The Installation Bid(s)

It's been quiet here on QUESTING:boston because I haven't really thought any of the stuff we've had going on was worth a blog post.  It turns out that lots has been going on and I should have been blogging all along, so I'll break it up into a few parts for you.

The first step in all of this was getting an installation bid from John, who works with the Home Depot.  He came over one morning and measured things and looked at things and then gave me an estimate.  Home Depot is great because they break out each item separately - it will cost $X to install your sink, $Y to hook your dishwasher back up, and $Z to tile your backsplash.  This is handy for people like us who are trying to cut costs because we can choose what to pay the pros for and what to do ourselves.  The original bid was about $6000.  I knew we could negotiate a lot of that down by doing certain things ourselves, but it was still a shocking number.

Then the cabinets arrived, which was very exciting because it meant we were well on the way towards our new kitchen but stressful because we hadn't settled on an installation bid yet and our dining room looked like this:

You'd like to get together for dinner? Great! We'll be right over.

I contacted John to let him know we had received the cabinets and wanted to negotiate the bid a start date and ... no response.   JOHN.  Let's GO.  My dining room looks like a warehouse.

After a few days, I emailed Jose, who told me "John is no longer with the company."  Super.  Meanwhile, it was already late March and we had ordered the cabinets waaaayyy back in January.

Jose did what Jose does and fixed the problem.  He sent Tony over to do another bid and to discuss an installation timeline.  Tony showed up at my front door and I knew he was the man for the job.  He looked just like my Italian grandfather (except with white hair) and told me he wasn't leaving until he'd given me a bid I was happy with.  Swoon.

He went through the kitchen and did a much, much more thorough job than John did. (Perhaps this is why John is no longer with the company? We'll never know.)  Tony noticed lots of existing code violations in our kitchen, especially with the electrical system, which sent my heart into my stomach.  Electricity is one of those things I'm just not willing to DIY (except in very limited situations, mostly involving light fixtures) because you can fry yourself pretty easily and there are lots of crazy codes (see below) that I feel compelled to follow.  As a result, electricians strike me as a shifty bunch, as do auto mechanics, plumbers, and some dentists, precisely because we can't get from point A to point B without their services.  If you have feces all over your bathroom floor or need a root canal or your power goes out or your car breaks, you're usually willing to pay what it takes to fix the problem so they've got you by the proverbial balls.  But I digress.

It turns out that you have to have an electrical outlet every four feet (My friend Natalie astutely pointed out that this sounds less like a safety law and more like a solid victory for the electrician's lobby) and an over-the-range microwave has to have a dedicated circuit.  We have to move our outlets around, which is not a huge expense, so the kitchen is up to code.  Fine.  The microwave is another story.  There may already be a dedicated circuit, which would be the best-case scenario (dare I hope?).  If there's not a dedicated circuit though, we're in real trouble.  The previous owners installed a humongous central air conditioner and, while I'm sure I'll be singing their praises about that this summer, they maxed out something or another with the electrical system, which means we would have to do something complicated and expensive in order to keep the microwave over the stove.  Can you tell I wasn't paying much attention when Tony was telling me about that part?  It's because I was getting a little panicky.  Forgive me.

If there's not a dedicated circuit already, my current plan is to get a countertop microwave and do something else in that space.  Spice rack?  Pot rack?  Something else that can get covered in grease?  This is all TBD and will likely be the subject of much whining in the not-too-distant-future.  I know you're excited.  I sure am.

True to his word, Tony didn't leave until we'd settled on a bid.  We saved a bundle cutting out the demolition/hauling, tiling the backsplash, and installing our super cool open shelving.  After a few tweaks, the final bid was $4700.  It's still more than I was hoping to spend, but all those code violations added up.  Tony was also very sweet and slashed many installation costs, either because he felt bad that John had left us in the lurch or he felt a family connection with me too.  I'd like to think it was the latter.  Either way, we're all set for installation to begin on April 16.  Woot woot!

Coming right up: DEMOLITION.  More pictures too, I promise!