#Dan s Kitchen: What it Really Cost - A Budget Breakdown

Name: Dan Bailey

Type of Project: Kitchen remodel

Location: East Boston, Boston, Massachusetts

Type of building: 2nd Floor Condo in a Greek-Revival Row House

We've been following along with him through the whole renovating process. and yesterday we got out first look at Dan's beautiful finished kitchen. Today, we're taking you behind the scenes for a closer look at an unsexy but still very important aspect of the renovation — the budget.

We'll be comparing the actual budget for the project with Dan's projected budget from before the renovation began. From Dan:

I ended up going over my original budget by a pretty significant margin. Most of the unexpected costs were related to the extra work required to renovate a kitchen in a really old building – everything seems to take a little longer in an old building, which translates into higher labor costs. Going into the renovation, I had no idea that it would take weeks to properly install and level framing for the walls, ceiling, and cabinet boxes, or that the original pine flooring would need extensive repairs before it could be refinished. And, although it may have been wishful thinking, I didn’t realize that the entire kitchen would need to be rewired and a new gas line would need to be run from the cellar.

As the renovation progressed, the scope expanded as well. I knew the old, drafty kitchen window would eventually need to be replaced, but I had originally hoped to put it off until after the rest of the kitchen was done. But once the renovation began, it made sense to replace the window before adding new trim and finishing the kitchen. Buying and installing a new window was a significant added expense, but it was definitely worthwhile.

Of course, I also spent a little more than I had planned on a few extra things, like a new microwave, soapstone countertops, a vented range hood, and custom, reproduction trim, to give the kitchen exactly the look and functionality that I wanted. And although these extras weren’t necessary, they weren’t that expensive in the grand scheme of things, and they’re certainly nice to have.

Once I began the renovation, I discovered that all of the costs associated with renovating a kitchen add up really quickly. But one benefit of a longer-than-expected renovation was that I was able to pay for the renovation gradually over the course of six months, so it wasn't as much of a shock as it would have been had I written a check for the total cost of the renovation at the start of the project.