Interior designer before a general contractor to compare GC prices?
6 years ago
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- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years agomamaandsage thanked Zalco/bring back Sophie!
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Kitchen Designers/General Contractors not getting back with me
Comments (22)Adrienne, First I wanted to put in a mini-apology because when I reread my post this morning it read as more "attackish" then I wanted it to. My only excuse is that I had a longer day then I had thought and this is a sore point with me. It is SO true that I don't want to deal with annoying people. Lol! I am an independant contractor so in essence I am my own business. I don't sell cabinets, or make a profit off of someone else's time like a GC does. I rent my time on an hourly basis. When we talk about the making money side of things (why don't they want to make the money) it's not that we don't want the money, or even that we won't make the money, it's that we think our time is better spent making the money somewhere else. I only have a certain amount of hours in a day. If my goal is to work/charge for 8 hours in a day and I have two jobs available to me for that same time frame I'll take the job I'm more interested in and people are definitely a deciding factor. With something like an appliance salesmen the question may be why doesn't he want the money because it doesn't require anything more of him to get that second sale while with someone who sells their time it means late nights and working weekends. If I size up a situation and think that for whatever reason the job will end up costing me more than I'd get paid for (or would be frustrating or would take forever or etc) then I'll just take the second project. I can only sell my time once! I don't know if I've ever actually said "you smell" to a client, but I have definitely had things like unsanitary conditions play a role in if I want to move forward with a job. It's helpfull to know that I specialize in working with small budgets and often work giving advice to DIY. That's what I enjoy doing. And that entails spending a lot of time with the clients and often at their home. If I go to the home and they are heavy smokers so the house reeks and they have three big dogs that they can't keep off me and they keep talking about the neighborhood going to hell because of a mexican family moving in next door (true stories) I say things like "I don't feel like we are a good match. I don't particularly like dogs, the lingering smoke smell is bothering my allergies and I don't know what to say about the Mexicans. With these things in mind I would certainly give you a referral to another designer if you like and of course, I won't charge you for this visit." Something like that. I do try and be polite but I also want to be honest. Maybe when the next designer comes over they will put away the dogs and air the house out. I DO work with people I don't particularly like. As long as I feel like we have similar goals and values that's where I am at. But often, the reasons you might not like someone are reasons that seriously affect working together on something as intense as a full kitchen remodel. For instance, someone who is disorganized to a fault but still wants to be their own GC, someone with no construction understanding or background who demonstrates an unwillingness to listen to the GC, someone who complains at the quotation of your pricing (not a bill but the up front quote of amount per hour). None of these things make someone a bad person and if the job is interesting and we agree on other levels we may still move forward. But if you combine them together you get a project that is going to take forever, be painfull to execute, and I'll be stiffed somewhere along the way for my fee. In the same way you don't want your remodel to be a horrible process where everything that can go wrong, does go wrong, I don't want that either. I get very invested in the jobs I do. You don't want to start a job with a weirdo designer or a nut job GC and I don't want to start one with a nut job GC and a crazy person for a client. Somewhere a GC is thinking "that dang weirdo designer and crazy person client". A good remodel is a team effort! A bunch of us stuck in a life raft together until the thing is over. In sum, when you panic at 6:15 in the morning because you had second thoughts about your faucet and the guy is unloading the tools to start drilling your counter holes I want to laugh and say good morning! Not think to myself, why did I get into this mess!...See MoreAttention: general contractor, kitchen design, or counter top experts
Comments (8)These questions can't be answered. #1 and #2 - these are largely affected by regional tastes and regional economies. These two question can't be answered the way you've worded them. You will get a different answer in Chicago, in Miami, in Boston, etc., and those are big cities. You will get a different answer in, e.g., rural Illinois than in Chicago, etc. #3 - so subjective, it too can't be answered. Not only depends on regional differences, differences in lifestyles, and also each individual household and how they treat their counters - how they are being cleaned, how often and hard the kitchen is used, etc. #4 Again regional, subjective, who can tell. You also don't account for differences within the same material. For example, granite - there are thousands; some are completely non-porous and never need sealing and totally tough, while others are more porous and need more care. Soapstone - some are very soft, and chip more easily, some are harder. Butcher block - maple? walnut? is the user conditioning it or not? Is the user cutting on it or not? Quartz and other manmade material counters - same thing, there is variation not only in production, but in how each household uses it. Your questions don't take into account the individual perceptions of the counter owner. For example, people have soapstone counters that may chip. Bothers some owners so they sand the chips out; other owners don't notice the chips or don't care. Same thing with marble - some are bothered by etching, others look at it as patina. You would be better served by asking about a specific countertop you are interested in, and describe your household - how many, cooking a lot or not, are you the careful type or not, etc....See MoreArchitect vs general contractor vs interior designer?
