Who and how much?

Question

I am planning to remodel one bedroom 10' X 14'. I want all the walls and ceiling removed and have the room blueboarded with plastering. The electrical work will be limited to several outlets. Depending on the price I may want to have a recessed wardrobe installed. Who do you think I should hire, a GC or a handyman or ......? How much may this cost me? Thanks in advance.

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Adam Logan · Answer

A FEW people.  Exclude the GC for many reasons and one is his markup on material.  Do some research and shopping, and YOU compile whatever you can think of at the BEST price.  Check local classifieds for building materials MANY people/contractors DUMP OFF their excess like for nothing,

Basically, sub it yourself.  If get a quote on one thing the handyman could do, make sure you can estimate the time it would take him, and divie the price for his hourly service price.  Then, when you get other quotes, do the same and see who is cheaper per hour and use the guy that has the lowest hourly pay per job.

The tearout anyone can do that like YOU, save the money.  a handyman can hang drywall probably, then hire someone to texture it if he does not know how.

Some handyman work based on time estimae and wage, others estimate on desperacy for work, or how much they hate that specific task.  If theyre swamped, like EVERY contractor, the bid will be high cuz they dont "NEED" the work but bid so high that anyone taking it makes it worth working into the evening and weekends to squeeze  you in.  Thus, try 3 quoted EVERY project and make sure at least one sub is obscure like off a message board or something.  
The less places they are listing ads in the more likely have a ton of work all the time and more likrly the quote will reflect an effort to win the bids.

craigslist.com has help wanteds and those guys sometimes its bo career, but beer money and they may be just as good.  They WILL be cheaper than anyone trying to build a company and career.

He prolly will know electrical and electricians are 
$60/hr.  Thats an EASY wire job.  a new 20 amp breaker and wire.  If running new duct or anything, the hvac guy will know how.  Offer him the side work eith it.

Post help wanted ads in places for specific parts of the work and in this economy youll find someone so desperate they will work more for the feeling of optimism of new work than the  cash.  Their often laid off tradesman too.

do your own baseboards.  Cheap and easy, use the pressed wood cheap stuff to save 50 pct.

dunno whats wrong with your ceiling that you want it torn out, but theres cardboard, metal, and textured ceiling tile looking wallpaper alternatives to simply cover the flaws.  15+ cents a sf for textured ceiling tile wallpaper DIY, .50 to 1 an sf for armstrong cardboard diy, up to $50 an sf not installed for copper tiles.  Even if theres holes, dryall patch them and these will cover all flaws.

Flooring?  Carpet?  is it being changed?  is it hardwood?  Tile? carpet, laminate?  Carpet is about $1 sf installed with a good priced installer and a berber.  If tile, like I do and a select few other companies like mine, I could reglaze the tile a solid color, or make it look like stone for $1 a sf MAYBE AND a long warranty in about 1 day-2 days, long first day very short visit the second.  Only knock is the grout is the same color as tile, not as noticeable as u think but looks perfectly fine on solid colors like white, and cracks, chips, breaks, missing crout can be fixed/patched.  The grout suddenly is non pourous and unstainable.

Planning hardwood?  buy a 10% off lowes coupon on ebay for 3 bucks, try for some lowes giftcards there too at about 90 cents on the dollar, together a 20% discount.  They have a 3 color variety machined oak 2.5in wide hardwood for $1.78 an sf before the coupons.  Lumber liquidators has unfinished oak for .99 an sf but if your enviroments humid or hot, or damp you NEED machined like above, this is thick real hardwood and those environments expand and contract it so much it is a nasty problem.

PAINT TIP:
Interior exterior paint king?  Wal Mart color place.  $9.95 a gallon.  MADE BY SHERWIN WILLIAMS AND RELABELED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  5 year warranty.  Never used anything else, this was one of my many known secrets of my investment career.

