All Forum Posts by: Ryan Hannas

As an example, I just had an ~1450 square foot home done in ~8 weeks.  I gave it to the 4 man crew with electrical, plumbing & HVAC done, but it was completely down to the studs.

Maybe try to renegotiate - offer an incentive for finishing earlier than the 4 month deadline, or a penalty if it's late.  You'll find out fast if he's serious about his timetable or jerking you around. 

Hello Andres - it depends on the size of the homes and the number of people working for the GC, but 4 months to finish them  is certainly doable (assuming that they are dedicated to your projects and not jumping between 5 different ones).

I will DM you a GC - give him a call if you'd like - the issue is that most GCs/contractors (if they're at all decent) are booked solid for the next 4-6 months or more, so it may be in your best interest to stick with the guy you have now and try and manage them as best as you can.

Ryan  

I've used Todd Electric a couple of times and have been pleased.  He's in Oakdale, so I'd verify that he's comfortable working in the city, but your scope of work is right up his alley.  

I have a crew working right now demoing an ~1500 sq ft house - I paid for the dumpsters ($500 each for 2 x30 yard), and paid them $4000 to demo down to the studs and remove maybe one room's worth of furniture.  You might have to pay another $100 or so a room for removing the carpet (my guess).

It will depend on what's in the house (i.e, do they have to get rid of 4 rooms full of furniture, etc.?).  But assuming that the house is empty, I would expect to pay around $6k (inclusive of the dumpsters).

@Matthew Irish-Jones The utility actually disconnects the line at the main and to reconnect they treat it as a new installation. If the line is too old (which most in Pittsburgh are going to be), you have to run a new one. And be careful, most plumbers can not do this work. It must be a DOT certified plumber which is not as common (though not difficult to find).

Hi Stefan,

I ran into this last year on a SFH REO. The PUC requires that the gas line be cut at the main if the gas has been shut off for over two years. Since the line was so old, I needed to have a new one run to the house. Thankfully it was a short run (~15') and I had someone do it relatively inexpensively. Note that you need a DOT licensed plumber to do the work and it needs to be inspected by the gas company, so it will take several weeks. Good news is that it's finally warming up in Pittsburgh so you'd be fine without heat for a while (assuming that you've got some rehab to do).

But you'll just have to run the numbers and see what makes sense for you.  It cost me $1100 to have the new line run, which was well worth it considering the house had a newer furnace already installed.  Funny thing is that the gas company was offering rebates for new business accounts up to $1000 towards the cost of having a new service installed (which this technically was), so it only cost me $100!  Installing a mini-split system can range anywhere from a couple thousand on up depending on the size of the house.  Are the utilities already split?  That may make a difference as well.

Ryan

Also, above ground pools are different than in-ground - I have friends that will get a good 5-6 months out of their pools as they are in-ground and heated.  

Got it, thanks.

What Aaron said applies here as well, with some variation depending on the specific neighborhood of the home (e.x., I would not compare most homes in Dormont to homes in Bethel or Bridgeville).  Going from 2 to 3 beds could add $15-20k - 3 to 4 beds, $3-5k - same with baths, 1 to 1.5 or 2 is huge, going to 3 baths not so much. Are you working with an agent?  They should be able to provide you with some accurate data for the specific house in which you’re interested.  

Hi Brenden - what area in Pittsburgh?