I am a builder

[roomy]

.

 

[Abbey Normal]

How can I get a private tour of Westminster Abbey?

 

[MissileMan]

How can I get a private tour of Westminster Abbey?

Better question...How can I get a tour of Westminster Abbey? BTW, didn't know you were from Westminster.

 

[Semper Fi]

ask me anything.

What do women want?

 

[Annie]

What do women want?

Chocolate, everyone knows that! Even dmp!

 

[Semper Fi]

Chocolate, everyone knows that! Even dmp!

Excellent!

Don't tell anyone, but I was planning on bringing a certain girl in my math class a cookie from a delicious batch that my mom made, just as an ice breaker...I'm really liking this small font thing....

 

[Annie]

Me, within the first minute of meeting me. :kiss2:

Yep, barring allergies, nearly a universal truth!

 

[Gunny]

ask me anything.

So do you face the letters on the blocks down when you stack 'em?

 

[Shattered]

So do you face the letters on the blocks down when you stack 'em?

LMFAO!!!!!!!

(That was so bad it was good).

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to GunnyL again."

 

[nt250]

,,,in US dollars, to add a 12X26 foot addition onto the back of your standard 1970's ranch house that sits on a slab?

Just ball park.

I wanna see how screwed I got.

 

[Mr. P]

,,,in US dollars, to add a 12X26 foot addition onto the back of your standard 1970's ranch house that sits on a slab?

Just ball park.

I wanna see how screwed I got.

Square foot price depends on where ya live. After that comes the details.
I'm not a builder I do know some, and play one on TV...Guessing 18k or more.

 

[nt250]

For you, bed and board For anyone else........mmmmmmmmm.......$28000ish.For the shell, tiling and bathroom/kitchen furniture is extra.

Try $74,000. That was for the structure. I had to pay for the fixtures and everything else. The lighting, the sinks, faucets, tub, toilet, the kitchen cabinets, counters, appliances, and flooring.

The whole thing ended up costing me a total of about $110,000.

But it was worth it in the end. They really did a nice job. I got a master bathroom out of it. That's nice. I'm one of 6 kids and I have never lived in a house that has two bathrooms before. It took some getting used to, but I really love it now.

I'm just joking about being screwed. I got a couple of estimates, and $80,000 was the range. My builder, Jeff, gave me a way that I could pay for it. And Lenny, the crew boss, really did quality work. It came out better than I could have hoped for.

You should be proud that you have a skill that helps people improve their quality of life. I couldn't have lived in this house the way it was. I'd cringe everytime I'd drive up and see what a dump I lived in. Now? I drive home and I think "Boy, do I have a nice house, or what?"

 

[rtwngAvngr]

What do women want?

Money
Looks
Subservience
Your nuts in a jar

 

[Nienna]

Money

I got my own

Looks

Not so much. My experience with very good-looking guys is that they know it.

Subservience

Totally wrong! Give me a man who knows how to take charge!

Your nuts in a jar

That's just yucky!


But, maybe roomy the expert builder would have a better answer!

 

[Joz]

.....The whole thing ended up costing me a total of about $110,000..... But it was worth it in the end..... I got a couple of estimates,....
You should be proud that you have a skill that helps people improve their quality of life. I couldn't have lived in this house the way it was. I'd cringe everytime I'd drive up and see what a dump I lived in. Now? I drive home and I think "Boy, do I have a nice house, or what?"

Too, it depends on where you live. Around here, to just gut a bathroom and replace everything will run you 7-10,000, depending on what's found when the room is actually gutted.
My ex is a fabulous carpenter/contractor. Just past his 20th year of self employment.
The thing that used to bother him the most? When someone would stand over him & say, "Norm doesn't do it that way". (this old house) :happy2:

 

[nt250]

Too, it depends on where you live. Around here, to just gut a bathroom and replace everything will run you 7-10,000, depending on what's found when the room is actually gutted.
My ex is a fabulous carpenter/contractor. Just past his 20th year of self employment.
The thing that used to bother him the most? When someone would stand over him & say, "Norm doesn't do it that way". (this old house) :happy2:

I just had my existing bathroom done and it cost me $8500 plus about $1500 for the materials, which I decided to pick out and pay for myself. It was a total gut job, right down to the studs. It came out nice.

I didn't use the same contractor that I used for the addition for reasons that are too long to go into, but it basically boiled down to petty little things he never came back to finish. Things that he could have had someone take care of a in a couple hours are still not done.

So I found another contractor to do the bathroom. He bugged the hell out of me. Every little problem and he'd call me out of my home office. "So? Fix it" I'd say. That's why I hired him. To do the whole job and deal with the problems that were inevitable. For example, I had the door moved out about three feet, and had a linen closet demolished so I could incorporate all that lost space into a bathroom that was 5X8. So he had to build a new wall and door opening.

He cut the door opening too tall. Instead of just fixing it, he had to call me out of my office and show it to me. "So? Fix it" I said. What the hell did he expect me to say? "Oh, that's OK. I don't mind having a four inch gaping hole over my bathroom door". We all screw up. He screwed up. But I had to tell him to just fix it.

