His costs for labor seem in line considering the basement remodel where you added a full bath and kitchenette. You're getting one fully renovated master bath plus an (essentially) new powder room. Seems fair to me based on your location and your prior labor costs with this contractor.

Seems low, actually. The average for a high end bath in your general location is a good 10K higher than the quote that you are being given.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cost Vs. Value 2014, Middle Atlantic

This post makes me sad. Here we have a contractor with a proven work history and fairness, yet that's still not good enough to avoid having his prices second guessed.

Maybe he's not a good enough salesperson.

I'm not complaining. I make a good living cleaning up and finishing jobs that were started by low bidder.

Trebruchet -- It's not every day that a homeowner spends $60,000+. Shelling out that kind of money is going to make anyone want to validate that it's not out of line and that it will be worth it.

Jewel654, the time to ballpark a project is before you start getting quotes, not after. If you don't know the general range of something, there is no use in planning it so elaborately, only to have to massively carve it down after you get quotes. There are plenty of resources that will give you numbers. Then when you get bids, you already know that they are not "out of line". As to whether or not it's "worth" it, that's up to the person paying the freight. Some would. Some wouldn't.

I don't think the OP is at all out of line sharing the estimate and asking our opinions. I don't detect a whiff of complaint or whine or second-guessing.

$62K is a lot of money for many of us. I would also seek opinions from GW.

To the OP: if you can afford it, if you like the guy, if this new bathroom will make you happy, then it's money well spent.

Thanks for the opinions. We are going to do the project and I feel the price is appropriate based on all my research, including some responses here.

To those questioning how reasonable it is to ask for an opinion on a quote , I ask you, "Would you spend $62,000 of your own hard earned money without doing some of your own due diligence?" I don't care if its your best friend doing the work, before I write that kind of check, I think it's reasonable to do some diligence.

In my mind, due diligence here includes asking people you know of their opinion (I have done this with my family), asking others who don't know you and can be non-subjective (this is a great place for that), getting comparable quotes (done, contractor is again right in the middle), and finally, getting a good reference (no need here, I have the perfect reference which was the previous work he did on our own home). In my mind, I have checked all the boxes, including our ability and want to spend this type of money.

Hopefully the project comes out as great as I think it will.

*Jewel654, the time to ballpark a project is before you start getting quotes,*

Green -- I have no idea why you addressed your post to me. Having been a homeowner who has completed many improvement projects over the last 20 years, I have complete understanding of how to prepare my budget for a project and get quotes. Thanks anyway, I guess?

Your post really doesn't even apply to Redsox. He is simply doing what any homeowner getting ready to spend upper five figures would do -- validating. Those resources that you mentioned also include having discussions like this one on a forum board. He's exactly right to do his due diligence here as one last "gut check".

Redsox -- Please come back to post your "before and after" pictures when you're bathroom(s) are done! Looking forward to seeing what you've done.

I think it's important that readers here get the other side of the story and that's what I'll continue to bring.

I did two perfect jobs recently, on time, on budget, dust free, and got a "3" rating out of a possible "5". As a contractor you go "WTF???" Should I sacrifice my first born male child on your front porch? What does it take to make people happy?"

I blame myself. I need to try to weed these customers out ahead of time. I worry for this guy.

Treb, you're worrying for Redsox's guy? But s/he has already worked with him and likes him and s/he has agreed that the price is in their budget. I don't see anything not boding well just for asking the GW readers what they think?

linelle:

Fair enough. I guess my customer's money isn't enough for me. If I can't earn their trust, I don't want or deserve their business.

Wow.

I thought the poster wrote a pretty darn good post. (S)he likes the contractor. The contractor has done good work in the past. The contractor in the past seemed to be priced fairly for the market the poster is in.

Had the poster been remodeling another basement; ie doing comparable work, that's one thing. But kitchen and bathroom work? They are completely different animals when it comes to bidding and building.

The poster isn't screaming in internet outrage at the bid. He's simply looking for a warm fuzzy that the bid is good. I think he already knows the bid is good. But again...what's wrong with coming to the GWeb community to look for that warm and fuzzy.

If he was a Yankee fan, hey, I'd be piling on too. But for totally different reasons. But a Red Sox fan in Westchester County? C'mon folks. We need to help the decent people in this world.

So my reply? Yes, the bid (42K) taken at face value is high. It's high because $42K is a lot of money.

Factor in your location. That brings it more into scale.

Your materials. High end materials generally require more care when installing, that can elevate the price a bit.

