Below are some more pictures of the rehab on The Poor House…
Things are moving along very quickly on this one (most things, at least). We’ve made two big decisions on this one to really appeal to buyers:
- We’ve decided to build a large beck deck (about 225 sq ft) to highlight the large, level backyard, and will be installing a nice out-swing French Door leading from the living area to the deck.
- We’ve decided to cut down part of the wall that enclosed the kitchen to open it up to the living room. We will be putting in an L-shaped bar-top and extending the cabinets a bit to open and expand the kitchen.
As for the interior rehab status, demo is complete, the waterproofing is completed, the downstairs room has been rebuilt (including new framing, sheetrock and a drop ceiling), the new garage doors are in, the walls have been patched and repaired, the painting is complete, the new doors are prepped and painted, and the new windows have gone in. Next week, we will install the cabinets, countertops, lighting fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and the French Doors to the back deck. We will also service the HVAC, repair the hot water heater, and have the ducts cleaned. This will just leave the flooring and final details, which we should have done the following week.
On the exterior, landscaping has been completed, the new roof is on, the siding has been pulled off, the bad framing has been replaced, the front and back decks have been torn down, and the new back deck is almost completed. My only complaint is that the siding replacement is well into the second week, and only about 50% of the job has been completed. Additionally, until the siding is completed, the new soffit and fascia can’t go up, and the painters can’t start the exterior painting.
We expect this one to be completed in two weeks, and as of today, we’re within our original budget.
Here are some pictures of taken earlier this week:
Back Deck is Almost Complete
Kitchen is Ready for Cabinets/Countertops
Renovated Basement
More Renovated Basement
Windows Have Been Replaced
great move with the open kitchen and the deck! Im sure it will pay off. Some “redtone” stain on that puppy would look sweet.
Ive seen drop ceilings a couple times now in house renovations. May I ask why you chose that over drywall?
Bilge –
There are two reasons we’ve done drop ceilings:
1. Difficulty sheetrocking around duct work. In many cases in basement, there are ducts that hang down below the studs, so if you were to sheetrock, you’d have to either raise the ducts up (which can be difficult/impossible in some cases), sheetrock around the ducts (which leaves a non-uniform ceiling), or extend the studs with additional 2×4’s (which gets expensive).
2. Access to plumbing or duct-work. In the cases where there is a major distribution point for plumbing, electrical or HVAC, we want to maintain access in case we need to do additional work (or repairs) later;
3. In the case of this house, most of this room already had a drop ceiling installed, so when we extended the room, it was much cheaper to extend the drop ceiling as well (leaving the original), as opposed to sheetrocking the whole thing.
Scott, looking good so far. How many workers are on the crew? Full-time/Part-time?
Chris –
We have one full-time employee in the business (besides my wife and myself). He handles the day-to-day project management and contractor issues.
Other than that, we use all independent contractors. In total, we have 11 companies on contracting on this project (including: plumbing, electrical, HVAC, cabinets, carpenter, painters, waterproofing, flooring, garage doors, termite treatment, and windows) .
For the most part, we use the same contractors on every project, and some have been around for the last dozen houses. Once we find contractors we like, we treat them like gold, as most of the contractors out there are horrible…
Love the deck. I almost always favor adding a deck when you’ve got a decent backyard to look at / enjoy.
So when it’s all said and done, what’s your total estimated timeline for the project?
…jp
JP –
Thanks!
The rehab on this one started Sept 25 and we’re expected to finish up by the end of next week. This would make it exactly a 6-week project, which is what we originally projected.
I just wanted to say you guys are doing a great job!
It looks nice J Scott.
I like the way you opened up the kitchen with the L shaper breakfast bar.