Upgrading my condo - recommendations?
 

Hey guys,

I bought a pre-sale condo and will be taking possession sometime in October/November. There are a few things I'd like to add to it:
- pot lights in living room and bedrooms
- faux wood/brick panelling on walls of living room/bedroom
- replace curtain rod with glass door in bathroom

Are these things possible to do in a condo (especially the potlights since ceiling is concrete)? And if so, do you have any recommendations for people who can help with this project? Condo is located in Burnaby.

Thanks!

Sounds extremely boring

If you have a floor plan it'd help with visualizing what can be done and what kind of space you are working with

I know of someone who can do all those priced pretty competitively and they do good work. Let me know when you take possession and we can go from there. The only issue would be the pot lights....sometimes pot lights would work in condo, depending on how they build the place....if there's enough space between floors, yea it shouldn't be an issue. Or you could also look into some track lights instead

Heat pump

If you have a concrete ceiling it's gonna be big $$$ to put in pot lights because they will have to build a drop ceiling.

We've used a guy in the past who does "faux brick" walls, we called him "the artist" because the guy thought he was working on the Mona Lisa every time he put one up, charges an arm and a leg for under 10 hours of work as well, like 3500+

I did a brick wall in our place using panelling from Lowe's, all in cost me $250 and I think it looks as good if not better than the $3500 one.

Ask the plumbers to run a icebox before they finish roughing in your sweet.

you'll thank me.

#2 and #3 on your list are easy and can be done at any time. #1 is going to range from annoying to damn near impossible (as somebody said - going to have to build a complete false ceiling if you have exposed concrete ceiling in your unit).

Mark

Just out of curiosity, if the guy was do damn expensive, why did you guys keep hiring him?

What in the fuck

As mentioned, pot lights may or may not be an issue. If the builders already created a false ceiling to accommodate for overhead lighting, it may be possible to put in pot lights. Otherwise you're looking to build your own false ceiling or simply bulkheads around the perimeter. Other two are pretty simple.

Is it possible to negotiate with the contractor to have their guys do the upgrades? I'm sure it's probably too late at this point but it may be worth asking.

Thanks for the responses everyone, very informative! The building is technically completed in September but it'll likely take a couple months after that before it's my turn to move in. That's why I was hoping to do my research and get things lined up quickly to minimize any further delays before I can move in. I have a few questions from the above:

1) Good idea about asking the developers to do the upgrades Lomac, although it's probably too late now. I will ask them tomorrow...if they can't, do you know if developers would let contractors that I hire get into my unit prior to my move-in date to do the work? Or will they make me wait until my"move-in date?

2) What kind of information do I need to find out in order to determine if the pot lights are possible (without creating a false ceiling)? Is this something I can find out somewhere, or do I have to ask the developer?

3) How much approximately would it cost to put in a false ceiling (along the perimeter where the pot lights would be) in the living room and master bedroom? Keep in mind that the unit is ~900 sq ft. From what I understand, the kitchen and hallway already has pot lights.

4) For faux brick/wood walls, is it typically cheaper if I shopped around and supplied the materials for whoever will be doing the work? Or is it typically easier to go with whoever the contractor's supplier is? Any good supplier websites I can check out? Hondaracer mentioned Lowe's. Any others?

5) As you can tell from my questions, I'm pretty new to all of this. Are there any good forums out there that you would recommend for me to learn more/ask additional questions?

Appreciate all the help!

marble floors, everywhere, except bedroom lol.

that's what i'd do. high class venetian style everywhere. like the venetians... or mainlanders LOL.

that and something to thicken the walls so you can pump your music louder. if u like music that is.

Fake brick and wood looks super cheesy


Pot lights? Why not do something cool like LEDs that you can control via an app on your phone?


There is so much cool shit you could do with a little creativity! :)

That's the stupidest thing ever. The novelty wears off in a few days and then what?

if u throw parties a lot, the adjustable LED lights come in handy.

depends on lifestyle.

i would get AC before anything else though HAH.

A friend of mine has it and it is extremely cool.

We walk into his apartment with a bunch of chicks and it is all brightly-lit and no music is playing or anything. Girls put their bags down and begin to gravitate towards his iPhone stereo dock, the quick thinking hospitality-pimp escorts them back to kitchen bar stools and whips open a stainless steel fridge door to pour them drinks.

"Where's the tunes?" they ask, pulling their mini-skirts down to somewhere between their crotches and upper thigh.

Buddy guy's foot props open the fridge door as three drinks are prepared in seconds using one hand, his other free digits deftly keying in app commands through his black iPhone. White lights above fade into a deep red and a thumping Kanye beat blasts through his stereo on the far wall; the girls smile following their first sip of patron. Any harsh features are dulled by soft mood lights, the sheen from wet lips on the faces of cute blondes helps turn 7s into 9s and the night begins to hum along under passionate crimson tones.

:spamarama:

TIL Manic! has never entertained at his place

I'm not sure how far they are into the interior of the project. But if they haven't started, get in touch with the developer ASAP and ask them about adding these few touches. They might either do it for you (for a fee) or leave you enough room so you can have people adding them without breaking the whole thing apart.

A friend of mine is an interior designer and when he bought his pre-sale apartment, he specifically asked a few things he wanted. The developer couldn't do it. (the dev was small and didn't have the capacity for all the custom jobs he was asking) So, they actually worked out a few grand less on the price on the condition of how far the interior would be done (basically nothing). Then my friend had his contractors to put in everything he wanted in his apartment. But this was again with a small dev who was willing to accommodate a lot of requests. Not sure if a big dev would do it.

Developers decision for show homes

The simple answer is it depends. Do you just perimeter bulkheads or do you want a dropped ceiling through the bedroom and and living room? It would have been much cheaper to have it done when they were framing, guaranteed your suite is complete or near complete at this point so they have to make a separate trip to frame, rough in, board and finish which all adds up.

A typical drop ceiling in a suite should be around $4.00-$5.00 a square foot not including the lights but there are minimum charges that can bump it up higher then that. For example a taper will have to make at least 3 trips and you'll get charged minimums regardless if he's there 30 minutes or 4 hours.

Is this an Appia Development by any chance?

maybe forget the pot lights if you need to add a drop ceiling. like someone said, maybe track lights? if the pot lights are for accent lighting maybe see if they can do a bulkhead for you vs an entire drop ceiling.

*edit* dam quasi types faster than me :lol

i've had both rod/curtain and glass door in my bathrooms...personally i prefer rod/curtain. easier to maintain and get in/out of

First thing I'd worry about is changing the locks. The contractor keys still work, and they're passed out like 10th graders on NYE.

ya then the last pin is dropped with the final suite key and all "construction" keys are useless

there's only two sets of "final" keys made for each suite, then one MASTER key that is kept for the building Owner/Strata.

The track lighting they are going to use is going to suck, even if you had pay some extra $$ to get it done it will be worth it