Decision on new home - kitchen counters

[Roman371]

I am finalizing plans for a new home (built by Morrison) in Austin, Tx... The kitchen is nice but the standard kitchen lacks granite countertops, backsplash, and I want to add an "L" to the end of the bar (about 10 sq ft), bringing the total counterspace to 40 sq ft. The additional cost for the builder to do the above is about $6,000.00. Should I just get the standard formica install, and have a professional come in after and save a few $$$$? Appreciate any experience in installs this size. Thanks

[bambam]

The best I can give you is a ballpark ...and a very large ballpark at that.

A reasonable price here for mid grade granite countertops, 3/4 inch, doubled at the lip, with sink and faucet cutouts is about $80 Canadian a square foot. Which suggests your countertop would cost

3200. Add 300 to 600 for underslung sinks and another 300 for an appropriate faucet. Add another five or seven hundred for the extended base cabinets.

That's in Calgary, Canada. My (annecdotal) experience is that the costs are about the same to most places in the U.S.

Here, builders take a strong markup on "not standard" materials and do not deduct the cost of the substituted for item. e.g. If your home includes lino and you want tile, they charge for the lino and again for the tile. It is probable that you are paying for formica and again for granite.

In your case, I would guess you are paying a couple of thousand premium . In my view, it is not worth two thousand dollars to take a kitchen apart after the house is complete.

Your mileage may vary. Greatly.

Ken

[Roman371]

Ken, good perspective, thanks for the reply.

[JillAdams]

or you could just go with a plywood or particle board subtop covered with laminate formica of your coice... ALOT cheaper

most of the tops we do are beveled 45 deegrees and laquered on the front edge... like this. simple, ornate and inexpensive. ___________________________ / | |_______________________________

Roman371 wrote:

[Murray Peterson]

"Roman371" wrote in news:1142784969.962753.235410 @z34g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Sounds to me like you should get a few more quotes. Our kitchen remodel ended up with 81 sq ft of countertop, and we were quoted about $4500 for formica. A bit of shopping around, and we found a company that did it in granite for $6000 (Canadian). This did not include backsplash or any countertop extensions, but still, I feel that you should be able to do better than $6000.

[Tony Hwang]

How come???? whenever I requested an upgrade I just paid the difference over the cost of original spec. May I ask which builder you work for? (to avoid it in the future, and to tell friends about it) I never paid like that when I had my houses/cabin built.

It is probable that you are paying for

[Roman371]

The builder is Morrison. They do not disclose what the cost of the original spec was, but alot of the upgrades seem to have healthy margin built into them, which is what prompted my original message. Thanks for the above feedback.

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, Never dealt with them. I remember back when they started out. That's not very nice charging customers like that. But Calgary now is seller's(builder's) market.

[Goedjn]

If you're just going to rip the thing out again, see if the builder will give you a price break for not doing the countertops at all.