Contractor Picked!
Good news! We finally made a decision about our bathroom remodel contractor! So I got back estimates from the contractors that we had already spoke with about making the scope of work smaller and staying in our budget and we got two more estimates from one of the contractors who works with Home Depot and Dreamstyle (who also works with Home Depot according to their business card.) It's hard to compare estimates since they all include different things. Some included the shower door, some included additional money for an extra electrical line to be installed, some big materials.
In the end it came down to All-American Design and Construction and Dreamstyle. All-American had the cheapest labor, but since they only install material from local stores, which I assume are nicer and more expensive, I had no idea how much it would ultimately be. Plus the hassle of going across town to pick out all of the materials and compare prices seemed like a pain, especially with the kids on summer break starting Monday.
Dreamstyle was right about the same price with my guesstimate of how much the materials with All-American would cost. They will install anything we want, doesn't matter where it's from, and they will guarantee it as long as it's still in the box. We have to order everything, which isn't a problem since I have everything picked out from Home Depot and I can get things on-line (plus Albert gets a military discount so that's helpful). Also he said it will only take 3-4 DAYS to install everything except the shower door, which has to be special ordered after the shower is pretty much done, but it only takes 10-12 days to get. Every other company said it would take 3-4 WEEKS to do! It will come in right around our $18k max budget with everything included and installed by them.
We're getting double heat lamps instead of in-floor heating. The part of Dreamstyle we're dealing with doesn't do in-floor heating and I'm a little worried about it breaking. If a heat lamp breaks you can install another one really easily, but eventually in-floor heating will break and in order to fix it you have to take out all the tile! Hopefully that will take care of the cold bathroom!
We won't actually get it done for 6-8 weeks, but I want to start ordering the supplies soon in case we have to reorder anything that is broken in shipping. We also want to get new window coverings get a teak stool for inside the shower and a Chinese garden stool for by the tub (well, I want one, I'm not sure what Albert thinks about that yet).
Hopefully our other contractor will finish up on fixing our patio cover and he can work on the side wall where we want to put our above ground pool!
In the end it came down to All-American Design and Construction and Dreamstyle. All-American had the cheapest labor, but since they only install material from local stores, which I assume are nicer and more expensive, I had no idea how much it would ultimately be. Plus the hassle of going across town to pick out all of the materials and compare prices seemed like a pain, especially with the kids on summer break starting Monday.
Dreamstyle was right about the same price with my guesstimate of how much the materials with All-American would cost. They will install anything we want, doesn't matter where it's from, and they will guarantee it as long as it's still in the box. We have to order everything, which isn't a problem since I have everything picked out from Home Depot and I can get things on-line (plus Albert gets a military discount so that's helpful). Also he said it will only take 3-4 DAYS to install everything except the shower door, which has to be special ordered after the shower is pretty much done, but it only takes 10-12 days to get. Every other company said it would take 3-4 WEEKS to do! It will come in right around our $18k max budget with everything included and installed by them.
We're getting double heat lamps instead of in-floor heating. The part of Dreamstyle we're dealing with doesn't do in-floor heating and I'm a little worried about it breaking. If a heat lamp breaks you can install another one really easily, but eventually in-floor heating will break and in order to fix it you have to take out all the tile! Hopefully that will take care of the cold bathroom!
We won't actually get it done for 6-8 weeks, but I want to start ordering the supplies soon in case we have to reorder anything that is broken in shipping. We also want to get new window coverings get a teak stool for inside the shower and a Chinese garden stool for by the tub (well, I want one, I'm not sure what Albert thinks about that yet).
Hopefully our other contractor will finish up on fixing our patio cover and he can work on the side wall where we want to put our above ground pool!
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