valleigh, i would say, in your typical suburban kitchen dealership, you will not have to pay an additional fee for their KD, IF your architect is the one who brings you to their showroom. in my case, my architect brought me to a place in new orleans called Cabinets By Design. they sell two or three lines, including Ultracraft and WoodMode. the extent of the work done by this KD was to show me their pulls and finishes and price appliances (over-priced, so perhaps this is where they make their "commission"). but most importantly, she reviewed my architect's drawing and made useful suggestions. but the KD did not make any drawings herself, and in the two quotes received from her, there was never a design fee. btw, do your homework on appliances. architects will get stuck on one brand. my architect only chose from toto toilets and duravit vanities for my bath, for instance. and for the kitchen, he went with what was represented at Cabinets By Design, which was the subzero and wolf brand. i ended up going with 3 mieles, 2 subzeros, and a japanese hood, and came out ahead. when i look back at the old estimate for appliances, i just cannot believe how much they were planning on charging me! you can refuse this part of their "service" and choose your own brands. you should only need to give your architect the model numbers and he should look up the specs himself and measure/design teh cabinets accordingly.

We also are looking into turning a 4th 10x10 bedroom into a bathroom. However, we are not DIYers. We are seniors and are wondering what it would cost to have someone do this project. We have never hired people to do our renovations as we come from a large family and someone was always offering to help with the projects. Our family is up in age now so we need to get a pro which is scarey. We have no idea what a project like this would cost us. The bedroom shares a wall with our current small bathroom. We are on town sewage. Could someone help with some info? Thanks.

Wow, Mary, I'm so sorry that happened to you! I think I read about your problems over on the manufactured homes forum, or was that someone else? My ex and I bought a stick built house in 1988 in Sacramento. A home inspection was, of course, required. A couple of weeks after we moved in, I happened to be in the backyard while hubby was showering. I looked over and saw water just gushing from the window sill and coming down the exterior of the house like a waterfall. It cost a little over $10,000 to fix, and was only that little because our new neighbor loved fixing things and had every power tool known to humankind, lol. It took a month of weekends for hubby and neighbor to fix it. We sued the home inspector and recouped all our costs plus punitive damages, which we split with neighbor guy. Good thing ex is an attorney! :-) Thanks for the advice, Chris. It looks like ~$300 is the going price, and in the grand scheme of things, I think it's worth it if, as Steph recommends, I find someone with experience in manufactured homes. In this case, the inspector doesn't have to please any realtors, sellers, or buyers. Since I've already bought the house, lived in it as a houseguest with my friends for the entire month of September, and know everything my friends know about the house, I can be very specific about what I want her to look for. As Chris said, it will be helpful for prioritizing. I'm hoping to refurbish the entire house top to bottom. I have an eight to ten year plan. I love a good ten year project! I started going back to college in 2007 and hope to graduate with my PhD in 2017--a ten year project, haha! (I'll have had 13 years of higher education! You'd think I'd know something by now, haha!) I have a list of what I think are priorities, and rough estimates of what everything will cost. My first project, next September, will be an asphalt driveway and carport. Because of my mobility disability and the necessity of using a walker, and because I can't get soaking wet entering/exiting my home and car, a dry, smooth surface and dry carport is a necessity before next winter. I'm going to replace all the electrical wiring and plumbing regardless of current condition, only because they're original to the house and will need upgrading at some point anyway. I'm also redoing all the floors because they're hideous, lol, so while I'm at it, I'll do all new floor insulation. There are no leaks, and I had the roof snow coated in October, which is guaranteed for ten years. So a new roof is down lower on the priority list, but still in the ten year plan. I'll blow insulation into the "attic" when I do the roof. The siding and skirting are much newer than the house and are in beautiful condition, so replacing them would be almost last on the list. The gut remodel of the kitchen/living room, major remodel of both bathrooms, and closet systems and cosmetic touch ups of the bedrooms will be in the middle, somewhere after electrical, plumbing, and floors, but before roof and siding. It's a ten year project because I'm paying as I go, in cash, as money becomes available. That's MY plan. I want the home inspector to tell me if my priorities are right or if I need to do something sooner rather than later. The yard will be an ongoing project. I've figured out how to do an aesthetically pleasing yard using various kinds of rocks, drought resistant plants, and ornamental grasses, for very, very little money and very low maintenance.

There are 2 types of smooth finish in my midwestern market. "Ugly" and "Awesome". Ugly is about the same labor as orange peel & knock down (also called executive). Awesome smooth walls require leveling of drywall, complete skimcoat, and extensive attention to detail. Ugly is ugly because it ends up being really wavy and inconsistent. Especially true of old homes with previously plastered walls. The old lumber varied in thickness considerably and it was the job of the plasterer to level out these inconsistencies when he applied the mud. Drywall is the same thickness throughout and will not even out these differences. Smooth compounds this because it hides nothing. I've had some success with customers who get sticker shocked at smooth by switching to a very light orange peel. Not as awesome as smooth, but better than an orange peel. Still need to level the studs prior to installing the drywall though. Knockdown is the favorite of any drywaller due to the amount it hides. I've seen some pretty gnarly seam taping almost disappear when the k/d was applied. So in short, if you want smooth, be fine with paying extra for it or you might end up with ugly. Best of luck. Congrats on the baby!