Best IKEA plumbing tutorial for old school contractor?
Mittens Cat
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
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beckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
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From old home to new - or new to old? What does it feel like?
Comments (30)I love old houses - the quality, the history (I was THRILLED when I saw the names of the owners of our then under 5 year old house on the 1930 census), and the style. If I don't win the lottery, I will never live in another "new" build (80's and up) because the vast majority of non custom built homes are just not up to my standards. Of the 4 new builds I lived in in my life, only two were decent. The last decent one had been built by a guy who had previously done commercial building. It was built to last and I have no doubt that one would still stand after a tornado. Because of the commercial background, the finish "prettyness" wasn't there, but those details were added later, by us. The last new build was a nightmare. The "quality" semi custom build was so lacking that I can't even imagine how much worse some of the mass produced really poor quality houses will last. Within the first 5 years the deck was partially rotting (no flashing between the house and it), the roof leaked at the chimney, many of the windows wouldn't work well and/or leaked at the top, lots of the trim wood was rotting out and the floors of both 1st and 2nd floor creaked in almost every spot as did the entire staircase. And then of course you had the "minor" issues like one couldn't use a hairdryer in the master bath before resetting the outlet in the upstairs bath if someone had used a hairdryer in it before the master bath. And the defective shingles requiring a complete reroof at 3 years is hard to forget. My brother has a friend who last year moved into a house in one of those new mass built neighbourhoods in South Carolina. Brand new. 6 months after moving in, a water pipe junction burst (iirc, they thought it hadn't been correctly connected or something) in the attic while they were on vacation and ruined most of the house and their items. The builder denied responsibility and the insurance company was blaming it on the builder since the house was still under "warranty" and it was turning into a huge mess, to say the least. New does not equal free of work and I'd rather strip wallpaper than deal with finding out what corners were cut....See MoreContractor bid etiquette
Comments (18)Quote"Are you saying that the rough-in plumbing takes a day, underslab piping takes a day, and trim out takes a day? My bids for plumbing are in the $15,000-$20,000 range. That's a pretty hefty daily rate! " The main water line & house sewer line from the street to the structure plus the interior DWV & water distribution piping under slab are the "rough-in", and yes, the guys are alloted one day to finish that. After the house is dried in and interior walls framed they will return and do the "Stack-out" phase, which is the water lines & DWV lines which will be inside the walls, and here again, the crew is alloted one day to complete that. And when there is to be ABS or Fiberglass tub or showere enclosures they are also installed during the stackout. After the bathroom floors & walls are finished and the kitchen cabinets are in we return a third time to do the "Trim out", which is where we set the sinks, waterclosets and all final valves or trim, and this too is to be done in one day, And those schedules are the same whether its a remodel job or a whole house. So what you see is three days work, but don't think for one monent that all you get for your $20k is 3days. As soon as I get your prints & site plan I have to go to the municipal water & sewer providers to find out exactly where they will be installing the water & sewer taps, then I have to work out the entire water distribution and DWV layout for your job. That generally takes the better part of a day, then I have to go back over the prints and do a complete material workup, right down to the last pipe hanger, roll of solder and gas for the soldering torches, flux, pipe cleaner, glue etc. After I have the material list I have to contact my suppliers to get a confirmed price, so there is another day. I then have to order the material and as it is delivered to the shop we have to package and stage it for your job, so I have the overhead cost of that storage area plus the labor to handle it in the staging area. Now let us consider the cost of the crew. In addition to their wages, there is $600yr per man for drug tests, $4k per man for tuition for the apprenticeship training course at the local college, $90 per copy for the code books and every employee must have one, then there is workmans comp insurance, vacation time & paid holidays and individual safety equipment such as OSHA approved respirators (one for each man), hard hats, hearing protectors, gloves etc. Then we have 1ton 4x4 crew cab pickups with jobbers boxes for $65k each, a one ton dump with heavy equip. trailer $70K + $6K, a backhoe $95k, bobcat $90K mini-trackhoe $75k, ditch-witch trencher $120k and specialty tools such as the Rigid cordless PEX crimper for a mere $1600, oxy-acetylene tote weld torch $350, for brazing copper under slab, Then we have a small truck load of hand tools or cordless and cord type power tools that are supplied by the company plus a large portable generator and lights incase we have to work late into the night or we happen to be on a site where they don't have temporary power setup yet. Add to that the cost of the office & shop, secretary, bean counter, warehouseman, equipment maintenance and fuel, not to mention another $5k a year in licensing fees. Now don't get me wrong, I am not crying in the least, but if the final analysis out of your $20k if I get $300 for my pocket its a good day....See MoreWeek 132 - Where did you find your contractor(s)
Comments (14)Our only experience is with plumbers. The first was a friend recommendation. We actually had them come out twice. First for a water leak where our primary wate pipe had siding nailed into it. They fixed the 3" pipe that had. Racked all the way down into the slab. Then told us our 1 1/2" pipe from the kitchen sink wasn't to code and put in 2" pipe outside the wall, inside the cabinet. Called them again when we had a gas leak where the PO had copper run under the patio slab then into the house. Settling happened and the joint completely separated. They came out and ran new copper pipe strapped to the foundation. Fast forward to our kitchen remodel. Called one that was recommended on the Next Door app. They were stunned at the length of copper run outside and said there's no way that will pass inspection. The sink drain pipe that was supposedly not to code would have been fine. The new plumbers did a reasonable job with running the new gas line in the ceiling. I'm not happy with where they drilled the holes through the ceiling joists, but that seems to be fairly common with plumbers....See MoreKitchen Remodel - contractor, Lowes, or piece it out?
Comments (36)I redid my son's kitchen with about the same number of cabinets as you have. We found decent looking and surprisingly well built RTA Chinese cabinets through a local discount builder supply for $6500. That was including an upgrade from particle board to plywood carcases. They assembled them for $25/cabinet. (At higher end kitchen places we were offered the opportunity to buy the same cabinets for nearly twice the money). I was able to install them without any problems in about two days work. Because of the plumbing and electrical work needed I tore the kitchen down to the studs, and took up three layers of prior flooring down to the subfloor. Moving plumbing and gas cost about $2000 with the plumber, I was able to pull an electrical permit myself in his town and added a new subpanel and completely rewired the kitchen for the cost of materials, less than $1000. Granite countertops were a splurge at $2400. Prefinished maple hardwood floor ran about $600. Very nice, nearly new pre-owned appliances came from Norm's for about $2000 for stove, refrigerator, and dishwasher. A decent hood was $600, building a soffit to hide the exhaust pipe was just cost of materials. I hired a plasterer for blueboard and plaster which was about $1000 for that room. So with incidentals (permits, paint, remaindered sink, faucet, and light fixtures), we spent about $16,000 in total, doing everything I could myself. We could have saved $1500 or so by using laminate countertops, and most of the plumber's bill if I'd been allowed to do the work myself, but it's hard to imagine we could have completed the project much cheaper....See More
Mittens Cat
4 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
4 years agoMittens Cat thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW UnconditionallyMittens Cat
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
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4 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
4 years agoMittens Cat thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW UnconditionallyMittens Cat
4 years agobeckysharp Reinstate SW Unconditionally
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoMittens Cat thanked beckysharp Reinstate SW UnconditionallyMittens Cat
4 years ago
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