Rebuild vs Remodel Quotes
Mr. Nola had a scary conversation with Boudreaux the Contractor yesterday. By his estimates, we're looking at $300K to renovate, not including the new foundation, vs twice that to rebuild from scratch. This is for a house we paid $360K for a year ago. So far our insurance payouts have been about $270K, and we haven't even added up the cost of the furniture we lost.
Ugh. The temptation to mail the keys back to Countrywide, change my name and move to an alpaca farm in Vermont is getting stronger.
Those numbers represent what Boudreaux thinks we need though, so we'll have to go through and tell him what we actuallly want out of that. Some of the finish work we can do ourselves, of course, but we really don't have the time or skills to take on major work.
Meanwhile, the money we're paying to the lawyer for dealing with our insurance agent is Worth.Every.Penny. I don't know that I could remain civil while talking to the guy. Recently, he told the lawyer that the reason the mold and water damage is so much worse in the rooms that are under the hole in the roof than it is in the rest of the house, is because the house is tilted towards those rooms so they had deeper flood water. "Flood water" is the homeowner's insurance magic excuse to not have to pay for anything. Of course, I have the receipts to show that a) the house was levelled before the hurricane, b) the extent that it was tilted before levelling was towards the other side of the house, and c) the obvious subsidence that took place because of the flood is tilted in the other direction, away from the most damaged rooms. The guy is just making this shit up!
posted by Nola @ 8:57 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Settle up and move to Dayton!
Houses here are cheap compared to the rest of the nation!
You have to like snow though and you can import alpacas!
You know, I've thought about it and I can't figure why it would cost so much to rebuild your home. Habitat for humanity builds 1 1/2 story houses on a slab for $60,000 and we have new housing going up around here for between $160,000 and $180,000 with the contractors profit figured in. Our 4000 sq. ft brick beast with seven fireplaces has an estimated replacement cost of $480,000. I understand that contractors in your area may be at a premium but it would probably be cost effective to hire a group from out of state and pay their long term stay bill at a hotel. If you can get a house built for $180,000 and have a $50,000 hotel bill you are still ahead!
Oh, Sweetie.
Kiss that lawyer, Nola, and hang on to every document that you can to show the culpability of the insurance company and agent.
I don't know about NO, but 600K for a new house with excellent materials (that's the difference between a Habitat house, a McMansion, and what you are trying to repari/replace, no matter where it is) is a little high, but not gaspingly so in the Twin Cities.
I'm thinking about you, Nola, and your family.
Micki Sue
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