Setting Some Expectations
Discussing money isn't everybody's favorite topic, but it's important to discuss the possibilities up front, either with your designer or contractor. This way, they can design your kitchen according to your needs and your budget. You will always run the risk of going over budget, if you don't set any clear guidelines from the start. Make sure you assess your finances and funding opportunities and decide what you are comfortable spending BEFORE getting started on designs.
The Wrong Place to Look
Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we need to discuss the wrong places to research your kitchen remodeling budget:
TV (See our article HGTV: Reality or Fiction?)
Angi or HomeAdvisor (Both are owned by the same company)
Many Google searches
All of these services have similar flaws - they take a generalist approach, leave out important information, and a lot of these services typically have ulterior motives.
The budget you see on HGTV shows is usually far less than the actual costs. Read the link our blog above to learn more.
Angi and HomeAdvisor simply want to collect your information and sell it to every contractor in a 50-mile radius. As for their free cost guides, they're polling a large amount of information from projects all over the country and averaging out the costs. Much of this information comes from permits pulled for jobs, which many contractors fill out to be less than actual as a way to mitigate permit fees. It's the sad reality but it's true. To add to that, many of these projects aren't full kitchen remodels. It could be a backsplash tile job, countertop replacement, or new appliances - all of which will cost far less than a total gut and remodel.
Lastly, a lot of the information you will find searching through Google and a variety of other sources won't be specific to your location. Location can affect costs quite a bit for a variety of reasons. Transportation fees, lack of materials in certain regions, and local taxes are a few of the reasons that will affect prices from one locale to another.
Where You Should Look
The best place to learn what you might spend on your kitchen remodel will be your neighbors, friends, and family who have had a similar kitchen remodel completed. Keep in mind, not every remodel is apples-to-apples. You have to account for many factors that can affect the budget such as when the project was completed (was it last year or 10 years ago?), the quality of the materials, whether or not there was any major mechanical work or structural modifications, types of appliances, and more. Even so, if your friends or family are comfortable sharing, it can be a great way to learn about what your kitchen may cost.
Another great place is reading through forums online and finding information from people who have shared about their similar experiences, preferably in your state or region of the country. The common factor in all of these sources are they are non-biased, and the project is already completed. You can learn what they spent in relation to what value they received. You'll typically find those who had spent less ended up with far more headaches than those that invested more upfront. That's not always the case though, it's also important to consider if they worked with a reliable contractor. A competent contractor can alleviate a lot of the stress when remodeling.
Don't Pick the Cheapest Option
This one carries a lot of warnings. Be careful who you select to do your kitchen remodel. If there is a contractor under-bidding everybody else, he will win a lot of jobs, but he will leave a lot of damage in his wake. These contractors are typically fly-by-nighters who want to make money on a quick flip. Often, they don't make it very far in one town, so they either move to the next town under a new name or they go out of business before long. Most contractors who are reliable end up quoting work within 5-10% of each other because they are using the same materials from the same places and using the same level of skilled labor to install everything. The ONLY way a contractor can charge less for the same scope of work is:
Cheaper materials
Cheaper labor
Less overhead
They charge you more later after the project is already started, with change work orders
The first two end up costing you more money down the road, either due to expensive repairs or lawsuits. Most contractors have similar overhead because they're running similar operations, which nullifies the third option. And the ones who charge you more after starting the work simply shouldn't be in business because they are either inexperienced or were purposefully dishonest to begin with.
If you get multiple quotes, make sure you stay away from any outliers that are either far too low or far too high. Find the middle-ground with a contractor whom you believe you can trust and who has good reviews and a portfolio to vouch for his or her work.
What Should I Expect to Invest?
Now that we have established those basic warnings, we can discuss the ballpark of what your kitchen budget should be. As we mentioned every kitchen is a little different and for the sake of simplicity, this example will be based off of a full gut and remodel of a medium-to-large sized kitchen. Keep in mind, these are our typical budgets with the customers we work for around Berks and Montgomery counties, and every job varies. First, you'll always want to establish a preliminary budget with your designer or contractor, and they should have a detailed set of plans and specifications drawn up. Nothing can sabotage a budget more than poor preparation and a lack of details and communication. Everything hinges off of getting proper designs and clear documentation set up front before the project even starts.
That being said, here is an idea of what you might invest. If you are removing all of your cabinetry, countertops and flooring but leaving the walls in place - and - not moving any appliances or updating any major systems such as electrical or plumbing, you can typically expect to invest around $50,000 to $75,000. Depending on the finishes you want you, you can easily stay toward the lower end with careful planning and a stern resolve not to get caught up with fancy designer appliances and finishes. If you want a designer kitchen with all of the more extravagant finishes, it's easy to arrive at $75,000 and even easier to keep spending more. It's always good to work with a contractor who will "copilot" you through the design process, as we call it. If you work with a design-build company, they should have a really good understanding of all of the material and labor costs and should be able to give you real-time feedback as you make your design choices and selections. This way, they can be your guardrails and keep you from going over your desired budget.
To better understand those costs, we'll provide an extremely simplified breakdown of materials and labor based off of a typical full-gut, medium-sized kitchen remodel (labor included with each cost):
Design and Permits: $6,000
Demolition and Dumpster: $3,000
Mechanicals (Plumbing, Electrical and HVAC): $5,000 - 10,000
Drywall: $1,500 - 3,000
Flooring: $3,000 - 5,000
Cabinetry: $15,000 - 20,000
Trim and Hardware: $3,000 - 5,000
Backsplash: $3,000 - 5,000
Appliances: $7,500 - 15,000
Paint: $2,000 - 3,000
Suffice to say, there are ways to bring some of these costs down. Some kitchens will have less cabinetry, or you could opt for less expensive countertops, but one thing you don't want to compromise on is the quality of materials and the workmanship. It will only cause headaches and increased costs down the road. Make sure you are getting solid wood cabinets, with soft-close doors and drawers (usually standard nowadays). You will want durable countertops like granite or quartz. Just know that some luxury colors can easily add 33% or more to your countertop budget. Complicated door styles or cabinet construction like inset doors can add to your budget as well.
Conclusion
There are a lot of factors at play when developing a kitchen remodeling budget. Every customer has different tastes and there isn't any shortage of materials to choose from these days. Just remember to establish what you are comfortable spending on your budget before you get designs completed, and relay that information to your designer or contractor. Ultimately, you can work with a design-build company that combines the best of both worlds and knows how to guide you through the design and construction phase. For more information on working with a design-build company, see our blog here.
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