House Hacking... and does this bid seem high to anyone?

[Andrew Davis]

Hey BP Community,

My wife and I purchased a home in March, and part of the reason we liked it was that it was zoned for Multi-Family.  The garage is a nice size for a studio apartment, and there is plenty of demand for those in the area.

I just received this bid back from the contractor, and wanted to know what y'all's thoughts were on it.

The space is roughly 300 sq ft.  It already has drywall on 2 walls, and the only interior framing we're doing is for the bathroom, the closet and the laundry area.  

My biggest surprises were:

The $7800 for framing and drywall.  I calculated the material costs to be around $2000 for that portion, so $7800 seemed like a lot, especially for such a small space.

$6200 for framing in a garage, installing and painting about 84 sq ft of siding and trim.

$2000 for 300 sq ft of flooring?  That's $6.65 a sq ft for tile.

$2400 for a ductless mini split system?  I've found decent ones at HD for $1200, so $1200 to install?

The rest seemed fairly reasonable to me.  

Here's the floor plan:

[Manolo D.]

This looks like a 15-20 day 2 person job, say 40 man-days x 250/day, you are looking at 10,000 in labor. Note that 250/day gets you a contractor that is exempt from Worker's Comp, add 30-40% if they have (8% employer taxes and MC + 22-32% WC insurance). You're looking at 14k max in labor for a full blown company with licenses, insurance, and etc not just contractor's bond minimum requirement by the state; just go with that, and buy the materials at homedepot or some sort, more miles on your credit card.