Demo Crew!

I woke up to a text at 8:30 this morning.  It was the demo crew!  Finally!  We had planned on last Thursday...then a miscommunication moved that to Monday.  And then Sunday night I was informed that he wasn't going to start until Tuesday!  AGH!!!  I wasn't putting much hope into this guy...especially since he already had my $1500 down payment.

But he had brought a crew of four guys!  I was feeling pretty rough this morning, so I went back to bed.  I finally woke up to my alarm at 9:00 A.M.  Time to get ready and go check out the crew.

The dumpster was sitting alongside the driveway, and I was told by the demo guy that it wasn't placed in the place he wanted it.  "So expect a longer demo," he said.  Basically he said that the removal of the stuff from upstairs was going to take much longer.  He had told me he was going to build a chute out a window right into the dumpster.  But with it so far away now...hey, I get it.

The dumpster was placed away from the house.  Why the demo contractor didn't coordinate this is unknown.

But the guys were working away.  The boss (owner) was gone, but I introduced myself to all of them.  They were going at it, and I was impressed with their work.  A crew of two was hauling the already-broken plaster from downstairs out to the dumpster, while a crew of two was demo-ing the bedrooms upstairs.

The dumpster is filling up!  Woo hoo!  A long time coming.

The upstairs bedroom walls are coming down.

An interesting find.  The paneling upstairs must have been added after the paneling downstairs.

It's slow and tedious...which is why I asked for help.  I just wasn't going to be able to do it all myself in a timely fashion.  But, hey, getting 75% of the downstairs portion done certainly helped and likely saved me $5000!

I had an appointment with a remodeling contractor at 11:00 A.M.  Two gentlemen showed up, and I walked them through the house.  They were very knowledgeable of construction, and I told them all I wanted done (new HVAC upstairs, new electrical, new plumbing, new drywall, finish work).  He stated it could absolutely be done, and he kept comparing this house to an older house they had done recently.

But the more they talked, the more I realized we weren't on the same page.  Or even planet.  He asked me point blank in one conversation how much money I wanted to spend.  I said, nope, I have you out here to tell me what a project like this would cost.  His comment to me was a little...odd...but enlightening.  It's like taking a car to a mechanic for brake work and him asking you, "How much do you want to spend"?  No...how much does fixing my brakes cost?

You may argue that he was asking if you wanted low-end pads or high-end brake pads, but I got another vibe.  And then he said, "Well, you are definitely over $300,000.  I think we might be in the $350,000 range, but I wouldn't be surprised if we hit $400,000."

I sighed just writing that.  His comments were ridiculous.  And it all went back to the house they had just finished.  "We were able to get them in a really nice house for $317,000."  That was just it.  He had high-end people willing to pay high-end prices for $50,000 kitchens, $25,000 bathrooms, and the like.  We just weren't a good match.

I made a comment right back to him.  "At that price, I would be better off spending $30,000 bull-dozing this house into the ground, then building myself a nice $250,000 home."  His response?  "No, you would be surprised.  $300,000 doesn't get you much nowadays."

It was like a bad date gone horribly wrong.  We just didn't see eye to eye.  Obviously I won't be using them.

But perhaps the best part of the whole experience was the demo guys.  I told them the story at different times, and each responded in unison, "You gotta pay for their trucks somehow."  It was not lost on them...nor me...the $55,000-$65,000 trucks that they pulled up in.  These demo guys understood me.  I understood them.  The two gentlemen in the trucks that each cost 75% of my first house just didn't get it.

$350,000.  Unbelievable.  But people pay it.

The demo guys went back to work.  They broke off at 3:30 P.M.  I was a bit shocked at the amount they got done.  I mean, they did a lot of work.  But I also expected a bit more.  I was averaging a room a day by myself (with lath).  But they also showed up at 8:30 and left at 3:30.  And I was working a nice 8 or 9 hour day.  Regardless, progress was made.

The living room plaster has been swept up and put in the dumpster.  The dining room plaster has been swept up and put in the dumpster.  That was all the bottom two guys accomplished today.

