I definitely expect to do some changes to make them more rabbit-friendly. Adjusting/reinforcing the shelves, adding ramps, etc. I just figured it'd be a lot cheaper and easier than building a condo from the ground up.
Edit: I actually just found this:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000Y91GKK/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
NIC cages are better, more customizable and can be built for the same price if not cheaper
Tools needed: scissors, a cheap utility knife (if using coroplast) - you can get one for $1 at home depot, fingers and a brain. If you can tie zipties and can be trusted with a utility knife, you can build a NIC condo. They look intimidating, but once you get going it's surprisingly easy to build one!
The best price I know of for the grids is at
Sears (you can do site to store to avoid the outrageous shipping fees if your local store doesn't carry them). 23 grids per box for $21.99 + tax.
(Obviously if they were locked in it at night, you would need to remove one grid on the ceiling/floor between the first two levels to create direct access between them. As a note, if you wanted to go with this design, I *strongly* recommend making the bottom floor two grids high and the middle floor the one that's one grid high (like in my second condo) - so much more practical for cleaning purposes!)
Grids - 68 (3 boxes) - $65.97 + tax (note: don't put grids on the floor of the ground floor or you'll need a 4th box - they're unnecessary from a stability standpoint and without them, you don't need to install flooring on that level)
Coroplast - one 4'x8' sheet** - varies from one sign shop to another; I paid $18 a sheet for the purple stuff used above. I normally recommend the 3'x6' sheets at Home Depot for around $13, but you would need two of them for this condo design, so it would end up being more expensive.
(I used it on the ground floor as well but there's really no need if you want to save some money - just use the house flooring or, if you feel the need to protect it, a $5 or so tarp from Walmart)
Fleece: my bunns ruined it and I had to take it away, however if you wanted to use it, the cheapest fleece option is the 50'' x 60'' fleece blankets at Walmart for a bit under $3 each. You'd need two blankets to do the floors on the second/third levels and the ledge, so $6 plus maybe $2 for binder clips to hold it on.
Zipties (4'') - theoretically, about 300 are needed (2 per seam between two grids, plus a few more for dowels). Realistically, you always end up changing your mind or messing up here and there and having to snip and redo some (plus, once you have them on hand, you start discovering all variety of other uses for them), so I recommend a minimum of 400. If you want to reinforce the corners diagonally wherever 4 grids meet (not necessary, but I did on the first condo), you'll end up wanting closer to 500.
Do NOT buy them at a hardware store - Home Depot is a ripoff at $18-19 for 1,000 (also, it's more than twice what you need) and Lowe's is significantly worse. The first place I'd look is Dollar Tree or other dollar stores where everything actually IS $1 (or 99c) - depending on the store, you get 80-100 for $1.
If you can't find them there, the next best price I know of is actually on
my own website (about 1/3 of the way down the page). For a lot of 500 zipties, I charge $3.80 for natural/$4.05 for black; if that's all you ordered, the actual shipping cost would be around $2.50 (PayPal would overcharge, but I always refund the excess).
For cost estimate purposes, let's split the difference and say you were able to find them at a dollar store but there were only 80 per pack; 400 = 5 packs, so $5.
Dowels (to stop the levels from sagging): for a 2 wide x 3 long condo, I recommend a single 48'' dowel running down the center of the level in the long direction. Get round - square dowels are so much more awkward to secure to the level! Also, you want hardwood dowels so that it's safe if your bunns chew them. I find
5/8'' diameter dowels to be a good balance between cost and strength (1/2'' is almost a dollar cheaper but will bow a bit when holding up a decent amount of weight), though
3/4'' dowels are only 50c more a piece. If your HD doesn't carry them, you can do site-to-store to avoid having to pay shipping fees or meet the $45 min order requirement for free shipping. Let's say you use the 5/8'' dowels - that's $4.96.
Total cost: approximately $94 +tax without fleece and $102 +tax with fleece
**Sign stores will cut the coroplast for you on request, usually free of charge. The sizes you'd need for the condo pictured are approximately 32'' x 36'' (third floor), 18'' x 36'' (landing) and 46'' x 36'' (second floor); those measurements account for a 4'' sidewall around the edges. The leftover should amount to about a 1' x 8' strip, since you really only need a 3' x 8' sheet.
(pretend half of the roof isn't missing, lol... and disregard the mess and pee stains >.>)
Grids needed: 84 (four boxes) - $87.96
Coroplast: Home Depot is the better deal this time, as you'd need two sheets whether you went with 3' x 6' or 4' x 8'
[ask an employee where the plexiglass is - coroplast is in the same section but they never know what you're talking about if you ask for it] - $26
Fleece: same as before - since the condo is 56'' long, you could get away with the 50'' x 60'' blankets if you cut the end sidewalls to 2'' or so - $8 (including binder clips)
Zipties: not all that many more than the smaller cage; you'd need 500 at the most... let's call it $6 at dollar store prices.
Dowels: Since the cage is 56'' long, 48'' dowels were impractical - instead, I used 5/8'' x 36'' dowels ($1.29 at Hobby Lobby, which is cheaper than Home Depot). If you positioned them 1.5 grids in from either end, you should be able to get away with 2 per level (so 4 total). [Note: Hobby Lobby has dowels in two different parts of the store! In both the San Antonio and Houston stores I've been to, there was one display where they were stored horizontally in cubbies and most of them were square... then in a different part of the store, there were vertically-stored dowels which were all round. You want the latter. Four of them = $5.16.
Total cost: $125 +tax without fleece, $133 +tax with fleece.
