Appreciate Advice On Cost Please!

[geraldimo 0]

HI all,

Just got my first apartment, and doing renovation for the first time. As usual, trying to avoid getting taken for a ride. The ID is my friend's brother, but some of the stuff looks really expensive. So appreciate advice if these items are reasonable. I didn't include all the portions, but just the items which I found to be a bit high. The major work that I'm doing is to relocate my kitchen to my balcony, which would require hacking away my existing kitchen and building a new one. Help is much appreciated!!

General Cost

Hacking and Haulage - $3200

- Hack bedroom wall (8ft x 10 ft)

- Hack exisiting kitchen base

- Haulage and clear debris

Plumbing/Wet work - $1800

- Relocate Drainage for kitchen to balcony

- Install supply and drainage for washer at balcony

Floor Protection - $800

Balcony/Outdoor Kitchen

Kitchen Island (2.8m x 0.9m x 1.1m) - $4450

- Full laminate

- Blum fittings

I did query about the kitchen island and the reply was that cost is so high because this was fully laminated, with Blum fittings, which is apparently premium. This is just for the cabinet itself, and does not include the kitchen top.

Many thanks!!

[Piggyzzz 0]

Just get more quotations from Ids & contractors for comparison. It's definitely not wise to stop at 1.

[Saggice 0]

on the high side... but im sure the ID added here and there to make up for his own professional fees.

[benetay 14]

You can check blum fittings at amazon.com, see the prices and you will roughly know how much the mark up is. Gross margin 20% is okay, but anything more i would reconsider.

[benetay 14]

Haris like on my previous post, please share your reno pic. And i also realize that your kitchen carpentry isn't cheap.

[benetay 14]

There is no need to take it personally Haris, i understand your happiness of getting a cheap quote during your ID hunts and want to share with the world the good news. Things aside, as long as you think it is cheap, and it has save you time and effort to look high and low for an ID it is all well taken into as a factor of choice. I think what people would like to see is the workmanship of the reno done so there is a reference point.

I was curious about this too and would love to see the outcome of your beautiful home, but to my dismay there are only a few pictures and it doesn't do justice to your recommendation. We all certainly appreciate your kindness to share and this is what the forum is all about.

I wish i'm a contractor, Haris.

Simply put, as long as you are happy with the price, in the long run, to me, it doesn't matter to pay a little more. It's unlike our cabinets are 100ft long causing a huge difference. Price does not affect me as the top 3-5 elements in consideration, so i will stop bickering about cheap/expensive, pfr, etc, and take a step back.

You are free to visit my T-blog in my signature as it is in the middle of renovation but we made a decision halfway through which delayed the work a little.

i'm not the right person to talk about price.