OK, so this is such a serious post because this literally happens to me once a week. We all understand that the economy is horrible, but this has been happening for a lot longer than just recently.
I realize that, have you never remodeled your home or looked at the cost of fixtures, you might not have a realistic idea of the costs of remodeling. So let me be the first to tell you that you can do a nice cosmetic remodel for cheap. And, everyone's interpretation of cheap is different. Someone who's income is an average of $30,000 a year might consider cheap to be $500, while someone who earns $80,000 might consider cheap to be $4,000 or someone who earns a few mil might consider cheap to be $50,000. This is logical! What's not so logical is thinking that you can take your master bathroom and remove every fixture you have in there; your toilet, your tub, and shower, your double vanity- the cabinet, top, sinks, faucets, lights overhead, mirror, rip out the tile, add travertine or another tile, install new fixtures, tile your tub area, shower area, install a new cabinet, granite countertop, sinks, faucets, install a new light fixture, and framed mirrors- AND DO IT ALL FOR BETWEEN $ 1,500 AND $5,000!
I am great at working with a budget, but if that's your budget, perhaps this is not the right project to take on at this time.
If you saw a recent cosmetic makeover in a previous post, there are ways to give a facelift to your bathroom that will add significant value; but this client did not remove and reinstall any of the fixtures in their bathroom. One of the largest costs of a remodel is the labor to put all of your nice, new, inexpensive fixtures in. Sure, you found a great deal on a whirlpool for $ 1,200. Now you have to have someone come in and remove your current tub, $$$ (an average of $150, to $300. They have to demo, remove, dispose of and then deal with any leaks, cap off your current water lines, etc.). Then they have to install your tub and outside of charging you just to show up, $$$, they will need some supplies, $$$ and don't forget that an electrician needs to connect the power so you get all of those nice pulsating jets to work,$$$. Before you know it, your $ 1,200 tub became $ 2,100, And that's just your tub.
So you want a new vanity. That will set you back as little as $ 500, if you go the cheap route and buy some nice looking crap at Home Depot or Lowes, or upwards of $ 2,000 if you want an intricate custom piece. (Average is around $ 1,300)
Now your cabinet needs a top. You are faced with two posibilities. You can allow someone to make you a custom countertop, which can cost anywhere from $800 (unlikely) to a more likely $ 1,600. And that's just for something around five feet. That might include your two sinks undermounted, but that's just for a china bowl. Want anything fancy, glass, vessels, painted? Now you're talkin, $$$.
Or you can think you've struck gold cuz you found a granite countertop at a discount store for $500. That counter has to fit your cabinet size exactly (and only will if your cabinet is a standard size) If that counter needs to be altered, guess what- you're callin a granite fabricator. They don't like to work with an inferior product that they didn't make for you themselves. They cannot warranty it, and what if it gets damaged while they alter it for you? That's a risk that most fabricators charge for. Oh, you still need bowls (sinks) and they have to be undermounted for you and your counter has to be installed, $$$.
We still haven't bought faucets yet. Those can cost anywhere from $100 for a cheap look from Moen or Price Pfister to $500 or $600 for a top quality piece from Grohe or Brizo. There are so many brands out there, you are not limited to the display of 50 they have at that box store. Each brand might carry 50 styles on their own and each style has more than one finish. And who says you still have to do brushed nickel... Oh, this will be another blog for sure!
Ooh, now we have a tile floor or stone. Depending on where you go you will pay anywhere from $ 1.50 a square foot to $ 8.00 per square and thats for your floor and not including installation, that's just for your tile. An average tile installer will charge from $ 1.50 (if you can find a cheap guy like this, I'd question his work) to $2.50 a square foot to install. (If anyone is charging you more than this for a standard, straight laid, tile installation- WALK AWAY!) And, as I said, this is straight laid. (This is where the tile is laid in a standard grid pattern, with each square lined up vertically and horizontally. If you are doing a diamond pattern or a herringbone (where each tile above ends in the center of each tile below it), these cost a little bit more money in material and labor. This is because they will waste more tile making cuts and the cuts take time and you are paying for their time. Now, you've picked a smaller tile on a mesh backing for the walls of your shower. That's gonna cost whatever the tile is per square foot, an average of between $5.00 to $15.00 per square. Then that must be installed and that cost is much higher. Most tilers charge an average of $12.00 to $15.00 a square to install on a wall. Why? It's a bit more difficult to do, harder to level, more cutting involved. So if you are going 6' up your standard tub walls, you have 30' of wall behind you and approximately 15' of tile on each side of the tub. That equals 60 square feet of tile in total. You pick a nice mosaic that costs $10.00 per square foot. You are talkin 70 square feet of tile ( because you need an extra 10- 15% more tile for cuts and waste) x $25.00 (which is the cost of your tile plus installation at $15.00 per square) and you are paying $ 1,750 just to tile your walls. Thank goodness you saved money by not doing a shower!
Oh, we still haven't tiled your floor. Well that's priced at the much cheaper $2.50 per square foot plus the cost of the tile you picked, again $1.50 to $8.00. Do we all see the bigger picture? These prices are averages, but they are true to today's prices for these items.
I do these remodels on a weekly basis, and yet I am still surprised when I get a call or email from someone with that dreaded minuscule budget. As much as I'd love to say that it can be done, it's just not happening. Anyone that tells you otherwise is bound to cause you trouble in the end. Buyer beware and be informed!
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