Renovation + Addition - Cost Expectation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am in a 1920s SF house in DC, smaller than yours (~1400 sf not counting basement), but for what it's worth, I did:

300 sf addition with new-from-scratch kitchen, custom cabinets but no high-end appliances
New back porch as part of addition
All new bathroom and laundry room in existing footprint
Custom built-ins in existing living room and den
Substantially new electrical, plumbing, and a/c, replaced and moved some radiators, new boiler which I needed anyway
Dug out part of basement and redid entire basement w/new flooring, waterproofing, and drywall

I spent approximately $700k, with an architect and GC.

Almost half that total was electrical and plumbing. I kid you not. The trades are crazy expensive.

Jeez, I ran my own electrical and it passed code. It was to plan as well. Electrical material is cheap (or was). Plumbing can be expensive if you’re using copper. Don’t do the plastic plex plumbing. Studies are showing microcplastics are in the water and new filtration is needed to remove it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Resurrecting the old thread here as I am searching for the costs of similar work.. So discouraging and depressing..

I cannot understand why it costs 100K to renovate ONE kitchen when entire tiny homes can be built for this price with kitchen and baths and roofs and floors and all that. Even inexpensive tile and fixtures now are nice looking. Renovations and additions costing 700k+ just blow my mind. You can buy an entire house for this price. In many places a new home would cost this or less. At some point it makes more sense to build a brand new home when your cost of remodel/addition approaches 1 mil

Anyone decided to just get into more debt and build a new home for better resale value or are people still doing these crazy expensive renovations/additions with a risk that they won't recoup their money back (especially in areas with lots of new construction where any older home is likely to be worth only the land it sits on)

Congratulations on discovering Levittown I guess? If you really don’t understand why it’s as expensive to renovate an old home as it is to build new ones, you’re just not trying to understand.

Why are people remodeling if they can build new homes? The whole point of remodeling is to save money because new homes should cost tons more and remodeling was always considered a more economical solution.

[Anonymous]

We Reno’d a 3k+ sq ft home; came to nearly $1 mill all in with architect, finishes, etc. Probably would not use the same company again - would look for a smaller firm with zero advertising and lower overhead bc they all use the same labor. And we stayed within budget only bc I was hawkish over checking costs and staying within allowances which were written, we found, to be nearly unrealistic. That said, our house is very very well done and much more solid than the newer builds our friends own. Would it have been cheaper to tear down? Maybe, but I love old homes and wanted something super solid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Resurrecting the old thread here as I am searching for the costs of similar work.. So discouraging and depressing..

I cannot understand why it costs 100K to renovate ONE kitchen when entire tiny homes can be built for this price with kitchen and baths and roofs and floors and all that. Even inexpensive tile and fixtures now are nice looking. Renovations and additions costing 700k+ just blow my mind. You can buy an entire house for this price. In many places a new home would cost this or less. At some point it makes more sense to build a brand new home when your cost of remodel/addition approaches 1 mil

Anyone decided to just get into more debt and build a new home for better resale value or are people still doing these crazy expensive renovations/additions with a risk that they won't recoup their money back (especially in areas with lots of new construction where any older home is likely to be worth only the land it sits on)

Congratulations on discovering Levittown I guess? If you really don’t understand why it’s as expensive to renovate an old home as it is to build new ones, you’re just not trying to understand.

Why are people remodeling if they can build new homes? The whole point of remodeling is to save money because new homes should cost tons more and remodeling was always considered a more economical solution.

Nope. You’re flat wrong.

People remodel because:
1) The land is more valuable/desirable than vacant land
2) The cost of remodeling the house works out to less than tearing it down and building a one off
3) There are restrictions on tearing down and replacing the house

You’ll notice that in a lot of the DC suburbs, 2 and 3 aren’t true so houses get torn down and you get infill new construction.

Anywhere that none of those are true, the old houses just rot as new houses are being built elsewhere.

What you said has never been true.

[Anonymous]

This seems like more than these houses are worth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This seems like more than these houses are worth.

It sometimes is, and that’s when you see tear downs. Anybody doing a major renovation without regulatory restrictions on tearing down has done that calculus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am in a 1920s SF house in DC, smaller than yours (~1400 sf not counting basement), but for what it's worth, I did:

300 sf addition with new-from-scratch kitchen, custom cabinets but no high-end appliances
New back porch as part of addition
All new bathroom and laundry room in existing footprint
Custom built-ins in existing living room and den
Substantially new electrical, plumbing, and a/c, replaced and moved some radiators, new boiler which I needed anyway
Dug out part of basement and redid entire basement w/new flooring, waterproofing, and drywall

I spent approximately $700k, with an architect and GC.

Almost half that total was electrical and plumbing. I kid you not. The trades are crazy expensive.

Do you recommend your architect or GC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are starting to think about renovating our 1930s colonial. We think we'd also add some square footage but have no idea how much this might cost. Any data points from folks on the board?

We are in UNW, are hoping to work with an architect (we understand this is about 30 minus management), and think we will keep the existing structure but heavily remodel the 2500 or so sq ft and add another 1500- 2000 (this includes adding finishes to an existing walk up attic). Is this something that can be done under 500k?

Any data points in the last couple years would be super useful. (And contractor/architect recommendations).

FYI I am the OP and am now starting this process. We will revert when we have some quotes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This seems like more than these houses are worth.

