All Forum Posts by: Bryan Devitt

Both are in right now so they should both work depending on what the rest of the house is like and who you're marketing to 

Smooth panel is in for modern but the buyer pool for that is a lot smaller than traditional. If you're in a hipster neighborhood it might work. Your best bet is to search the MLS and see what just sold for the best sq ft price and see what their kitchens are, then see what is still on the market for the same sq ft price and see what they have for kitchens. You will see a trend that will push you in the right direction

It isn't just popcorn ceilings that keep the smoke smell in, it is all ceilings painted with cheap ceiling paint. The paint doesn't seal, it just turns things white (for a short time). Painting with proper primer and paint encapsulates the smoke filled ceiling and gets rid of the smell. It is better to scrape it or even take it down and put up a new ceiling, but proper prime and paint is cheaper and good enough in most cases. As long as the wall paint is good, everything can be washed to get rid of the smell except the carpets. 

Look up Vintage Builders on IG and go through their projects. Some of their houses are ridiculous money ($7-12M) but most of their projects are right around your sq ft pricing. After you look up those two companies you will probably get some suggested people to follow that are comparable 

How many sq ft? I can get 5k sq ft by me for $1m or 1k sq ft 45 minutes east for the same price. If you're on Instagram look up JCH cabinets. He does higher end work on the SC coast and will give you a good idea of what kind of kitchens are going into higher end houses that get put into magazines 

Hire a surveyor to map the property and prove where the building is. Take that to your town/city building dept and/or zoning dept. They will have setback bylaws stating how far from the property line buildings need to be. They will then have the neighbor move the structure 

Did he just declare bankruptcy? I would run a background check and see if he lost everything due to fraud and that is why they have to relocate. Having a credit score in the toilet and no job might be better if he declared and just wiped out a bunch of debt and is starting up again in a new location but I always worry when someone with a bad history just gets up and moves. I wouldn't say no automatically but why the credit score is so bad and criminal background check would make or break it for me. 

What is "lower end"? Most of what we install is white shaker with black hardward, black granite and stainless appliances. Current kitchen is in a $400k house so it is quarts top and "black stainless" appliances because they're more trendy right now 

Weekly GC fees are typical with higher end contractors that are trustworthy. The % at the end, is that total cost of job? I know of some getting $2500/month + 13% but those are multi-million dollar houses. $1k/week is steep IMO esp if they're not using all their own subs. For that price they should be literally doing everything and just telling you when to cut the checks and what day to bring in the realtor and photographer. There needs to be penalties for poor work and going over the time frame in the contract. If you're bringing your own subs though, they probably won't want to sign off on being responsible for their work but for that price, you're a babysitter no matter who is doing the work. Have you received any numbers from other GCs for comparison or is he the only one that will respond so far? 

@Mindy Jensen 99% of the time it is reflection from a neighboring structure, either window or skylight. It will keep happening again and again if that is the case. The only way to solve it is to replace the vinyl with something that doesn't melt [wood or hardie (that is installed properly, it rarely is)] and then have it painted to match the vinyl