How to estimate a kitchen remodel when allowances drive the price
To estimate a kitchen remodel, sort the job into three piles: allowances the homeowner selects (cabinets, countertops, sink, faucet, tile, flooring), sub quotes from your electrician and plumber, and the work your own crew performs. Total those with permit and dumpster, then divide by one minus your target margin. A 10 by 12 kitchen with 20 linear feet of semi-custom cabinets and quartz tops, appliances supplied by the owner, costs about $21,080 to build and prices at $32,430 with a 35 percent margin. Cabinets and countertops are roughly 41 percent of that cost, which is why they go on paper as stated allowances.
Step by step
- Lock the layout before you price anything. A same-footprint kitchen and one where the sink moves to an island are two different jobs. Every appliance that moves pulls a plumber or electrician into the floor or the wall. Get the homeowner to sign a layout drawing first, since every later number hangs on where the sink, range, and refrigerator sit.
- Measure cabinet runs by the linear foot. Semi-custom cabinet lines are commonly budgeted by the linear foot of run, measured along the wall. Ask your supplier whether their foot price covers base and wall boxes together, which is the usual convention. Twenty linear feet at a $325 allowance is $6,500 before a single filler strip at $22.50, a foot of crown at $8.60, or a pull at $4.60.
- Write an allowance for everything the homeowner picks. Give each owner selection a dollar figure and a unit: quartz at $59 a square foot, an undermount sink at $288, a faucet at $188, a disposal at $118, backsplash tile at $4.85 a square foot, LVP at $2.90. Say that each allowance is the material budget you priced, and that a selection above it is a change order figured the same way as the base job. That paragraph is what keeps a $485 farmhouse sink from coming out of your pocket.
- Take off countertops in square feet, not cabinet feet. Tops price by the square foot of finished surface: counter run times 25.5 inches of depth, plus any island or overhang. Sixteen feet of run is 34 square feet, and a 4 square foot peninsula overhang makes 38. Ask the fabricator whether sink cutouts, the edge profile, and the template trip are inside the square foot price, because those extras are where two stone quotes differ.
- Get the electrician's number against current code. Kitchens are the most circuit-heavy room in a house. The NEC requires at least two 20 amp small-appliance circuits for the countertop receptacles, spaced so no point along the counter wall is more than 24 inches from one, and the 2023 edition, where adopted, extends GFCI protection to every receptacle in the kitchen. Most electricians also run separate circuits for the dishwasher, disposal, and microwave, so an older panel can be out of spaces before the recessed lights go in.
- Get the plumber's number for what actually moves. On a same-layout kitchen the plumber disconnects before demo, then returns after the tops are in to set the sink, faucet, disposal, dishwasher, and ice maker line. That is two trips and less than a day of work. A sink that moves needs new 2 inch drain at $2.20 a foot, a vent path, and often an open floor, which is another quote entirely.
- Price your own crew by task, in hours. Self-performed work on a kitchen is demo, cabinet install, drywall patching, backsplash, flooring, paint, and punch. Estimate each in hours from your own past jobs: 20 linear feet of cabinets with fillers, toe kick, crown, and pulls runs about 26 crew hours. Then multiply the total by a loaded rate that carries wages, payroll taxes, workers' comp, the truck, and tools.
- Divide by your margin and tie payments to milestones. Total allowances, materials, subs, labor, permit, and dumpster, then divide by one minus your margin, which at 35 percent means cost divided by 0.65. Do not exempt the cabinets or the subs because they feel like pass-through: you order them, schedule them, warranty them, and float the money. Tie payments to cabinet order, cabinet delivery, countertop template, and substantial completion, so the cabinet deposit is never your own cash.
The kitchen remodel pricing formula
Job cost equals owner allowances, plus your own materials, plus sub quotes, plus crew hours times the loaded rate, plus permit and dumpster. Price equals job cost divided by (1 minus margin), with the allowances inside the division. A sub's quote already holds that sub's profit, not yours: on $4,130 of electrical and plumbing, dividing by 0.65 bills $6,353.85, and passing them through at cost leaves you coordinating two trades and covering their callbacks while earning nothing on a fifth of the job.