In the DC area I think good rule of thumb is remodel your house if it’s pre-war, tear it down if it’s post-war.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This seems like more than these houses are worth.

In the DC area I think good rule of thumb is remodel your house if it’s pre-war, tear it down if it’s post-war.

It really depends on your jurisdiction's zoning laws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am in a 1920s SF house in DC, smaller than yours (~1400 sf not counting basement), but for what it's worth, I did:

300 sf addition with new-from-scratch kitchen, custom cabinets but no high-end appliances
New back porch as part of addition
All new bathroom and laundry room in existing footprint
Custom built-ins in existing living room and den
Substantially new electrical, plumbing, and a/c, replaced and moved some radiators, new boiler which I needed anyway
Dug out part of basement and redid entire basement w/new flooring, waterproofing, and drywall

I spent approximately $700k, with an architect and GC.

Almost half that total was electrical and plumbing. I kid you not. The trades are crazy expensive.

Do you recommend your architect or GC?

Unfortunately they've both retired! Apparently my project did them in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am in a 1920s SF house in DC, smaller than yours (~1400 sf not counting basement), but for what it's worth, I did:

300 sf addition with new-from-scratch kitchen, custom cabinets but no high-end appliances
New back porch as part of addition
All new bathroom and laundry room in existing footprint
Custom built-ins in existing living room and den
Substantially new electrical, plumbing, and a/c, replaced and moved some radiators, new boiler which I needed anyway
Dug out part of basement and redid entire basement w/new flooring, waterproofing, and drywall

I spent approximately $700k, with an architect and GC.

Almost half that total was electrical and plumbing. I kid you not. The trades are crazy expensive.

Do you recommend your architect or GC?

OP: lol oh no. well, here goes nothing..

Unfortunately they've both retired! Apparently my project did them in.

[Anonymous]

We did about exactly what you are describing in 2021 and it was about 550k, with moderate finishes. Its def more now 3 years later.

[Anonymous]

Remodel 2/3 of a 6000 sq foot house (complete kitchen reno, 3 bathrooms, refinished floors, changed one huge structural feature), it cost us 750k. The house has appreciated more than 1.5 million since we bought it 8 years ago, so we felt it was justified. We got high end appliances and finishes for the most part, but I saved where I could - bought discontinued quartz at a huge discount for laundry and pantry, bought remnants for bathroom counters, resisted designer’s recs for things like waterfall counters, continuing countertop up as backsplash, custom plaster for bathrooms, replacing hardwood floor rather than refinishing, using real wood instead of laminate in bathrooms, pantry and laundry, having custom doors rather than premade slabs etc.

There is so much creep in remodeling that you have to be aware of. Adding a door somewhere? Well, now what do you do with all the other doors that have outdated hardware and need to be painted/replaced? I guess you have to get new hardware and paint/replace, otherwise it will look weird. Changing the paint color? Now the old shades clash, so you have to replace or just live with it. We ended up replacing so much baseboard because our old one was custom, and incredibly it would have cost about the same to have 200 feet of this ugly custom baseboard made as replacing all the baseboard. The 750k does not include the cost of moving and living in a rental for 6 mo, so add on 24k for that.

PP’s who have given reasons why people remodel rather than move are correct. Land is expensive and scarce. We wouldn’t be able to buy anything similar nearby. And if we did, it would be old and dated or remodeled in a style we didn’t like. For OP who is adding square footage, that’s a great way to get more out of your house and change the property value.

Some people make real estate decisions on what their hearts want and they don’t consider the property value. Even if you plan on living somewhere forever, it’s still an asset and likely the biggest chunk of your net worth, so you have to be careful about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Remodel 2/3 of a 6000 sq foot house (complete kitchen reno, 3 bathrooms, refinished floors, changed one huge structural feature), it cost us 750k. The house has appreciated more than 1.5 million since we bought it 8 years ago, so we felt it was justified. We got high end appliances and finishes for the most part, but I saved where I could - bought discontinued quartz at a huge discount for laundry and pantry, bought remnants for bathroom counters, resisted designer’s recs for things like waterfall counters, continuing countertop up as backsplash, custom plaster for bathrooms, replacing hardwood floor rather than refinishing, using real wood instead of laminate in bathrooms, pantry and laundry, having custom doors rather than premade slabs etc.

There is so much creep in remodeling that you have to be aware of. Adding a door somewhere? Well, now what do you do with all the other doors that have outdated hardware and need to be painted/replaced? I guess you have to get new hardware and paint/replace, otherwise it will look weird. Changing the paint color? Now the old shades clash, so you have to replace or just live with it. We ended up replacing so much baseboard because our old one was custom, and incredibly it would have cost about the same to have 200 feet of this ugly custom baseboard made as replacing all the baseboard. The 750k does not include the cost of moving and living in a rental for 6 mo, so add on 24k for that.

PP’s who have given reasons why people remodel rather than move are correct. Land is expensive and scarce. We wouldn’t be able to buy anything similar nearby. And if we did, it would be old and dated or remodeled in a style we didn’t like. For OP who is adding square footage, that’s a great way to get more out of your house and change the property value.

Some people make real estate decisions on what their hearts want and they don’t consider the property value. Even if you plan on living somewhere forever, it’s still an asset and likely the biggest chunk of your net worth, so you have to be careful about it.

This is great. Thanks for sharing. Are you local to the DMV and did you like your architect/builder?