A Water Leak Lead to a Great $52,000 Kitchen Remodel
My wife had been bugging me for 10 years to have the kitchen remodeled. Things literally fell into place with this miracle kitchen. It started early one morning when I walked into the old kitchen with sleepy eyes to make coffee. I quickly became alert seeing a waterfall cascading into the kitchen from a commode line that had exploded upstairs during the night.
The waterfall caused the ceiling to start falling down. We quickly had experts in the house further destroying the kitchen by tearing out wet sheetrock. The hardwood floors and most everything were ruined. Huge fans and dehumidifiers sucked the walls dry. Thoughts of a larger kitchen turned into bids. The slow economy in 2010 had many good contractors willing to make deals.
Our insurance company would pay around $22,000 to restore things to the original condition. With much additional persuasion from my wife I got estimates to have a complete larger kitchen remodel. Her friend’s husband was a builder of million dollar homes that had to rethink his business because of the slow economy in luxury home sales. He was a great builder with million dollar ideas.
He walked into the sad kitchen and promised to turn it into a happy ending. He drew plans on the sheetrock with a magic marker on the wall to be torn down. The ten year disagreement my wife and I had on the kitchen was solved with one counseling session from him. The insurance company said I could agree to his $52,000 remodel and they would release their $22,000 check after inspection.
Just like turning lemons into lemonade our new kitchen took shape. There is a big difference in finding a contractor with a million dollar mindset versus starter home ideas. Custom cherry cabinets were made by his subcontractors. Quality granite was hand selected by us. Push button wall plates replaced the usual switches. Sheetrock sanding and paint touch ups show rich people standards.
We saved money by buying appliances online. The entire project took 2 months. Really good subcontractors showed up on a timely basis. Find a highly recommended contractor with slow new home sales for your project. The transformation can be amazing. Don’t ask why bad things happen to good people. I turned bad into good and enjoy coffee in my new kitchen.
