Wife and I are planning to remodel our home and are looking for suggestions on construction companies in the Ames/Des Moines area. Nothing too crazy—-kitchen/bathroom remodel and maybe some work in the basement with a wet bar and finishing another room. Appreciate any suggestions!
Home Remodel Suggestions
- Thread starter CyState85
- Start date
Kitchen, bath, wet bar, and another room?
Dude, that is totally crazy!
We just got bids for kitchen and dining room conversion to an office. Yeah .... ain't nothing cheap in there.
Dude, that is totally crazy!
We just got bids for kitchen and dining room conversion to an office. Yeah .... ain't nothing cheap in there.
Just the kitchen remodel itself is going to be crazy.
I'm looking into converting a room in my basement into a bedroom, but that is going to be fairly basic.
Kitchen I would guess at least $30k and bathroom will be over $10k up to $20k depending on what you do.
2 years ago we did our kitchen and flooring on main level (880 sq ft) and it was over $40k but it had custom cabinets.
2 years ago we did our kitchen and flooring on main level (880 sq ft) and it was over $40k but it had custom cabinets.
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Keep saving cash and wait 2 years for recession to be going full steam. Labor plentiful. Supply chain almost back to normal. Prices down. Done.
You risk getting bit by inflation (and interest rates if you’re taking out a loan), but this isn’t terrible advice. I don’t follow closely, but it appears lumber prices are coming back down to earth. If you can wait until fall, you avoid the spring rush, too, and might have better luck finding someone. As others have said, do some research on material costs - cabinets, flooring, fixtures, etc. You might be surprised at what you’re getting into.
I do my own stuff but my parents recently used Iowa Legends out of Altoona to do siding and a roof. They liked them enough they’re coming back to do the kitchen and a couple bathrooms. They did a really good job on the outside and use quality name brand materials.
If you’re handy, they also will do portions of a room like a kitchen or bath and let you do the rest. There are a lot of places that will only bid if they can do the whole project.
If you’re handy, they also will do portions of a room like a kitchen or bath and let you do the rest. There are a lot of places that will only bid if they can do the whole project.
"Every single contractor in the world is a miserable, incompetent thief"
-Ron Swanson
-Ron Swanson
I used to build homes and could definitely give you some contractors to reach out to, I’m in the process of finishing my basement but having to take a breather since were $30,000 in already at 75% completed
The numbers I've been quoted are considerably higher and we can't get on the schedule until Q4
I would guess your kitchen to be more in the 45-55k range. Possibly higher depending on materials and if built ins.
Baths, we were going to pull a slip in and tile it out. We were looking at 25k for our master bath using more mid line materials besides the shower.
We finished our basement recently. Pretty big job and it was very expensive. The one thing that was an eye opener for me wasn’t the cost (I knew it was going to be costly). It was how long it took. We started conversations with our contractor almost 2 years before the project started. It took that long to finally get someone in here to do it. Their schedule was jammed AND they said the industry itself has shrunk. Not enough subcontractors to keep up with demand.
I moved into a place that hadn’t been touched by original owner since 1977 a couple years back. I’d say we’re about 60% through a complete remodel with bathrooms being the expensive thing we put off.
My only previous place I owned was newly remodeled when I moved in so I had practically no diy experience.
Some things I had professionally done I thought later “no way I could have done that”. Other things I now laugh that I had to pay somebody to do it at the time, actually embarrassed. I enjoy the work if the tools for job aren’t prohibitively expensive.
If a place is really old it’s crazy how much paint, new door hardware, new outlets and new light switches can brighten it up as diy projects. We’re replacing windows in a few months, more for noise than looks. Maybe years still to tackle bathrooms beyond diy projects.
My only previous place I owned was newly remodeled when I moved in so I had practically no diy experience.
Some things I had professionally done I thought later “no way I could have done that”. Other things I now laugh that I had to pay somebody to do it at the time, actually embarrassed. I enjoy the work if the tools for job aren’t prohibitively expensive.
If a place is really old it’s crazy how much paint, new door hardware, new outlets and new light switches can brighten it up as diy projects. We’re replacing windows in a few months, more for noise than looks. Maybe years still to tackle bathrooms beyond diy projects.
You doing a full kitchen down there, kitchenette space, or are those built-ins of some type?
I just had my cabinets and a trim with doors hung. Bar area cabinets, island and bathroom. Everything there was $11,500 including labor. Going to wait a bit on flooring and countertops now to save up for that huge chunk
Wife wanted storage in our basement. So the basement family room 32x 24ish had cabinets wrap around 2/3rds of it. Built ins for the wall where the TV and all the kids gaming counsels go. This was 10 years ago and was just under 20k. Guessing you can add 50% pretty easily.
