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Cabinets and fittings can make
or break a room. Nowhere more so than a kitchen.
Untold hours researching, calling, visiting stores and
showrooms and meetings with professionals may have left
you with more questions than answers.
Unless you have a weirdly shaped
room or taste that nobody else has then a stock kitchen
should be fine for your needs. If you are an
investor planning to flip the property then a stock
kitchen is a no brainer. They are readily
available, can be tailored to a degree and be made to
fit most regular room sizes. The quality of stock
kitchens is higher now that it has ever been, so buying
one is definitely a viable option.
Custom built
kitchen cabinets are great, but developers can’t afford
the lead times. Often the wait is in excess of
eight weeks, which is about the whole time a property is
flipped. A good developer will be in and out well
within that time. The quality of a custom kitchen
is way more than an average developed house would run
to, and costs more too. The more you spend on
flipping, the higher then sale price has to be to
achieve the return.
Mistakes are also much easier to
rectify with a stock kitchen too. We’ve all done
it, measured wrong and the cabinet doesn’t fit.
Using stock means a quick trip back to the store for an
exchange or refund, or worst case a couple of hundred
dollars for a new one. Rectifying a mistake with a
custom kitchen can run you a couple of thousand and
another eight weeks. Neither of these an ambitious
developer can afford to waste.
While stock isn’t ideal in every
situation, especially older houses with oddly shaped
rooms, for the most part they are ideal. There are
now plenty of manufacturers and retailers that
specialize in kitchens and can even offer basic design
advice or do the designing for you. The market is
so advanced now that you can even buy the little items
that made custom kitchen stand out like spice or
wine racks, self or soft closing drawers, built in Wi-Fi
or TV and loads of other enhancements.
Bathrooms should receive the
same stock treatment. No need for custom cabinets
here either, they wouldn’t make you the money back
unless they were free standing and you could take them
with you. A coat of paint, tidy up the bath and
shower, tile if you have to, dress the room and done.
The same as with any other room. Developers are in
the business of making money, not beautiful houses to
fulfill dreams.
Property development is all about achieving the highest
finish with the least outlay. Every room in the
house will be treated exactly the same way. Do
what needs doing to make it look nice and inviting
without going overboard and spending thousands of
dollars needlessly. Kitchens and bathrooms are
traditionally the most expensive rooms in any house to
renovate, but it doesn’t mean you have to go overboard
on them.
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