Last week we finally met with the contractor that a friend referred to do our bathroom remodel project. We live in a very old house built in 1955, and the bathroom needs some updating. Everything is functional, but aged, and its not that big of a room just five by seven We wanted to gut it and put in new tile in the tub, on the floor and get new fixtures and cabinets. One quote we got to do this on both bathrooms was $6500 each for a total of $13000. I was like, how much? For two weeks of work, you want $13K? NOT.
We decided we wanted to minimize the costs by doing the tear down and disposal of scrap ourselves. We also wanted someone who would be willing to work with us and let us do the simple stuff like hook up the sinks, nail the cabinets to the wall, paint, etc. It was important to us that the contractor agree to work by the hour too. So we met with the guy and he looked at our bathroom and we discussed us doing tear down, and him do the buildup. So it looks like it will cost us less than $1000 in labor for one bathroom.
So on the weekend, he lent us his rotary hammer to tear out the old wall tiles and concrete. What a job! Its dusty and a work out for the arms and shoulders. We're both achy this morning and sore and tired. We still have more to do.
So that is the priority in our frugal life these days, meaning cut backs to extracurricular work like concerts. Bare minimum of couponing, and focus on eating out of the stockpile.