoga. They do great cabinets, but they aren't the cam lock snap together type of assembly. Inset is much harder to design with, install, and own. Be sure that it really suits your house too. Too many people aspire to inset, without really thinking through if the extra expense and fussiness even suits their homes.

Be sure that your designer is providing your contractor with enough diagrams and specifications that he is giving you an accurate bid. I have a whole Idea Book devoted to some of the jobsite Design Bible that I create for reference for all trades on site. It includes everything from appliance specs for electrical locations, to the paint color and sheen, to any installer notes for the cabinets, to tile pattern and grout choice for the tile along with it's specs. That shared communication is how you get a good bid from a contractor, and it's how things stay mostly on track.

The Cook's Kitchen, I don't mean to hijack the thread-but I read every response with great interest, and I wanted to ask, why inset cabinets are harder to own?

(no, I don't have them even though I wanted to..aesthetically speaking. Maybe that's why I don't know about using them either-I didn't even ask the cabinetmaker about them, highly suspecting it'll bring the price up, in our case. So, it's a whole new aspect I've never thought of)

Yeah, who's assembling the cabinets? I'd say it's very (emphasis on very) reasonable for framed cabs delivered assembled from the factory. Especially considering what's excluded.

Ditto on the comments about DIYing the drywall. Make sure they have a good drywall team, tho. I've paid good money for bad drywall work before.

Thank you for the amazing detailed answer

Are you acting as your own GC or will the KD be working as a GC? What about schedule, change orders and cost overruns on allowances--are they handled in the contract?

A new kitchen under 50k is a deal.

I'd guess they end up closer to $60K when all is said and done.