Construction Estimates Need Contingency

With any remodeling project, good planning saves time and money. You should add contingency (10 to 20 percent contingency is a good planning number) to cover unseen costs. Here are examples from our Newburyport condo project:

Hidden Drywall Damage

• Our customer would like new switch plates. These seem important in an empty home, but once decorated you may not notice them.
• The ideal time to change switch plates is when you’re painting, as you’re already removing & reinstalling wall plates. We are deferring new plates until the “painting phase” of the project.
• The light over the bathroom sink didn’t have an electrical box (see photo) so we’ll add one for the new light. The mirror was glued to the wall so there are drywall repairs (also needed for moving towel racks to new locations).
• Another unplanned item is replacing the master bathroom toilet because the bowl has a hairline crack which we discovered when removing it to tile the floor.