Staying on Budget

Here is an update on the J.E.H Kitchen Remodel as well as a few words on budgeting.

While the clients loved the design proposal, they didn't quite love the price.
This is a problem that most people (clients or otherwise) will run into all the time.
So, what makes your budget skyrocket? Usually, it is the allowance items.

Some items in the quote will rarely change once quoted out to the subcontractors. For example, the cost of labor to install flooring, counter tops, tile, plumbing, electrical or cabinetry.
Allowance items are things that you change your mind on. This may include: appliances, tile, granite, the style of door or wood you have chosen for your cabinets, plumbing fixtures, electrical fixtures, etc.

You may have just picked out the perfect tile for your floor. It is so perfect that it matches the mosaic that will go behind the stove. This is great until you realize that you have just picked out tile that drives the cost of the job up a few hundred dollars ultimately blowing the budget.

So, how did we get the budget down for this client? Here are just a few of the changes we made.
The new sliding doors we had picked out weren't necessarily vital to the project. This cut the cost they would have spent on the doors and the work that would have needed to be done in that area on the interior and exterior walls.
We went with a new sliding window instead of a garden window.
We cut down on the amount and style of tile back splash.
We cut out a few linear feet of cabinetry. They may have lost a little bit of counter space, but overall, we've given them enough counter space that it hardly makes a difference.
We gave them hardwood flooring instead of tile that was special lay. Hardwood flooring still looks beautiful and is significantly less expensive that tiling an area. If you have just laid down hardwood floor instead of tiling, it can sometimes make your kitchen look dark. All you need to do is throw a light rug on the floor to break it up.
They decided to go with KitchenAid appliances instead of Jenn-Air.

By making these changes we were able to get the quote down to the client's magic number while still maintaining a better functioning and aesthetically pleasing kitchen.

They gave the new design proposal an "okay", and we just got it permitted last week. They will now start to meet with the Project Manager to finalize everything and set up dates for demolition and installation!