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| mvsfan:
--- Quote from: TOK on September 07, 2010, 06:53:45 am --- --- Quote from: DaOld Man on September 06, 2010, 10:06:59 am ---James, it looks to me like you need to hire a contractor. You will spend more money that way but they will handle everything for you, just stay with them to make sure they do it like you want. There are codes you have to go by, and you want it done right, since you have to plan on living with it forever. A good contractor (experienced one that is), should know everything involved. Good luck, and post some pics of this project as it comes along. --- End quote --- I totally agree with this. Since a bathroom is involved, really do some legwork before you hire a contractor. If they half-ass your plumbing you will be suffering with it for way longer than it takes to find a good guy. Your not kidding. in the house i live now, if i am in the shower and someone decides to do some dishes in the kitchen sink, the sink will suck away every drop of hot water from that shower. no lukewarm. picture this. its dead of winter, cold shower. you definately do not want a fly by night doing your plumbing. this house was built in the 70s, and apparently everyone who has lived here before me had to deal with the shower from hell. i have found a solution to this hard to correct problem though. for about a hundred bucks, and if you know how to solder, you can get a small 3 gallon Booster water heater. so basically, when moron downstairs turns the sink on to wash their hands, the booster heater will make up for it. --- End quote --- |
| javeryh:
OK... last night we got the first draft of the house plans (which don't include the basement, unfortunately). I'm not blown away but it is a good starting point I guess. I mean, it's a basic addition so I don't know what I was expecting. She did send two different proposals. I think I like the "Alternate" version the best even though there's no walk-in closet in the master bedroom for my wife. The "Alternate" plans reduce the size of my existing bathroom on the second floor which I think is a necessity - it is 1/4 of the second floor right now! Way too much wasted space in a small house. I also like how she proposes to incorporate the sun room (where we currently watch TV) into the dining room because once we get the back room the sun room will be kind of useless. Any thoughts? (sorry for the crappy photos) |
| javeryh:
Ok... I've had some time to let the designs sink in and the "alternate" plans are growing on me. I think that with a little tweaking it could be something that we really end up liking. The big room in the back would be completely usable for my basement space and it is actually quite large at 25'4" x 17' and this doesn't even take the existing basement into consideration. I think that the actual basement outfit will take a while because it is going to be quite expensive to just do the first and second floor! The plan is to think about exactly what we want over the next week and then set up an appointment with the architect after the new year to get a better idea on how much this is going to cost. It's scary but exciting... |
| javeryh:
I just set up an appointment for next week with the architect to sit down with her and go over all of the plans and expected costs, timing, etc. - basically everything. Is there anything I should be specifically concerned with? I don't know what to expect and I'm kind of counting on (and trusting) her to guide me in the right direction and be as cost-effective as possible. The more I look at the "alternate" design, the more I'm definitely convinced that is is the more costly of the two designs. In order to turn the dining room 90 degrees and incorporate part of the existing sun room, we will have to deal with issues on the floor and on the ceiling. The dining room has original hardwood floors and 9 foot ceilings. The sun room has a plywood base with carpeting for the floor and 8 foot ceilings. Not to mention we will be relocating the bathtub and sink on the second floor. Money money money!!!! |
| javeryh:
Ugh. I had the meeting yesterday and I'm really disappointed. Her best guess based on the design she provided is that it will exceed our budget by $50,000 - $100,000!!! I was like "you knew our budget - why did you bother designing something so outrageous?" She didn't really have an answer but I got the impression that she thinks money grows on trees or something - I mean, now I'm not going to go with the "lesser" design because it will still be a crapload of money and I don't want to always be wishing I had something else. The architect is reaching out to some contractors to get them to give a loose estimate on costs (without bidding it out because we only have a floor plan at this point) and see where they end up. The worst part is that we have to demo our 2 car garage to meet code requirements and build a new one car garage in its place and that is going to be $25,000 alone for something I don't want to do. We might have to put this on hold for 5 years or so and try saving or just forget about it all together. :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: |
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