Cost of repairs 2

First up, get at least three quotes for the exact same work, that way you'll have some sort of idea of whether this one is dear, cheap, or otherwise.

This is Australia. Labour is expensive in Australia. The type of work that you need done is labour intensive.

To put it into perspective you have to ask yourself "How much is my time worth?" For whatever it is that you do for a living.

For the type of work you need done, there is only a small percentage of the population able to do it, and qualified to do it. Hence the expense.

Good luck

Mikey,
those figures sound in the ball park to me. Factor in all the overheads the builder has like licensing, insurance, depreciation, wear and tear and just the sheer volume of gear you need to have to building reno work and you'll realise there's a lot less money in it for the builder than first appears. Also if he doesn't factor in a contingency sum for unforseen extra work required will you pay him more? Maybe something has been constructed in such a manner that means an extra 20 hours is required to remove and replace it, but this wasn't obvious until it was demolished/dismantled. Building is a risky business financially and reno work has more traps and pitfalls than building new homes. Like Dusty said, get a few quotes and see if they're in the same range.

Mick

Dan,
how much are you paying yourself an hour to do it? How many hours have you spent on it all up (including phone calls to suppliers etc). What about superannuation, sick pay, accident insurance, public liability, insurance against theft from site, cost of running a home office, license fees, depreciation on plant and tools etc etc etc. Maybe the quotes on the high side, I don't know, but what it costs you in materials to do a job for yourself has little to do with with what it costs a builder to to the job (and hopefully at some sort of profit). I've made some good money on renovations, but I've really scraped by on some too. When you even it all out I would probably have made more money if I worked in I.T.

Mick

I agree totally with Mick that the price seems to be in the right ballpark.
Agree with his other comments too

Dan,
you are lucky you can DIY, otherwise you'd be at the mercy of some money hungry contractor . And yeah, if I couldn't do things myself we wouldn't have a lot of the things we do now (like an almost finished bed, everything for a new kitchen except the man hours to assemble it and a few other projects that are still in the planning stage )

Mick