Kitchen Cabinets Doors Replacement Bloomfield

If you’re taking bids for your new kitchen remodeling project, then most likely you’ve seen allowances on your bids. So what is an allowance any way? Is it really something to avoid? There has been a great deal written about avoiding the allowance trap. Let’s clear this up. As a contractor an allowance is nothing more than a tool. Let’s say you’ve invited a contractor to bid your kitchen remodeling project. You know what you’re looking for in terms of cabinets and arrangements, but you don’t want to waste time picking out lighting fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and tile until you know you can afford the new kitchen. Makes sense, right? Of course it does and that’s why contractors use allowances. Instead of leaving the tile out of the bid, they allot an amount for the tile. It’s that simple. But what if they allot too little to keep their price the lowest. At some point you will need to get a basic understanding of what your tile will cost, so visit a tile store and find out if the allowance is fair. If you find a few contractors that are low balling the allowance that’s great!

Now you’ve weeded out the bad contractors without having to enter into a contract and lose time and money.

There is always room for a kitchen island and here is a great example. This island is nothing more than a base cabinet with the toe kick removed and replaced with four casters. Place a counter top on it (great place for a butcher block top) and you have a mobile island. Create a niche for it to slip into and you have a usable kitchen island without permanently taking up space in your kitchen. You can also incorporate this idea into a large kitchen with a permanent island for additional flexibility during parties.

How To Start Bidding Your Home Addition

Start by considering what type of home you have, is it a large one of a kind custom home, or is it a home that looks somewhat similar to the homes in your area. If the first is true of your home start with customs drawings. Typically an architect / designer is not required, but one will be helpful with blending into a unique design. If the latter best describes your home here’s a great cost saving tip, start by explaining your room addition to a few local addition contractors. A quality addition contractor will have there own in house architectural design department and have designed hundreds of home additions. More importantly they probably have built many additions like the one you intend to have built onto your home. Ask to see some plans from past projects and once you’ve found a few similar to your project the contractor should be able to tell you what those past room additions cost. This will allow you to get preliminary prices with out the expense of architectural drawings. Just keep in mind that those prices will only give you an approximation of what your addition might cost, but it gives you the ability to decide whether or not to pursue your project any further. If the addition still sounds like a good idea then you need to create a set of specifications. This is the document you’ll be handing to your contractor. It should include every thing the contractor needs to know to price the project. In its simplest form it is a list of all your wants, needs, and material selections.

The more complete your able to make this document the better the chance your contractor will be bidding the project correctly.

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