A 10 by 12 kitchen, same layout, 20 linear feet of cabinets, appliances supplied by the owner. Allowances: semi-custom cabinets, 20 feet at $325, $6,500; quartz, 38 square feet at $59, $2,242; backsplash tile, 30 square feet at $4.85, $145.50; LVP, 105 square feet at $2.90, $304.50; undermount sink $288; faucet $188; disposal $118; 30 pulls at $4.60, $138; two pendants at $85, $170. Allowances total $10,094. Your materials: 12 feet of cabinet crown at $8.60, $103.20; three filler strips at $22.50, $67.50; 12 feet of toe kick at $4.35, $52.20; a bag of thinset at $22.50 and a bag of grout at $24.50; 8 feet of edge trim at $6.60, $52.80; six sheets of 1/2 inch drywall at $17, $102; joint compound $18.50 and paper tape $8.60; two gallons of paint at $39, $78; 6 feet of transition strip at $5.60, $33.60; and an ice maker box at $18. That comes to $581.40. The electrician quotes $3,150 and the plumber $980, so subs are $4,130. Your crew works 86 hours at a $64 loaded rate, which is $5,504. Add a $320 permit and a $450 dumpster and job cost is $21,079.40. Divide by 0.65 for a 35 percent margin and the price is $32,429.85, so quote $32,430.
Cost factors kitchen remodelers price for
Cabinet grade and lead time
Stock boxes budget at about $248 for a base and $188 for a wall cabinet and can be on site in days. Semi-custom at roughly $325 a linear foot takes weeks, and one damaged or mis-measured box can stall the countertop template behind it. Price the grade the homeowner chose, and write the lead time into the schedule so the wait is not read as yours.
Countertop material and seams
Laminate at $33 a linear foot, butcher block at $33 a square foot, granite at $49, and quartz at $59 are different budgets and different install days. Stone adds a template visit and a wait between cabinets and tops with the kitchen unusable in between. Long runs and L shapes add seams, and a slab that will not cover the layout means buying a second one.
Moving plumbing, gas, or walls
Keeping the sink, range, and refrigerator where they are is the biggest cost control in a kitchen. An island sink needs a drain and vent under the floor. A range moved across the room needs a new gas run at about $4.85 a foot in black iron or $3.35 in CSST, or a new 240 volt circuit, and a wall that comes out can bring an engineer and a beam.
The range hood and makeup air
A big hood can trigger a makeup air requirement. The IRC calls for makeup air when a kitchen exhaust can move more than 400 cubic feet per minute in a house with certain fuel-burning appliances, and local amendments change the details. That is a damper, a duct, and an HVAC sub nobody budgeted, so ask which hood they are buying before you price.
What the old kitchen hides
Soffits above the wall cabinets often hold ducts, wiring, or a drain from the bathroom upstairs. Old flooring can be two or three layers deep, and the bottom layer in an older house may need testing before you disturb it. In a home built before 1978, the EPA's lead-safe renovation rule covers paid work that disturbs more than 6 square feet of painted surface in a room, and a kitchen gut passes that on the first wall.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of a kitchen remodel is cabinets?
Cabinets are normally the largest single line, commonly 25 to 35 percent of cost, with countertops adding another 10 percent or so. In the 10 by 12 example above, $6,500 of cabinets and $2,242 of quartz make $8,742 of a $21,079.40 job, about 41 percent. That concentration is the reason both belong on the estimate as allowances with the dollar amount showing.
Should I charge to install appliances the homeowner buys?
Yes. There is no appliance cost to put margin on, but there is labor: receiving, uncrating, setting, leveling, anti-tip brackets, and hauling off the old units. Price it as an install line in hours. Then say in writing that damage, missing parts, and warranty on owner-supplied appliances are between the owner and the store.
How long should I schedule for a kitchen remodel?
Plan on five to eight weeks of calendar time for a same-layout kitchen even though the crew hours fit inside two. The gaps are cabinet lead time, then a week or two between cabinet install and stone, because the fabricator templates off the installed boxes. Put those gaps on the schedule you hand the homeowner so quiet days do not look like a stalled job.
How many circuits does a remodeled kitchen need?
At minimum the NEC wants two 20 amp small-appliance circuits serving the countertop receptacles, and most electricians add separate circuits for the dishwasher, disposal, microwave, and refrigerator, plus lighting. That is seven or more breaker spaces. Receptacles go at every counter section 12 inches or wider with no point on the wall more than 24 inches from one, and local amendments vary, so have the electrician quote from the signed layout.
Can I build a kitchen estimate from my phone at the walkthrough?
Yes. With Staxen you describe the kitchen out loud or type it in (cabinet footage, countertop square feet, allowances, sub quotes) and Eddie drafts a priced line-item estimate you review and text for e-signature with a deposit. Eddie can also start a draft from an uploaded plan PDF. Each Staxen AI employee is $59 per month, or $149 per month for Eddie, Josie, and Ivy together, and the first 7 days are free in the app.