Comments (17)General contractor is a given..the rest-it largely depends on you-your funds, confidence what you can/cannot do, resilience, time and energy you can devote, etc. (And experience and passion of your contractor. He won't pick your finishes of course; but he might have an idea to put a window instead of a door for example or some other thing you didn't think of by yourself. Brainstorming is part of the process) we pulled off gut remodel plus addition plus reconfiguring stuff with the help of GC only but I'd say I longed to have a designer not once..would be easier. it's a very trying experience, long as well, you want more professional people by your side. It doesn't get done by itself-and it's a full time job, if nobody undertakes it, you do. So by all means either contact a designer, or maybe look at design-build firms. Just make sure you have a good chemistry with that person. Important with everybody of course, builder as well. You'll spend hours with these people..days..months..hopefully not years but can happen:) Minimize stuff that can go wrong by choosing right people. Some things will go wrong but the better your relationship is the more chance in overcoming obstacles. Architect, I'm not sure you need..your builder may advise with structural engineer if needed for that to be removed wall "Understand that if you are tearing out walls, finalization of the plan occurs AFTER the walls are out and you can see what is behind them"-agreed (we didn't tear down walls though, if anything we added some lol..but as we fully gutted the space-I know some stuff can't be predicted until you touch the wall and know what's there) So yes..the combo of general contractor and interior designer would be best. Whom to contact first? I'd start with a GC to get a feel of a general scope of the work, but I think both can be contacted simultaneously, or one can start with a designer too Whether people do double duty? Rarely. They might want to, but will not be best equipped for it even if passionate or simply won't have time. But you don't neccessarily need them to do double duty, in your particular case. Interior designers, for example, are trained to understand how the house works, so they are not architects but can have great vision and realize the mechanics that are required to achieve it....See MoreKitchen Remodel: Design before General Contractor?
Comments (8)You can't get a quote from a GC unless you have a plan detailing all of the designs and specifications. A designer does more than just act to help you select aesthetic finishes. I just finished a gut remodel of my condo which included the kitchen and two baths. The designer I hired created extensive design plans which were used to obtain permits and were submitted to GC's for their bid. They then provided me with firm bids which I could accept. I paid for those aesthetic features where the costs were dependent on my design choices and those materials were outside the bid and not included but installation and prep for the materials I selected was included. I had a backsplash but I provided the tiles which were selected by my designer and me but the GC's bid included installation costs. I selected the wood floors and paid for those but the quote included all installation costs including costs for sublayers including materials and labor (( needed self leveling layer, cork, plywood and glue) There were other items that I selected such as faucets but the firm quote included all the rough plumbing and labor to install the fixtures I had selected. And so on. Any GC who is providing an estimate of a plan without specific plans isn't really providing you with a quote you can rely on....See MoreRelated Professionals
Hickory Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers · Tahoe City Interior Designers & Decorators · East Riverdale General Contractors · Irving General Contractors · Park Forest General Contractors · Little Egg Harbor Twp Interior Designers & Decorators · Lomita Interior Designers & Decorators · Lansdale Architects & Building Designers · Mount Prospect Kitchen & Bathroom Designers · Franklin Furniture & Accessories · Palmetto Bay Furniture & Accessories · Great Falls General Contractors · Hayward General Contractors · Newburgh General Contractors · Jefferson Hills Kitchen & Bathroom Remodelers- 6 years ago
- 6 years agomamaandsage thanked Jeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
- 6 years ago
- 6 years agomamaandsage thanked Jeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years ago
- 6 years ago
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years agomamaandsage thanked Brickwood Builders, Inc.
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years agomamaandsage thanked Main Line Kitchen Design
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years agomamaandsage thanked Main Line Kitchen Design
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years agomamaandsage thanked Main Line Kitchen Design
- 6 years agolast modified: 6 years agomamaandsage thanked Carolina Kitchen & Bath
- 6 years ago
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