Too low for either and quality. Prices have skyrocketed.

JuneKnow

Can you further clarify about prices skyrocketing? Is this pandemic related? Demand related? Materials related? What?

Lumber prices have doubled. Labor prices have gone up 30% to deal with the demand, The average 68K replacement like for like kitchen project is closer to 75K. That includes no structural work. You’ve got structural work, and one lowball guy without a clue that should be immediately disqualified. The other guy is being deceptive at quoting labor only, and not even a materials allowance. You’ve got 100K of materials in that scope. Plus you need a very healthy contingency budget. You’ll have a ton of unknowns in something that age. Plus the usual lead, asbestos, and mold remediation.

Who has done the design work for all of this, and drawn it out, and selected the materials, and written the scope? Sounds like no one, and you’re letting the fox guard the henhouse and the contractors are designing it.

Thanks for the feedback! didnt realize how crazy expensive renov are nowadays.

I think Joseph really hit on the issue. You DO need people who have experience in respectfully dealing with historic buildings. Unless your place has not been maintained at all or has undergone some major disaster, I can't figure out why is needs to be totally gutted (too much HGTV maybe?). This is coming from someone who has owned two house from the WWI era.

My place has cracks within the plaster of the walls and over the years multiple layers of paint. Is there any advice of how to restore it and keep the details of the architect without breaking the walls? I read up on skim coating plaster can help preserve it.

Anyone knows any good contractors that has worked in preserving historic buildings? I worry with the contractors I'm looking into they are used to designing modern homes and may not want to keep the details of the old apt. I'm having them send me pictures of historic homes if they have worked on any.

"...restoration costs way more than renovation..."

It depends.

You can use plaster washers to adhere chunks of plaster that are coming loose from the walls. Cracks will still have to be patched, but that is not too difficult.

You need to educate yourself; start by getting a few books on maintaining old houses. Anything by the Old House Journal is very good.

I think there is a special forum here for old houses. Check out posting on that.

Daniel Kanter is a blogger who goes to great lengths to preserve the plaster in the old homes he restores and renovates. I cannot vouch for his expertise, but he details how he does at length on his blog, Manhattan Nest. This page has a rundown of everything he has written on the subject over the years. https://manhattan-nest.com/tag/plaster-repair/

Sorry I don’t know where some of these people are getting things but this is in no way close to 100k in materials. Lumber prices have not doubled I can promise you. Labor prices I cannot comment on I do not have enough experience to make a significantly educated guess, but my gut says they’re about the same. In all honesty this forum is not the place to go for advice on specialty projects like this. Too easy to post an opinion without credentials in internetland. You do need a contractor who specializes in this work. Why? It takes a different mindset and not something the contractor’s subs are on board with. Most subs are one trick ponies. My last word of advice: quality is not synonymous with cost. There are enough contractors on either side of the spectrum I would not make that generalization. You want quality? Check references like your life’s earnings depended on it.

Have you priced a 2x4 ($6.27) or OSB ($21) Prices HAVE doubled since January. Everything else downstream has too. And we just had another hurricane which will send it even higher. Anyone that doesn’t know this doesn’t know anything about construction pricing either. And this is NYC, which is already higher than anywhere but SF. This is why Joe vocally dislikes engineers so much. No real world clues. All living in fantasy math land.

Welcome to NY Julie, the price you got it's pretty cheap for the scope of work you described, and with NY apartments in most cases, this is what you have to do, demo everything to get the job done right. Unless you only looking to keep everything as is and just put a bandaid on everything.

I have lots of friends in Brooklyn (originally from there) and the prices you got for renovation are well bellow in comparison to what they spend on renovations...

Of course, it all comes down to comparing apples to apples, but I know a few who spent 90k just to remodel a few bathrooms.

So make sure that 96k you got (not sure what size your co-op is) this is not a low-ball offer to get a foot in the door because there are some contractors who after they rip your place apart they will milk you to make it up and you end up with a 200k tab... happens all the time.

I’d be inclined to sell and buy something in a further down neighborhood. Have you looked over the entire real estate environment there? With the money for this you could instead get something else probably without mold and live in it safely ... possibly hang on to this if you care to , and get the project planned and done in phases if there’s a strong reason to embark on this.

@User I missed where the OP stated this was a NY build. If your regional prices have doubled for lumber I apologize. I apologize for how I worded that above as well it was the end of a long day. The source for my statement is I am still getting the same range of bids from contractors for my wood frame construction projects. These are large multimillion industrial projects and most likely have a different response to local markets like residential jobs do. I did a quick lookup at a local lumber yard and it does seem like framing lumber has skyrocketed. I am also a hobbiest woodworker and none of the hardwoods I typically source have changed much. And engineers are well aware of contractors disdain for them, we expect it ;)

I would not start a major project like this in NYC at this time. The COVID-19 infection rate is low in the city right now but we don’t know if that will change when schools begin to allow in-person learning and indoor dining begins. Construction could shut down again if the infection rate increases.

Even $175K sounds low. The logistics of renovating a NYC apartment add to labor costs and the time it takes to complete a project. Contractors can’t just park their trucks in a driveway and come and go as they please. And they may find other problems that need to be addressed when they start removing floors and walls.

If you inherited this apartment, I’d try to sell it as is and buy something else if you want to live in NYC.