Installation Questions - Still learning the costs

[Jeremy H.]

I'm in the Louisiana area and have a handyman completing a lot of the repairs on a foreclosure I recently bought - this one will become my primary residence. I want to make sure I'm not getting taken advantage of on the pricing since I'm new to the rehab part. 

I had him swap the electrical box and meter box - swapped from 100amp to 200amp from the weather head down to the meter box - charged me $2250 (Got quoted $3500 from my electrician). New larger electrical box, new meter box etc. 

Had him replace 2 doors today - went from wooden doors to metal doors. Included demo and buying and installing 2 pre-hung metal doors - one with a half window and one just plain white (included door, framing, bottom threshold, hinges, basic knobs and locks). I think these doors cost $300 or so for the one with the window and $200 or so for the plain white one. He's charging me $1400 - seems a bit high (but unsure). This did include the handles and locks - regular lock and deadbolt. He sent me pictures too, they seem to be installed well from the questions I asked (are the tight? any daylight?). One of them has a small dent in the bottom left corner. 

Have a quote from him for $5500 to tile 2 bathrooms. He'd have to demo the sheetrock, put up water proof cement board, and install about 140 sqft of 12x24 tile and frame out 2 stainless steel wall niches. I purchased the tile and wall niches so this would just include labor. This seems high to me and the research I've done. 

The guy does quality work and has a lot of experience and can literally "do it all". Just want to make sure I'm not getting taken advantage of here being new and all. What do you all think - do these costs seem ballpark? (Yes, I have read that popular book on the cost to rehab houses lol)

[Marc Izquierdo]

The electrical work sounds right. I just had a panel, meter, and service cable upgraded from 100A to 200A for about the same price that your handyman charged you (mine was done by an electrician). I think the door installations sound about right also. I recently had 6 interior doors replaced (only the doors not the frames) and two exterior metal doors (similar to what you had done) for a total of $3200.

For the tile, it sounds like he's doing the tub surrounds only, not the flooring? I honestly don't think $5,500 is terrible for the two bathrooms. I'd maybe like to see it around $4,700-$5,000 since you bought the tile. There is a lot of back and forth for the contractor (waiting for stuff to dry, having to leave, come back, etc) which adds cost. However, I've done all of my tiling myself so I really can't say for sure that it's a decent price based on my experience. Tiling shower surrounds is pretty common so I would think someone would be able to chime in with those numbers.