We are also in the SF Bay Area, and I think those prices are expensive, even for the Bay Area - at least double what they should be. (our white oak flooring - 600sf of new and 900 sf that they refinished - cost less than $8K). WIth a 4 level house, I would expect that things like foundation and seismic concerns to be expensive, but not basics like flooring. However, I know people who have paid those high prices becuase (1) they didn't know better, and (2) they had that kind of money to spend, so they didn't bother to push back. Some GCs are happy to take their money. We remodeled our house 16 months ago and the bids we got back from GCs varied hugely - some were twice as much as the lower ones. It made no sense to me. The only thing I could think is that some builders have a higher overhead that they need to cover, but that doesn't account for 100% higher bid! Think about talking with someone other than your architect about GCs. Talk with people you know who have remodeled their houses locally and get their recommendations for contractors and their pricing. Or you can go back to the GCs that you got bids from and negotiate and ask them for actual materials costs. I have talked with a lot of GCs lately that used to have schedule their projects 6-12 months out, and now their crews are ready to start next week. The fact that financing has dried up has really put the brakes on a lot of projects. I would also be careful bringing in a trade person from out of the area because they might not be familiar with local code. Different parts of the county have different building practices (I'm not making a value judgement on which is better - I have no opinion on that!). A lot of Bay Area towns are very particular about code, and many have recently updated code for energy savings/seismic safety. And some inspectors are just plain persnickety - if they didn't like the way it's done (especially if they are not familiar with it) they can refuse to sign off. If you were to go with someone from out of town you should make sure that they are well versed with local building code and expectations of inspectors.

Coretech is a great mid-level to high end LVT flooring company. We will only offer the mid to higher end brands of this material and Coretech is one of them. We also like Beaufloor. MSI is another one we have been introduced to recently, but have not used it yet. 12MIL thickness is lower end. 20MIL is higher end with a thicker wear surface. I'm a cabinet person by trade, but I've learned these things from listening to my flooring guy on staff. I do believe that Beaufloor is one of the only brands that do not have limitations on required transition pieces. For instance, if you are doing a whole first floor....they don't require these expansion transition pieces. Some brands do. So if you have a huge expanse....keep in mind that a transition piece will ruin the look.

The visual of having a WHITE wide plank (possibly rustic) wood up against a narrow strip BROWN wood is a clash all by itself. The pale, white/lavender colours will clash with rusty/brown. I always ask people if they would add a pale/pink/lavender blouse to a rust coloured pair of paints....Right. Not a look most people would consider a 'good look'. The colours are an issue AND the wide plank vs. narrow strip is another issue. And the photo of the CUT of the LVP (the wood cut is how the swirls of the wood appear on the surface) is another issue. So to recap: we have a colour clash, we have a PLANK WIDTH clash and a 'cut' clash. I'm sorry but the truth is you have chosen a product that just will not work. The BEST option = slate. Why do I say that? Because you have a DARK counter top. You can mirror the 'dark counters + dark flooring'. It is a SUPER SIMPLE way to 'dress' your kitchen. Think of the counter tops as your belt, the lower cabs as your pants and the dark floors as your shoes. The upper cabs are your blouse. If you walked out the door with an outfit like that on, you would look very, very sharp. I'm seeing the backsplash in a mini-brick look. Why not pull a warm tone from THAT so that you have a floor + backsplash compliment. The backsplash offers many tones that will WORK with the orange rust in the rest of your house.

Has anyone installed Coretec colorwall line? It’s exclusive to certain retailers so I haven’t been able to find reviews on that product I’m considering