<p>I have never considered used appliances because buyers seem to be enamored with “new”. I actually had a couple want me to prove to them that the stove was new. It’s a little hard except showing the receipt, which I don’t like to do. In my mind it’s none of their business what I paid for the appliances, as long as I can give them the warranty. And, we always have to turn it on to test it so I have to take the stickers off or they’ll burn. I’ve seen photos in competitor listings that still have the paper stickers on the oven door (which I guess proves it’s new) but I don’t know how they tested the gas lines, etc.</p>
<p>On Craigslist you can get a lot of white or black appliances but stainless newer models are rare. In our market you just have to have new stainless in the kitchen. I don’t have stainless in my own home because I am sick of constantly cleaning all the stainless, finger prints etc.</p>
<p>This will be the first house I’m going to try and sell without a refrigerator in the new kitchen. I see all the other houses with gaping holes in their kitchen so I thought I’d try to save the $1200 and see what happens.</p>
<p>Wow, I cannot imagine how you are going to cut the prefabricated tub walls around a window. That’s going to be tough to keep it water tight. And yes, plumbing holds everything up. You cant put the tub in place until the drain is plumbed up through the hole and the tub and Shower valves are installed and sticking out of the walls. In the end I think plumbing is what put me so far behind on this project. Next time I’m going to find a two person team that can stay ahead of us.</p>
<p>I am using a 5 piece surround and cleverly got one that has only flat parts where the window is. Hold the piece up, trace out around the opening, and cut. It doesn’t have to be incredibly precise because the edges will be covered by a piece of trim.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The window is vinyl, all the trim around it will be vinyl. I put a new window sill in with a 15 degree slope so a) all the water runs off and b) you can’t put anything on it.</p>
<p>A meticulous caulk job should keep the water out of the wall (knock on wood), plus I will put up a second shower rod and hang a curtain liner in front of the window to keep the water off.</p>
<p>The first one came out pretty well, I should take some pictures. :)</p>
<p>how many sheets of drywall can $800 buy? and does it incl. Joint compound? Tapes? Sanding papers? Purple boards? 5/8 boards? Screws? Nails? corner angles? For a totally stripped house 1000sf in size, I think that $800 is too low.</p>
<p>^^ I am doing it without appliances at all(stove, vent, microwave, washer/dryer and dishwasher), immediately, I got request of installing them. I said it was for rent and the new owner may have different ideas. I could put in used ones.</p>
<p>You are correct that the material cost should have been higher. We left the plaster walls in the living room because they weren’t damaged or smelly. We bought 90 sheets 1/2" regular Drywall and 12 sheets green board. 10 boxes of mud and tape and some 90/20 bags of hot mud. Total was around $1,000 but I had a special 20% off coupon that I saved for a big order and I ordered everything on a special Pro Day and got free delivery.</p>
<p>I may have cheated a bit on the sales tax for the materials because I broke out Drywall materials out of a big purchase.</p>
<p>You are selling a house without any appliances? My understanding is that buyers cannot get financing for a house that doesn’t have a working toilet, bathroom sink, stove and kitchen sink. That’s why a lit if REOs without stoves and sinks have to sell to cash buyers only. Sometimes banks shove in a stupid little stove in the giant gap in cabinets before listing.</p>
<p>If the buyer needs a loan, won’t the appraiser designate it as " not livable "?? I wanted to give a credit for buyer to get their own appliances, but my agent said we have to have at least stove and the venting, which microwave provides.</p>
<p>Oh, the sinks and toilets are working. I am planning to put in used stoves if necessary.</p>
<p>Regarding the sheetrocks, I thought the ceiling needs 5/8. So, the texturing will be part of painting budget? I was using that 20% coupon for the big purchase also, but there is a limit on the amount of purchase, so I did not use it, instead, HD sent out for a “bid” and it turned out less than 20%. Nevertheless, when all was done, I had much larger “finishing” material cost, OTOH, I had a much larger house to do and it is a duplex.</p>
<p>You are correct that the drywall screws, which probably cost about $75 total are not in this total because I have so many left over from previous jobs, I just brought over the big boxes from my storage unit. Also had a lot of tape left over from other jobs.</p>
<p>I think in reality, even with the discounts I used, that the drywall, materials and labor should have been about $3,500 - $3,700. I wanted smooth walls, so no texture was put on the walls. This is probably what caused our little problems that still need to be fixed - they probably would have been hidden by some type of texture. But I hate ‘orange peel’ and I don’t like any kind of bumpy texture, so I insisted on smooth walls. I’m going to guess that it will cost about $200 more in labor just to go through the house and fix/sand the imperfections, especially in the bathrooms.</p>
