This past weekend, I finally got started on the master bath remodel I have been putting off since we moved into our new house last August. To be fair, I have actually spent quite a bit of time investigating and planning (and even spending some money) for what I want to do, but I actually started the tear out on Saturday.
This is my first experience with a tear-out. At my last house, I had to do some tile repair, but this project is quite a bit more involved.
I started several months ago by bring in some contractors to give me an estimate. I was expecting these guys to bring some new ideas and, based on their experience, come up with a solution that my wife and I would love. Ooops!
The first guy was from Dun-Rite and was the biggest joke. Basically, he gave me a quote of 18K to redo the same thing we already had. Then, right before he was going to leave, he told me he could give me a "discount" if I committed to a date that night - and that discount wasn't for 10K. Just pathetic!
The second guy was much more reasonable. He was nice and friendly, a self-employed handy man in my neighborhood. However, he was a bit out-of-date (i.e. didn't have a computer, didn't use the Internet) and everything had to come through Home Depot. I don't have a problem with Home Depot, but if I can find something cheaper on-line ... Anyway, he didn't offer up much in the way of new ideas either.
The third guy was still at least reasonable - I think his quote was somewhere around 9K, but no new ideas and he took fooorrrreeeevvvvveerrr to give us a quote. My wife kept calling him and he kept giving excuses about how busy it was and how he would get that quote to us "tomorrow."
So, I don't know if I was just unlucky or if this is what you get with the type of people that do this work, but it left a bad enough taste in my mouth to just do it myself (or at least try). Plus, I really do like this type of work as a hobby - it is just hard to find the time with a young family.
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