The contractor and architect both came by an Friday for another look at the house and to discuss any design tweaks. It was then that the reality hit. We are going to be without a bathroom for a while during the demolition and construction. As a DIYer, I would have done everything piece by piece. Since the bathroom is being moved, I would have got the new bathroom functional before tearing out the old one. Well, when paying by the hour, this is not the most efficient way to go. It is easier and faster to completely gut the area before rebuilding.
The bottom line is that we are getting a new bathroom in the basement. Nothing fancy, mind you. Just a basic tub and shower, toilet and sink. It was something we were planning to do anyway, sometime in the future. It makes sense to do it now for two reasons. First, we are doing an overhaul on the plumbing anyway, so the additional work needed for the secondary bathroom is minimal. Second (and most important), we need a bathroom. Without a bathroom, we would have to rent a porta-john and take sponge baths in the kitchen sink or shack up at a hotel for a while, all which are going to cost money without adding value.
So, what does the bottom line do to our bottom line? Well, our project has increased by a couple thousand dollars before we’ve started.
But that’s not the worst part. We had picked out a beautiful whirlpool tub and shower combination that was always shown with the shower doors installed. These aren’t standard doors– they are designed to fit the unique shape of the tub. Not only are the doors not included in the price of the unit, they are almost as expensive. And add to that the other cool options that we were considering, like the shower body jets and steam shower options, and suddenly the price is triple what we were expecting. So, we have to make some adjustments and scale down our wish list. But with a 2 to 4 week lead time needed for our tub (if we go with the one we picked out) we need to make our decision now.
Speaking of decisions that need to be made NOW, we also have to pick out our fixtures for the basement bathroom immediately, since work is going to be starting Wednesday.
Once the project gets underway, things are going to be happening fast which makes keeping the budget in check very challenging indeed.