MovieChat Forums > Flip or Flop (2013) Discussion > throwing away perfectly good cabinets, f...

throwing away perfectly good cabinets, flooring, vanities...

posted 9 years ago by Rio2001
16 replies | jump to latest

this bugs so much. why don't they pull the stuff out of the house and put a sign up "FREE" and leave it curbside. Believe me, I've done that before and my stuff was gone in less than an hour. It's less wasteful.

Dumping good stuff in landfill is environmentally unsustainable. Although I did once see them load stuff in a truck with the charity "Habitat for Humanity" logo on it. I would like to see this in every episode.

[–] stevenl-5 9 years ago

They are running about 30 flips at a time. They have to move as fast as they can with each house. Otherwise, the carrying costs start to become hell.

And it makes the demolition part easier. Otherwise, they would have to spend so much time removing everything in good condition.

[–] mamie-lou 9 years ago

My husband always says "I would take some of those cabinets and put them out in the garage for storage!" That would be a good idea too, unless you never store any paint or tools in your garage, or work on anything in your garage.

[–] jeffhartley 8 years ago

Most of these homes either don't have a garage or not one big enough for that kind of storage.

Kitchen cabinets in a garage might be ok for an owner occupied home, but would most likely look pretty tacky in one that is set to flip.

[–] Kompressor_Fan 8 years ago

The carrying costs are REALLY going to be hell when the real estate bubble in California bursts and they are stuck with a bunch of renovated houses that they can't even sell for the price they bought for, much less recouping the cost of the reno work.

[–] tolarrattler-imdb 9 years ago

One reason is they destroy the cabinets getting them down. To take them down right and preserve them takes longer. They do not want to spend money for the time that takes. Now what would be interesting is a non-profit organization that will offer to remove them for free or at least a really reduced price. The organization fixes them up to sell at a very low price for people to use. But even then I bet most flippers would still opt to just rip them out and throw them away. It all comes down to the time they would have to wait.

[–] digitaldiva 9 years ago

I have to agree with the OP. They want to do flashy flips for certain markets, but they often toss cabinets that could be sanded and refurbished, tile that could be restored, and furniture that can be repurposed. To be honest, I'm not crazy about their design sense, their flips look pretty much the same.

[–] jeffhartley 8 years ago

The return on investment on something like that would either be really low or probably negative as that is a labor intensive job and those cabinets have very little value.

[–] digitaldiva 8 years ago

Hi jeffhartley,

I kept my old cabinets and it saved me around $8,000 - I think their design sense is primarily driven by the geographic areas they deal with and the design to be trendy.

[–] Kompressor_Fan 8 years ago

You are right.....unless they are utterly trashed, or some wildly awful design, cabinets can usually be refurbished with a fresh and clean new look and....like you said....save you thousands of dollars.

Thing is, HGTV is all about selling new product. I think one of the messages of these shows, pushed by the network itself, is the philosophy of "don't fix and make do with what you already have, just demo and buy, buy, buy!"

[–] digitaldiva 8 years ago

So true, Kompressor_Fan, and it's why I now watch programs that stress trying to salvage as much as possible.

[–] Kompressor_Fan 8 years ago

It's too bad, because HGTV used to have some shows where they mixed the new with the old that had been refurbished and saved. One of the things I love about the show "Rehab Addict" is Nicole's thriftiness, and her desire to save what is already installed in the home whenever possible.

[–] digitaldiva 8 years ago

Hi Kompressor_Fan,

I only watch the rehab shows now, not most of the flipping shows. There are a couple of flipping show however that stress keeping as much of the original features of a house as possible.

[–] jeffhartley 8 years ago

The point is that the existing cabinets in these homes tend to be mass-produced, low-quality stock cabinets that would negatively stand out even if "refurbished".

Refurbishing those types of cabinets (especially when the doors are particle board and not even solid wood) would be expensive and a huge negative return on investment.

Remember, they are trying to flip these homes fast and custom kitchens help sell a home fast. This is a completely different situation than just salvaging some cabinets in your own home. Potential buyers care about a lot of things that existing occupants don't.

[–] bingoboss 8 years ago

To take them down right and preserve them takes longer. They do not want to spend money for the time that takes.

I don't like the waste, either - and I really like your "non-profit" idea. The "quick flip" mentality is still a problem - all they are doing is shifting the cost burden onto the local community that pays for dealing with that crap in a landfill for decades. Flippers make their profit, and stick it to the taxpayers in the neighborhood they're flipping in - not a nice way to do business.

It takes more time to remove tile, cabinets, flooring, etc carefully so that it can be re-used. But not that much more time. Maybe a few days extra, max, while doing the demo. Properties sit much longer than that just waiting for a buyer.

[–] jeffhartley 8 years ago

The "quick flip" mentality is still a problem - all they are doing is shifting the cost burden onto the local community that pays for dealing with that crap in a landfill for decades.

Landfills charge money to use so that isn't an issue. Note that in many instances, the demo and disposal costs are in the $1000s so no taxpayers are being "sticked".

Regardless trying to re-use cheap mass-produced cabinets that are 30 years old isn't going save anyone any money. That works out great as a home project, but not for a for-profit business.

[–] liscarkat (19418) 6 years ago

Disassembling is much more time consuming than demolishing.