In my last post, I mentioned that my budget for The Flood House was all over the place, and without additional information from county inspectors and contractors, I wasn’t going to be able to nail it down…
Well, over the past week, we’ve made a lot of progress. We met with the local code inspector, who basically told us that, because of how many homes were impacted by the flooding last year, they’ve relaxed the electrical and plumbing codes to make it cheaper/easier to get these houses renovated. Most importantly, instead of requiring complete rewiring of houses where the wiring was underwater, they now only require that all the outlets, switches and breakers are swapped out. We also spent the week meeting with contractors to get multiple bids on all aspects of the project.
Based on the information we’ve received from the county and the bids we’ve received from our contractors, here is the current budget breakdown (those amounts highlighted in yellow are the confirmed contractor bids we have):
We still have some decisions to make and some bids to get, but we’ve narrowed our budget down to somewhere between $32,500 and $37,900 — which still makes it very possible that we can hit our $34,500 goal.
j what is the best way to get a handle on repair cost . this is from someone that has no experience in estimating jobs. the material cost isnt to hard to get but the labor and profit is confusing to me
thx
J, a $600 water heater? Sounds high to me.
Reed, if you have no experience estimating then go spend a couple of days at Lowes and Home Depot. Not only get acquainted with the price of things but also talk to the contractors there.
You can also get to know investors in your area and ask who they are using for their work and how much they pay for different types of labor. Then when you have a project call those contractors that have been recommended to you by others. Always get at least 3 bids for every contract and then compare them and use one to get a better price with another. Also, on your first project start small…my first rehab was $9,000. I probably paid a bit too much for something in there but at that total cost it could not have been much.
Finally, keep on reading this blog and you will learn a lot…
Luis –
The $600 covers a 50 gallon tall water heater and expansion tank plus tax. Total is around $520, but I always round up to be conservative.
Luis thx for the great Info.
I always round down. Bad habit.
Jay,
The only thing the Flood house is missing is a large deck. Ha Ha. Too bad the house is slab on grade. Congrats to Nathan, glad you all got home safe.
Carl
the Wright design firm, inc.