The living room has been cleared of plaster.  But note the insulation still in the walls.

The living room and dining room have been cleaned out.

The living room is mostly clear.

Upstairs, the small closet had most of its plaster removed (minus one wall).  The third bedroom has all of the plaster removed from the walls (minus the chimney section).  To be fair, they also had to removed the 2 x 4's from the ceiling (no small chore) and demo the closet and remove the wall-mounted heater.  The second bedroom has most of the plaster removed from the walls (to eyeball height).  And the first bedroom has the same.

The third bedroom has the plaster off the walls.

The closet had most of the plaster knocked down.

The upstairs third bedroom (where the wall-mounted gas furnace was located).

The upstairs second bedroom.

So all of the ceilings remain upstairs.  All of the lath remains in all rooms demoed today.

I am really thinking this project is going to take them 8-10 days.

But it's fun seeing the walls come down.  I just can't wait to open it all up.  It's a balloon-frame house, so when the plaster is being knocked down upstairs, it actually falls downstairs.  It's kinda crazy how interconnected it all is!

I also learned today that there is an attic entrance to above the kitchen...from that little closet upstairs!  That is going to be a messy demo.  It has insulation and even two buckets for the known water leak.  Yup, that's right.  Just put two buckets there, catch the water, and the heat of the attic will have it evaporated out before the next big rain!  This house was just nothing but patch jobs.

Poor people have poor ways.  The two buckets catching leaks above the kitchen.  Sigh.

The closet entrance upstairs to above the kitchen.

A photo found upstairs.

The upstairs third bedroom.

The dumpster at the end of the day.  That's a lot of plaster!

I am hoping they can get the upstairs done tomorrow.  That will be amazing to walk up there and stare into the attic.

I took a lunch break around 1:30 P.M., and Dad came back by to do some odds and ends.  We took the 2x4's from the closet and ceiling upstairs and de-nailed them for future use.  They were in the burn pile, but there is probably a good $50-75 we saved there.  We cleaned out more of the barn.  We fed the kittens, and I'm happy to say that Peaches is coming around.  It took milk and cubed ham, but she isn't trying to kill me now.  Win a cat over with food, I say!

Basically "free" 2x4's saved from the fire.

We pulled more wood out of the rafters below the hay loft this time.  Notice my fresh two bales of hay!

I just LOVE the usefulness of the barn now.  One of my favorite spots on the property.

The sand family came back again today with two trucks.  Sand went on the flatbed truck and trailer (their seventh load?), and then he took my "riff-raff" concrete to fill in a hole.  Amazing.  I was told he came back tonight for the good cinder blocks.  Take them, take them!

He has taken tons of sand.  Seriously tons of sand.  Unfortunately, I still have a ton to give away, but what a tremendous help he has been!  And so appreciative!

And this afternoon I finally caught one of the numerous (I expect) groundhogs that live under my barn.  They have been here since Day One.  I used a banana as bait.  Caught within a few hours.  Just bought the trap yesterday!  Crazy.

Caught and released over five miles away!  More to catch!

I spent the evening thinking about and researching general contractors.  The project is a big one, but I have one guy quoting me at $125,000 complete with demo and another guy coming in at $350,000.  If that's not an eye-opener into the contracting business, I don't know what is.

I'm just trying to wrap my mind around it.

Plumbing--$12,000?
Electrical--$8,000-$10,000 (if hired out)
HVAC--$10,000 with new ductwork and unit upstairs
Drywall--$15,000
Finish work--$45,000 (kitchen cabinets, bathroom, trim, maybe doors)
Insulation--$10,000

What am I missing?  That's $102,000.

I think the problem is the general contractors don't do most of this work themselves.  They sub out the work and just make a cut off of it (I assume).  So every time he subs out, I get dinged.  The contractor doesn't really come back on scene until the finish work.

So do I need to do my own subbing out?  And then call a contractor in to put it back together?  I can pay myself all day long.

I have another contractor coming out at 10:30 A.M. tomorrow.

I guess we will see.  I am all about paying a man for his work, but $350,000?  What a slap in the face.

Nice truck.