Up to this point, much of the work in your home has been occurring “behind the scenes” – it was covered up by the drywall. The finishes include everything from the drywall out.
Your finish decisions you make will drastically affect the look, feel, livability, and budget of your renovation project. While finish installation is one of the last stages, you should begin selecting the finishes early in the process for two primary reasons. First, most finishes are available in a broad range of quality and cost. Unless you have a bottomless wallet, you will be forced to make some tough decisions on where you want higher quality finishes and where you can live with more moderate selections. If towards the end of construction, you have money left over in your contingency fund, consider putting it towards higher-end finishes. The second reason to begin selecting finishes early in the process is that many products must be custom fabricated and/or be shipped from far-away locations. Selecting the finishes early ensures that they will be available when you need them installed. Late arrivals can initiate a domino effect and negatively impact the remaining schedule of the project.
Allowances
If you are working with a general contractor, you may have an “allowance” for your various finish types. An allowance is the contractor’s recognition that you will have decisions to make through the course of the project. For example, consider that your architectural drawings specify “wood” flooring in the dining room. This gives the contractor a ballpark idea of what you are intending to do. When putting together the bid, he or she figures that there is 150 square feet of floor and oak costs about $6 per square foot totaling $900. This will be the base price in the estimate and you would get a flooring allowance of $900 to apply to any flooring you select. If you decide to install a walnut parquet floor that costs $10 per square foot, you would pay the difference. Because prices vary so much, the allowance method can apply to any of the finishes.
The contractor may also simply exclude some of the finish materials from his or her bid. In this case you would be required to purchase the product on your own and have it on hand when they are ready to install. Some of the finishes you may have to select include: flooring, kitchen cabinets, vanities, plumbing fixtures, faucets, tiles, paint colors, countertops, base molding, crown molding, fireplace surrounds, toilet accessories, appliances, and wall texture.
