I am not sure of the particulars, but moving a door from one location to another within the same bearing wall, if the door is to remain the same size, shouldn't change the forces in modern house construction.

The 6 inch move will cost a lot for the amount of effort because its not very far --but it may be worth it.

What about obstructions? Wiring, heating ducts, plumbing pipes? Anything like that will add to the expense if they need to be moved.

It's not a big deal to him because...that's what he does.

Moving a doorway on a load bearing wall CAN be a trick, but, your contractor should know what can and can't be done.
Just use a contractor you trust.

I dont think it is a big deal for an experienced contractor who knows what they are doing. When we redid the master bath, we had the door to the closet moved over about a foot to make way for a vanity (this was a non-load bearing wall). Also, we just finished a kitchen remodel and had the door to the garage, which I imagine would be load-bearing, moved over about 18" to make way for a pantry. I say do what you need to do to get what you want.

It is not where the door is moving FROM, but where it is moving TO. If the new location has electrical, water and/or HVAC in it, then moving these can be a problem. Check and plan in advance.

The other thing is, is the house on a slab or is there a basement? With a basement you must assure that what is underneath the wall can support the load once you change it around. But if this is a non-supporting wall, then no issues here.

niether should be a HUGE deal,especially if you were already taking things down to the studs. the biggest issues would be what is in there that has to be moved in the way of pipes electric etc.

The rest is just playing with building blocks.

Yeah. Did he look underneath where the door was going?

Actually, if you're going down to studs, it's a breeze. You can see everything and it's just a question of reframing.

If you're going down to studs, look into pocket doors. Save yourself 9 sq feet per door!! And not with those awful kits, just 2x4s and the Johnson Control hardware. There's a whole thread on this re: liking your pocket doors.

I am not a GC, no longer married to one, and am not nearly as good as I want to think I am. But I moved a door. A pocket door. I just have studs many places in the house, so I just copied what was there.

I can't wait to see your kitchen.

Have your contractor commit to a price. He may need to open up the wall to see what is there to see if he needs to move the infrastructure.

This is the type of things where it is "EASY" to do but you may not want to "AFFORD" to do. You won't know until you put a price on it.

For example, I eliminated a very small wall to open up about 12 inches of space for 'cosmetic/visual' reasons. No significant functional improvement...

After it was all said and done, it cost me about $3 to 5000. I had to move the waste stack, hot/cold water, electrical, CAT5, intecom to another wall. I also had to demolish the wall, refinish the hole left on the hardwood.... (everything adds to a few hundred here and there...) No one works for free.

They gave me a quote of $1000 just for the plumber's part to move the waste stack (which was the most difficult and we did not know if it could be done at any price). Then I had to mentally add in all the other costs that was not quoted to me at the time but we HAD to do to make the move happen. It was worth it to me AND I could swing the cost.

We're moving a door about 18" to the right to improve the flow and allow for added counterspace. My estimate for that particular piece of work is $500. Definitely worth the expense!

To add, this is a very old home and there is nothing in that wall except old framing so no electrical/duct/insulation/etc. to worry about.

Both doors have electrical (the light switches). One of the doors has a heat supply and a heat return, on opposite sides of the wall, that will need to be moved.

I've been told that the return can actually be covered since returns are no longer done in kitchens. The heat supply can be moved as well.

I guess I really have to weigh the costs of moving the doors vs what I truly want to spend on the remodel.

I'm waiting on the bid now. Hopefully it will come back within budget.

One more question, should I expect the contractor to provide an actual price for the demo, flooring, etc. or is it reasonable to just expect an estimate that may fluctuate based on what's found behind the walls?

We had a door moved -- about 5 ft & around the corner. It's the entrance to our laundry room, in the middle of a kitchen wall. Around the corner, it's out of the way, facing into the family room. This greatly improved the functionality of our kitchen -- made it seem like it was twice as large! We then moved the fridge to the space where the old door was, and had upper & lower cupboards installed on either side.

We had no problems whatsoever. Then again, it wasn't a load-bearing wall & there was no plumbing stack there. Some electrical had to be moved, but the funny thing is that the electrician discovered that the old electrical was "tied in" incorrectly.........good thing we decided to move the door!

I fought the idea of moving a doorway because I had no emotional stuffing for it, since it would affect the dining room and the hall. So we left the bad doorway in the plans well into the period of framing of the addition. Finally I gave in--it needed to be done. So glad from an efficiency pt of view and a "this is just plain right" pt of view, but of course, three yrs later, the broken plaster holes in the hall and dining room are still unfinished and untrimmed and I can't rush this--depends on DH and his own emotional schedule. Unfinished door openings/closings definitely adds to the larger calendar and the usability of the adjacent spaces.

Nice thing about DIY - you want a door moved, you move it. During our whole house remodel, I have moved/changed every single window and door (interior and exterior). Unless utilities are in the way, moving a door can be easy.

The thing that made moving doorways much harder in my old house was uneven floors, interior walls there once were exterior walls and that most of it was balloon framed.

If you do move a door, do it correctly. Over the last 100 years my house had been modified many, many times. We gutted the whole house, and did not find any properly installed headers - not even one! No wonder none of the doors/windows opened properly.

One more question, should I expect the contractor to provide an actual price for the demo, flooring, etc. or is it reasonable to just expect an estimate that may fluctuate based on what's found behind the walls?
You need to ask the contractor what his 'reasonable' estimate is. Addtionally, you need to think through what is acceptable to YOU.

The more room you have in your budget, the greater the risk that you can take to let prices fluctuate. I generally start the remodel without a firm budget and let everything fluctuate. I have done multiple large remodels in my current house. I decide for each line item if it is worth the price to me or not. My budget is quite generous by most people's standards. If you are in a situation where if you run out of money then you can't finish the house/kitchen, my way of handling the budget would not be advised. (Imagine for yourself: I moved the doorway but I don't have the money to pay for the countertop that I wanted....)

If your budgeted amount is close to the contractor's original estimate, I would not let things fluctuate. The risk if too great that your house would NOT be finished. I have seen multiple situations of this in my neighborhood.