Dear PoP – Realistic Renovation Estimate?

“Dear PoP,

We just received an estimate for a closet renovation that has me bug-eyed, but husband is thinking it’s doable. We would love some marriage-ref-type help on this.

We have the classic Federal rowhouse, with the odd extra door connecting the larger two upstairs bedrooms. We want to convert the doorspace into a closet for the front room, and expand the old closet in the back room to double its size. This may involve some structural work.

The contractor estimates two weeks of work at $13,000.

The green room (rear room) is the one that will get the double-wide closet, the yellow room (front room) will get a single closet made in the space that is the “hall” connecting the two rooms.

Also, talking with hubby found out that the renovation cost also includes repainting both rooms and maintaining some of the historic finishes in the space – e.g. repurposing the floor boards, using the existing doors for the newly-arranged closets – and adding some built in bookshelves along one wall. Still, $13,000 seems shocking to me! Would love to get some feedback from the masses.

Is this reasonable?

All thoughts are greatly appreciated!”

Well if there is structural work involved then I’m thinking that’s really gonna kick up the price. But let’s throw this out to those who’ve had similar projects done. Does $13,000 sound reasonable or insane for this type of project?