The scope of work: Demo. Framing. Messing with the building's thermal envelope. Electrica, plumbing, insulation, waterproofing, painting, yadda yadda. It's a full-scope job.

I never mind being asked about money. If you're happy with the contractor, then just have a conversation with him. If the following fits how you feel, then feel free to frame it into your conversation. Tell him the bid is higher than you thought it would be, but you understand it due to the scope of work. Tell him that you can bump your budget to meet his bid. However, ask him to identify any areas where savings might be achieved. Also ask him to identify areas where there may be cost overruns.

It's not that you're looking to knock the price down. You're not. But not exceeding the bid is important. Let him know you're simply looking for possibly contingency built in to the bid. ie if you go over in demo and repairs, can we absorb that overrun elsewhere without compromising the overall project.

Good luck!

Thanks for posting your professional opinion and perspective, mongoct!

One thing that other posters have not addressed is that you are moving a window. It may not seem like much, but that will require a little more labor and materials.

Also, you may need additional support in the floors in order to accommodate the additional weight the new bathroom as described will have.

Have him explain what he will need to do to the structure in order for you to have the bathroom you want.

It is probably reasonable.

Back in 2005 we had our 1988 master bathroom remodeled.
We kept the same footprint but changed out all the fixtures.

We used HD Expo Center because we did not want to deal with a private contractor and did not know of a good one.

Our bath is probably about 150 square feet--large 1980's bath.

Our area also has a lower cost of living.

We used upper mid-range fixtures and it cost us over 40K. More than half of it was the labor.

But--remember where you are getting your money from.
We used our stock options (if we had waited two years we could have redone all of our baths ha ha)

But if we had waited longer -(the stock went ka-put) well we would still have our 1988 bath.

Now we want to do a small bath--35 square feet --and the designer/high end place in our area wants 20 k for that.

No way!

I like mongoct's response--that, to me, is a reasonable response by a contractor.

I was in a position a few years ago, where I had a pretty good relationship with a contractor after he did a big remodel (phase I of a project). A few years later, we were ready with phase II, and we were going to go with him. Until, he came back with what seemed an unreasonable bid (given past work with us and friends) and changes to his contract, and his main guy was gone from his company.. . It was too many changes, and we got other bids from contractors who were referred to us. We went with a well-referred contractor at about 2/3 the cost. A big savings! And, we are happy in the end (with both).

The problems were many with contractor 1 for phase II. In the intervening years, he had had some legal trouble (not his fault, I think just a wrong customer who was litigious) and to protect himself, he really got unreasonable in his contracts. He also raised his prices (because, he had lots of legal bills to pay), and, as I mentioned, his main guy, who actually did most of the work on our phase I, had moved on to his own company.

It is okay to stop and question, and not go blindly into round 2 with a guy after a few years have gone by. Things change. Time changes people. Guy 1 was the right guy for phase 1. But, he wasn't the right guy for phase 2.

For us--having a relationship with a contractor where you have done a reasonable complicated remodel job and still had a positive experience is almost a "priceless" result...
It is worth paying more (to us) to know that we can trust the guy and his workers to do what they promised, when they promised, and to be open about problems--on his side and yours--so that you can resolve w/o hard feelings...

and I agree about people having unrealistic expectations when they apparently post a 5 star review and only award a 3 star rating...
I see that when I read Angie's List as well as Amazon reviews---
I don't know what holds back a better rating except I think many people believe that to give someone a 5 star rating means THEY lack critical insight- like they are "rubes" who don't know good from bad...and won't be suckered into giving someone top marks eventhough the job was excellent...

Mentally you can make that leap and see past the withheld praise IF you go to the effort to read the review--but some people won't--they will skip anything that is less than perfect...and cost someone a possibly good contractor...and a contractor, possible a good job...

To kirkhall's point, we have sometimes found (in both business and our personal purchases) that some vendors "buy" their way into a job. They don't low-ball it, but they charge lower than their normal rates. Then, in subsequent bids, the price goes up enough to be noticeable. When we, the client, balk at increases that seem out of whack with simple inflation, the vendor gets mad.

From a related point of view, we hired a floor refinisher to sand and re-stain about 150 sq feet of red oak hardwood in our house. Less than a year later we moved to a better neighborhood in a better school district. This house also had 150 sq feet of red oak hardwood we needed sanded and re-stained. Amazing how the price for the same job from the same vendor jumped 30% with the new address. Ugh.