A couple of things to point out, vis-a-vis the plumbing, etc. Both the architect/design team (who live in our building) and the contractor we are using, have experience doing many apartments, for many years, in our buildings (remember, there are 4 buildings in our cooperative, with close to 1,700 apartments). In addition to NYC building codes, which must be adhered to, they're very familiar with what goes on inside the walls. Any time the wet wall is taken down (as shown above), plumbing has to be replaced before the walls are rebuilt.
Regarding hot water, the riser is insulated. There is no wait for hot water (unless, as happens occasionally, the boiler is on the fritz, though we have 2 boilers for the 4 buildings, and one is sufficient to service all 4), and we're on the 15th floor. Boilers were replaced a few years ago - cost us almost $5mm I believe.
Our contractor was one of 3 who bid on the project. I've seen work done by all 3 of the bidders, and like the work done by the one we chose most of all. He also included everything we discussed within the scope of the contract, whereas the other 2 conveniently forget a few things, so their bids were considerably lower. They recently completed (just 2 floors below us!) a gorgeous break-through, combining 2 2-bedroom apartments into a lovely, wide open 4-bedroom space, with expansive views.
I'm actually coming in pretty close to budget; well, not the original budget, but once I learned what all the permits/inspections/coop fees/architect fees/expeditor fees and contractor would cost, the rebudgeted budget is pretty close. Where I was under-budgeted was for lighting - all the new stuff will be LED, dimmable, etc. etc., and it's expensive! Where I over budgeted was actually for cabinets; we're getting what I would call semi-custom cabinets, as I can only have 21" deep cabinets on one side (yes, due to code, grrrr); we're getting the "boxes" from a company called CabParts, in Colorado, constructed of maple. The fronts of the cabinets, the drawers, and any filler pieces will all be custom made, measured after the boxes are installed, and supplied by our contractor, as part of his fees.
My big disappointment is that even though our building allows us to vent to the outside (via a window, not through any walls), it became apparent once the walls were down, that this was going to be an engineering nightmare. With a short run from our range to the window (we were going to vent out the top of the window in the bathroom), the ductwork would have required 4 90° turns, a big soffit intruding into the shower space, and other aggravating things. After which, even if installed perfectly, I figured wasn't actually going to work all that well from the reams of stuff I read about range hoods and ducting. So, we're going to have a recirculating hood that will look cool, but probably not be too effective. But it will be better than what I've had for years - nothing - and I imagine if the filters are well maintained, will reduce odor and other particulates to a certain extent.
Our sublet is literally one floor up from our apartment, which allows me to check the work on a daily basis. Contractors are only allowed to work between the hours of 8 AM and 5 PM, with noisy work (i.e. demo) only allowed between 10 AM and 3 PM; they can't work on weekends; they can't work on federal holidays; they can't work on Jewish or other major religious holidays. So the work, which started on September 8th, or 7 weeks ago, has seen actual work a total of 29 days. My goal had always been to be completely finished before the end of the year; contractor and architects say 3 months, which would be the beginning of December.
Here's my setup in the sublet:
I also have my new Instant Pot!
