I'm in the process of selling my home - and for the last few months it has been on the market my real estate agent has kept urging me to replace the counter tops in the kitchen and bar with granite and to put in some new floor tile in the entryway and kitchen. I've resisted the urge because I knew the cost will be pretty high. But I'm at a point now that I've decided to cave in and do the work. I had one estimate come out that put the cost at nearly $16K for just labor (no material). That sounded excessively high to me - so I thought I'd see if anyone here has a recommendation for someone who they have personally used or know of someone who has used them - in the Houston area (I'm in the Galleria area - if that helps)
will it add 16k to the sales price? are the counters and tile really necessary? I'm no realtor but I would question the need. How about adding an allowance for kitchen upgrades or something?
That sounds way high. I think granite on the counter tops are something like $2-4k for material. The labor has got to be cheap... especially in this environment. They are desperate. And they'll be using illegal labor anyway. I did about 1000 sq ft of laminate and tile in my house a few years back and it was $8k total for labor and materials.
That was my thought as well. My agent is telling me that even if I drop the asking price - people will still not be inclined to make an offer because they don't want to have to do the work themselves. Buyers want a "move-in ready" home. I am actually replacing all of the kitchen appliances this week as well (built-in microwave, oven, stove-top, and dishwasher). I am certain that $16K is too high. My agent is used to working with $1M+ home sellers, and I'm sure he gave me a contractor that is pricey. Hence the reason I'm looking for other bids. If I can get in the $8-10K region for labor - I would give the idea much more serious consideration.
Could you lower the price by the amount you are looking at spending on improvements and be in the same place getting it sold? If so I would consider doing that and not deal with a remodel. But you are right about people wanting a "move-in ready" house...I see it all the time. You also have to look at the rest of the kitchen, bath, etc. If you drop in granite countertops and some tile work does it look updated or still overall look outdated? I'm guessing the rest of it could look dated as well.
Yeah - I made that suggestion to my realtor - but he keeps saying that "in this buyer's market" people want a "ready to move-in" house where they don't have to do any upgrades. I've already done several minor upgrades myself - having spent a few grand... but i've been putting off the counter tops and tile because of the cost. However, I think i may have to finally bite the bullet...
I'm in the same boat myself. I don't need to sell my house but if I did, I'd likely have to upgrade the kitchen counters which are formica. I've already done the floors. I haven't done a whole lot of research but what I did see the counters would have been $2-4k. That's crazy for the labor. I would go to Home Depot or Lowes and get a free quote.
You can get the counters done with labor and materials for that price range if you go straight to the contractors and not through HD or Lowes.
I just looked at my contractor's quote and he did not give a quote based off of square footage of counter top space or floor space. He just gave a fixed fee - which makes me think his quote is not all that in line with what I could get with a different contractor. Again - if anyone has a recommendation for a contractor - I'm all ears. Thanks for the feedback.
Depending on where your house is, I have someone. His company only works on houses in central houston, though