The bathroom came out nice, but he, too, did stupid little things that will make me never hire him again either. The electrician reused all the switches and outlets from the old bathroom. So I have this nice, brand new bathroom, that has the old, dirty, switch plates and outlets. Stupid.

 

[Joz]

......The bathroom came out nice, but he, too, did stupid little things that will make me never hire him again either. The electrician reused all the switches and outlets from the old bathroom. So I have this nice, brand new bathroom, that has the old, dirty, switch plates and outlets. Stupid.

That is what makes the difference between a good carpenter & a great carpenter.....detail.
I remember the first job Steve did as a self employed man, gutted a bathroom. The tile work was exquisite. That's why he has the clientele he does.

 

[Gunny]

I just had my existing bathroom done and it cost me $8500 plus about $1500 for the materials, which I decided to pick out and pay for myself. It was a total gut job, right down to the studs. It came out nice.

I didn't use the same contractor that I used for the addition for reasons that are too long to go into, but it basically boiled down to petty little things he never came back to finish. Things that he could have had someone take care of a in a couple hours are still not done.

So I found another contractor to do the bathroom. He bugged the hell out of me. Every little problem and he'd call me out of my home office. "So? Fix it" I'd say. That's why I hired him. To do the whole job and deal with the problems that were inevitable. For example, I had the door moved out about three feet, and had a linen closet demolished so I could incorporate all that lost space into a bathroom that was 5X8. So he had to build a new wall and door opening.

He cut the door opening too tall. Instead of just fixing it, he had to call me out of my office and show it to me. "So? Fix it" I said. What the hell did he expect me to say? "Oh, that's OK. I don't mind having a four inch gaping hole over my bathroom door". We all screw up. He screwed up. But I had to tell him to just fix it.

The bathroom came out nice, but he, too, did stupid little things that will make me never hire him again either. The electrician reused all the switches and outlets from the old bathroom. So I have this nice, brand new bathroom, that has the old, dirty, switch plates and outlets. Stupid.

The difference in what you paid and actual material cost is the price of nto doing it yourself. I completely gutted and redid my entire bathroom for less than $2K.

The only problem is, when your friends see it, they want you to come do theirs too.

 

[nt250]

The difference in what you paid and actual material cost is the price of nto doing it yourself. I completely gutted and redid my entire bathroom for less than $2K.

The only problem is, when your friends see it, they want you to come do theirs too.

See, that's the thing. I can't do things like that myself and I don't want to do things like that myself. I am willing to pay someone for their skill, expertise, and time to do it for me.

But jeez, do it. Don't bother me with stupid crap. That's what I'm paying you for. My last contractor was on drugs. He had to be. The day he hung the door, and realized he cut the opening too tall, was supposed to be his last day on the job and he expected to get the last payment. I learned my lesson with my last contractor. Make sure that the last payment is a big one. The reason a lot of little things got left undone was because after paying him $74,000 I only owed a last payment of $500. So of course he never bothered to come back.

So with this guy, I still owed him a third of the entire contract. And he was desperate for the money. So you know what he did? He rebuilt the opening at the top of the door, stuck a piece of drywall in the gap, and then painted it. No tape. No mud. He actually thought I wasn't going to notice it. The guy had to be on drugs.

I went out a bought the new electrical fixtures. I'm going to have to do it myself. It just kills me. He made a big huge deal about me cleaning the HVAC grate in the ceiling because it was dirty. I used Windex. I ran it throught the dishwasher. I soaked it in bleach. And then he has the electrician put back all the old dirty fixtures. Unreal.

 

[Gunny]

See, that's the thing. I can't do things like that myself and I don't want to do things like that myself. I am willing to pay someone for their skill, expertise, and time to do it for me.

But jeez, do it. Don't bother me with stupid crap. That's what I'm paying you for. My last contractor was on drugs. He had to be. The day he hung the door, and realized he cut the opening too tall, was supposed to be his last day on the job and he expected to get the last payment. I learned my lesson with my last contractor. Make sure that the last payment is a big one. The reason a lot of little things got left undone was because after paying him $74,000 I only owed a last payment of $500. So of course he never bothered to come back.

So with this guy, I still owed him a third of the entire contract. And he was desperate for the money. So you know what he did? He rebuilt the opening at the top of the door, stuck a piece of drywall in the gap, and then painted it. No tape. No mud. He actually thought I wasn't going to notice it. The guy had to be on drugs.

I went out a bought the new electrical fixtures. I'm going to have to do it myself. It just kills me. He made a big huge deal about me cleaning the HVAC grate in the ceiling because it was dirty. I used Windex. I ran it throught the dishwasher. I soaked it in bleach. And then he has the electrician put back all the old dirty fixtures. Unreal.

Sounds like a crappy contractor. Unfortunately, they DO exist. From the sounds of it, you might want to talk to a lawyer about it.

The payment thing isn't a bad idea, but an even better one is research your contractors before hiring another one. Ask your friends, people at work -- there ARE good ones out there that have no problem honoring their contracts and/or doing good work.

I don't really have the desire to do bathrooms or any other rooms, but I DO posess the skill, and would rather suck it up and do it than pay for more than the cost of material.