NOTES

Which of these three pieces should you read first?

Short answer

Three longer pieces for the middle of a decision rather than the end of one. Read whichever matches the question you are still working through. Nothing in them is held back for clients who call us, and none of it stops being true if you hire someone else.

Most pages on this site answer one question and then stop. These three run longer because the subjects require it. They cover what you are actually buying when you buy a kitchen, what we have to ask before anyone can put a real number on the work, and what happens when the old floor comes up and the room underneath is not the room the drawing showed.

We build in Saugus, California, in the Santa Clarita Valley, so the permit rules described in these pieces are the ones Santa Clarita enforces.

The three pieces

What a kitchen is made of: Every part, named, with what it does. Cabinet boxes, door and drawer fronts, hinges and slides, the counter and its edge, and the plumbing and wiring buried in the wall behind all of it. Read this before you compare two bids. Two prices only mean something once you know what each one leaves out, and the lower one is usually lower for a reason found somewhere in that list. It pairs with keeping or replacing the boxes you already have.
Questions we ask on the first visit: The list itself, question by question, with what your answer changes. Some change the price. One or two decide whether the plan is possible at all, which is worth learning before you settle on a layout. Read it beforehand and the visit runs shorter, and the number at the end of it comes out tighter.
What goes wrong and who pays: Rot in the cabinet under the sink. A subfloor that turns out to slope, or wiring that an inspector will not approve. This one explains how a change order actually works, who carries which cost, and why the contingency is a real line item and not padding. It sits next to permits and inspections.

Worth knowing. Santa Clarita exempts countertops and most house cabinets from a building permit, then states in the same amended chapter that plumbing, electrical and mechanical permits are required anyway for that work. The exemption and the trade permits are two separate things, and many readers stop at the first half of that sentence.

Do I need to read these before I call you?

No. Call and ask, and you will get the same answers in person. These exist because some people would rather read first and arrive with a list, which tends to make for a better visit.

Where do the short answers live?

On the answers page, with the rest of the questions we are asked often enough to be worth writing down.

Read one, then ask about your own kitchen

None of this replaces someone standing in your kitchen with a tape measure and a flashlight, checking what the wall behind the sink is carrying. It does make that visit shorter.

Ask for a price

Kitchen Remodel Saugus, CA. We build kitchens in Saugus and the surrounding Santa Clarita Valley. Licensed and insured trades on every job.

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