Basically, be the GC.  They sub out other contractors JUST LIKE you could do, and add to their price, the material cost and they dont look for deals either in the product.  Probably 3 times more than if you follow this.  Need 
it designed?   Ask the handyman his opinion see what you think.  The GC will get an architect to handle it  and blueprints around a grand at your cost.  If nearby, AND with hardwood floors,

I do side jobs when I can which is almost never :(  I dont know anyone where I live much to get referrals.  but when I work my company I get a few alerting my customers to plumbing or electric problems or I notice theyre starting a project I tell them I do stuff cheap.  Consider me a craiglist guy begging for a quick money project in a post ad, equivalent

Id prolly be around labor wise ONLY unless specified,

FLOORS:
Hardwood floor
-$240 without the wood if its replacing carpet and you pull carpet up.  It is assuming no subfloor needed, if so, must have that done ahead of time fore me I wont install those.
-$560 AND THAT INCLUDES the lowes hardwood I mentioned 
-$440 wood not incl and your replacing tile with it, that I must jachammer up.

Tile:
NEW FLOOR TILE
-240 labor on a basic ready to lay install you provide material.
-240 if theres already tile previously but IF its level, i can overlayer it with the new tile and not remove the old tile.  You provide material.  Add  +$200 if it wasnt level and had to be jackhammered up before installed.

My Company to Reglaze the Old Tile
-$200 to reglaze/resurface it or so, with a 3 yr warranty maybe longer, This would be done at the company pricescale not MINE. This is elevated just because we wont do any contracts that are not $200 or more.
-$120  If other projects in the house being done by amerikotes process and combined are 200 or more, add difference to 120 if the other jobs and the 120 still dont equal 200. (Ex. we paint also a bathroom sink for 70 the floor would be $130 then.  70 plus 120 are 190.  Wed add the 10 to make it the 200 min)

Drywall
I hate doing drywall, but I can texture it too unfortunately.  Prices include it orange peeled but also I would be stingier on pricing than other work.  Its hard.  Ill fix or do a wall cheap, but when it comes to big projects I hate life after the second hour.  BUT, I am good with it I can even make it blend invisible in the middle of a 1 inch thick plaster wall.

-$1000 without materials.  Ceiling left intact.  PROBABLY not with tearout.
+200 PROBABLY if I had to tearout and dispose the old.
+300 Add celing without  tearout or material just lay drywall
+150 tearout ceiling too and all the above are elected
total drywall labor $1650 MINIMUM Materials not included

Electrical
-$300-$500 running just new wire to a new breaker in the box, 3 outlets no ceiling lite and the dryall is OUT.  Common sense.  MIGHT include material depending on attic, distances, etc.

Paint
A couple/few hundred bucks.

I wonder how I stack up these days.  I charge based on whether I enjoy the work or hate it, or whether it is a very skilled thing.  Refinishing anything in a kitchen or bath I do CHEEEAAP but its done under my company.  I can essentially use paint/like materials and chemicals and remodel an entire house with those as supplies.

We once remodeled an entire kitchen in my company with our coatings only for like $4000, but I am talking 100% remodel.  Went from 1960's to modern without tearing out one item, and it appeared ALL completely had been replaced quality wise.  I made the "solid surface look." A contour edged counter using a stone look fleck vinyltoluene-acrylate, solubilized in aliphatic hydrocarbons, and an industrial almost invincible clearcoat.  We painted the cabinets, filled tons of chips,  changed the doors by custom ordering them for the customer in their choice of design by a company we have an account with that has them made in Mexico for about 30% american cost, painted sink, also the appliances in professional grade metalic stainless paint, painted floor tile in a high solids porcelain urethane white after an aerospace use type primer and a high solids chemically hardened chear coat, and matched the backsplash the same way.  Hit the marble windowsill too, and used the stone paint to match the counters on the bare drywall, .

Adam Logan · Answer

I STRESS AGAIN:  Dont pay a GC to do nothing but call HIS people to go work at their set prices when theres cheaper people than "their people."  Youd be PAYING HIM to make you spend MORE on the subs too.