"PB2" wrote

Our family is in the process of buying our first house and wanted to
ask a few questions about doing renovations. This is the first time
we've owned a house, so we know nothing about renovations - who to
hire, how to do them, how to plan timing, etc. - so we wanted to ask
a few questions on this group regarding it.

Not a bad group to ask. Your answers as of now vary somewhat widely but as
you narrow things down, you can get more help on those specifics.

The house is in fairly good shape - it's 25 years old and has been
reasonably well maintained. We don't anticipate having to do any major
structural changes.

Good. But your term 'major' there scares me a little. I'll read your note
deeper to see what is 'major' in your mind. It is after all, a very
relative term.

What we do want to do is 1) renovate the kitchen
2) renovate two bathrooms 3) replace wallpaper with paint throughout
the house and 4) refinish the hardwood floors. We'd like to do all
this before we move in. This is a 2500 sq ft 3BR house in the suburbs
of Boston.

Humm, you have to define 'renovate' for the bathrooms and kitchen here. The
closest you touch for kitchen seems to involve just swapping the stove and
fridge and if both are electric and there isnt a cabinet structure
preventing one from moving to the other location, this is not a major deal.

What you really need to know is that you should *expect* sudden big bills
for 'something awry' and that the first 2-5 years are the hardest
financially. If it doesnt seem rude to make an estimation from your choices
of wording, you seem white collar fairly flush financially executive sort,
with enough smarts to ask but possibly not aware of the impact that the
mortgage, insurance, taxes, and 'all that neat stuff you want' will have on
the budget (which hits us simple folks too). I assure you, even if you are
buying at same monthly cost (tax, mortgage, insurance combined and FIXED
RATE PLEASE!) as your current rent, you will have a shock or so.

First time home owners almost always fail to plan for that. It may be the
new sofa and curtins, or it may be something else but suddenly you find you
need 12,000$ for a roof job that cant wait and now you no longer have that
excess to deal with it easily. Thats what some are saying when they say to
delay the 'improvements' a bit and slate them out but they were not as
specifically pointed to your language use so may not have been all that
clear to you.

A few questions that I'd love to pose to the group:

1) I know there are general contractors and contractors. What are the
advantages/disadvantages of choosing one over the other, given the
amount of work we need done? We don't have any experience doing home
repair work, we'd like to do the work done quickly so we're not paying
both rent/mortgage simultaneously, and we'd like the work to be high
quality. The data points I have indicate we'd be better off with a GC,
but I don't have a sense for the premium that involves.

If you insist on the work being done before you occupy, you are going to pay
both. The current owner will _probably_ be happy to let an inspector in at
their schedule, but you need to sweet talk them about this and keep it to
the same lines you woulding mind if this was happening to your own apartment
you live in now. None of this 'what do you mean I have to be here Thursday
at noon or give me your keys so your prework ideas can be estimated! Bugger
off!'.

General contractors vs specific can be a touchy subject but my own
experinece is specific ones to the work do a better quality overall. I paid
more to have my sunroom done by a sunroom specialist for example instead of
some general contractor sort that would buy a kit online and figure it out
like a little kid with a new set of tinker toys.

- side note to that specific sunroom, first estimate came from a good friend
who has done many quality jobs in *his* line for us and sugggested this
fellow. We were both shocked to find he was pompous and very high end with
us and wanted us to not only do significant personal demolishment before he
would come back with an even rough estimate, but refused to look at the room
as the code spec of my area for 'enclosed porch' and was mandating '4th
bedroom' specs of my area which would have included raising about 44x13ft of
roof extension by 6 inches creating a slope problem that would have resulted
in total reroof to rise the whole house). A good relationship with the
contractor is essential and as personal as when you hire someone to do
anything at work for you. Apparently in this case I set the fellow off the
wrong way and his reaction was to make him not usable. His estimates did
not include the roof work and were exceptionally vague but started with
35,000 with 'probably gonna be a great deal more, might be double'. I went
with the quality local sunroom company who was next highest price but had
seen their work at local places. It's lovely and they were willing to work
with me well.

2) When should I be doing when to expedite this? We just agreed on a
price and the inspection will be early next week. The closing is
planned for 11/12. Should I ask if I can get contractors in before
closing to get estimates? Is that reasonable to ask from a seller? Any
other recommendations for what I can do to get the work done as
quickly as possible?

It's ok to 'ask' but be really nice. If you keep in mind each time, it was
you being asked by a later guy who's gonna take where you live now and want
to send folks in there before that 11/12 date and you'd be acceptable for it
if they worked with you, then it might be to them.

- side note again, the law in my state requires I make sure my dog is not in
the way of any contract work and although he's a sweet natured 'beagle mix'
(apparently part beagle, part bull Mastiff) we never let anyone be worried
and keep him out of the way securely so the workers do not need to be
worried. If your prospective house folks have cats or dogs, this is a
concern you need to be aware of.

3) How do I go about finding a good people to do the work? I've e-
mailed friends that I know that have had work done in the area and I'm
hoping to get suggestions. But are there other resources I can
leverage? Do any of you know good people to do work? in the Boston
area

I dont know your area but 'word of mouth' can be very good indeed. I
recommend several folks here in Norfolk very highly and will add their few
detractions to the list at the same time. I am not so flush with money so
often have to go the cheaper route and do part of the work ourselves. My
favorite fence person (wood yard fence) is a drinking buddy of my husband.
Do not disclaim such for estimates. The picture window that was propped up
by 2x4's when we got back stateside was done by an old friend 'specialist
contractor' and the insurance company wanted his name after inspecting the
work and knowing the price. I reminded the insurance company that our price
was not average but due to long personal association and they were still
happy with the work (they pay bu standard prices with deductions and could
not find this for under $3,000 when we got it for a hair under $1,000).

So, ask your fiends who have houses and get many estimates for all work. It
can be very beneficial to list the dream and the lower 'just need this now'
basic needs and get 2 estimates from the same contractor. Many will do
this.

4) Do I need an architect? I may want to move the stove to where the
refrigerator is (it's on the counter between the kitchen and the
breakfast area, which means no backsplash) and the refrigerator over
to where the oven/microwave is, but aside from that I don't anticipate
making any changes. We're willing spend some money and get relatively
high end materials / appliances / fixtures, etc, but don't need
something super stylish / fancy.

If your kitchen renovation is just this, you do not need anything more than
just a buddy to help move it. Do watch the feet if you have linoleum as you
can rip it by accident when moving the fridge. (please, dont ask *wince*).
If both are electric, and freestanding, tis easy. Normally the electrical
outlets will be the same so you have a sorta 'plug and play' deal going on.

5) Are there any websites with simple tutorials about this stuff?

Yes and no, they come specific to an item. Wide rang knowlege base comes
from real people, but i bet you knew that (grin).

Appreciate any help you guys can provide!

I hope i have helped and not hindered you. I'm a little wierded out aby a
3BR 2 BA home at 2400 sq ft. I'm not at all gonna however think it's weird
of a first time buyer who's not quite sure of that detail and this place may
have extra rooms not listed, like maybe home office and such.