<p>Also, we don’t have to use 5/8" on the ceilings. It may be a code requirement for 2 story homes? Maybe it provides a slight firewall between the floors?</p>
<p>Oh no! What a shame! For a person who likes to take baths, there is NOTHING like a good old-fashioned clawfoot tub. We have one in our bathroom, and I love it. Nice and deep. Replacing it with some sucky shallow plastic thing with no-skid strips on the bottom does not cut it for me.</p>
<p>I considered using claw foot tub in our remodel but kept picturing having to clean under and around all the feet so went with built in instead. It is deep though.</p>
<p>In a “flip this house” show, they referred to the smooth wall as level 5 finish, they implied that a level 5 finish is LOT more expensive than an “orange peel” texturing finish. Had that been only $200, I would like to have a smooth finish as well, less priming. I can see a smooth finish will be more labor, because it requires more shimming.</p>
<p>Yes, the 5/8" sheetrock is used on the first floor ceilings in a two story building and in the garage. Since your garage is not attached, so there is no need for it.</p>
<p>Comparing labor costs, I realized I did not use the right subs, as a result, my cost is much higher than yours. However, since the total square footage is almost double of yours, I guess my costs are still justifiable.</p>
<p>I just read section 7044 of Business and Professional Code, in essence that section of code restrict the marketability of Owner/Builder of a property. In one of the building permit I am looking at right now it says:</p>
<p>“I, as the owner of the property, or my employees with wages as their sole compensation, will do the work, and the structure is not intended or offered for sale. (section 7044…)”</p>
<p>Section 7044 restricts the owner/builder to sell the property for ONE YEAR.</p>
<p>I did not see that reference in other cities, but the code is there. If you look at all those flip shows carefully, they all use a “contractor”, not owner builder.</p>
<p>I don’t know how section 7044 can be enforced, but in an event of property dispute or the buyer wants to back out of a contract, they might look into the code and the seller may have to hold the stick.</p>
<p>Yes, I know that smooth walls are the hardest to do for drywallers. But I am not feeling sorry for them because I made it very clear that I wanted smooth texture. They kept telling me that they would do Level 3 (whatever that is) and I said, No Thanks. Had no idea that smooth walls were called ‘Level 5’ because this is the first house that I had to do a total gut with all new drywall. Usually we are just drywalling patches from walls coming down to make ‘open concept’ or some walls rebuilt inside bathrooms.</p>
<p>I know that the drywallers had to do an extra day than they anticipated to try to get the smooth walls.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how Section 7044 affects our City Building Permits. When I pulled a permit for a big room addition, I know that there was a lot of fine print for the Homeowner Permit. I read it thoroughly and as far as I could tell I was just liable for workman’s comp and other worker issues. Never read anything about ‘one year’ before I could sell. </p>
<p>I believe the reason that they are picky about the Homeowner Permits is because if a contractor builds new construction, additions, spec homes, etc. there is a built in warranty period of 10 years. If you are remodeling/building a home as a homeowner (which I am) then the warranty does not apply. So, I think they have to be as strict as they can.</p>
<p>When I did a room addition on a flip I was very concerned that the building inspector was going to catch on that I wasn’t going to be living in the home. I did everything possible to pretend that I was moving into the house. When he came for final inspection we already had our For Sale sign up - had to rush around and take down everything and purposely ‘mess up’ our house that was staged perfectly. He didn’t blink an eye although I know he knew what I was up to.</p>
<p>section 7044 affects everyone, it is a code for everyone, except in the cities I was in, they did not have it in the front page or the fine points. This city I am in NOW they put that restriction as a check point on the first page of their permit. Therefore, I cannot do what I was doing before. In the future, I will be more careful not to apply for a owner/builder permit. Since a contractor’s permit does not have this marketability issue.</p>
<p>In your case, CB, you did not even have a permit, right?</p>
I hear you, but we had several reasons for doing this:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The elderly lady in one unit could no longer safely get in and out of the tub. She was thinking of moving over this.</p></li>
<li><p>While you and I may think clawfoots are neat, tenants as a rule don’t, especially with some sort of semi-jury-rigged shower setup over the tub. It is a huge marketability issue. This is rental property after all.</p></li>
</ol>