Ballpark estimate for a 4,000 sq ft house renovation

[Anonymous]

I'll give a slightly different perspective. We renovated a 5,000 sq ft historic house. The basement was already finished, so we didn't have to do that, but we added a pool and a small addition, and we spent almost exactly $1 million.

We could have done it for less, if we'd been looking to flip it, but we used an excellent architect and made the house exactly the way we wanted it, matching the historic finishes and woodwork, etc. Our house is beautiful and has a lot of character, and I love it. It's increased in value such that it's worth at least $500k more than we have in it, so it wasn't a *bad* financial decision. However, from a purely financial point of view, it probably would have made more sense to tear it down and build new. I'm still not sorry we did what we did. Tearing it down would have been a significant loss to our neighborhood and I think the historical character of the house was worth preserving. YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Tear it down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'll give a slightly different perspective. We renovated a 5,000 sq ft historic house. The basement was already finished, so we didn't have to do that, but we added a pool and a small addition, and we spent almost exactly $1 million.

We could have done it for less, if we'd been looking to flip it, but we used an excellent architect and made the house exactly the way we wanted it, matching the historic finishes and woodwork, etc. Our house is beautiful and has a lot of character, and I love it. It's increased in value such that it's worth at least $500k more than we have in it, so it wasn't a *bad* financial decision. However, from a purely financial point of view, it probably would have made more sense to tear it down and build new. I'm still not sorry we did what we did. Tearing it down would have been a significant loss to our neighborhood and I think the historical character of the house was worth preserving. YMMV.

you were scammed

[Anonymous]

Can you skip the addition? That would be very expensive for only 400 sq ft. You'd have to hire an expensive GC and they'll charge you a lot just to be there so you'll pay more per square foot than doing a larger addition.

If you stick to the current footprint, then you can hire less expensive, smaller contractors to do the inside work one project at a time.

Figure out the functionality that you wanted in the great room and give up something else to get it. Like other posters said, you'd be better off tearing down by the time you do this large scope of work.

[Anonymous]

OP here. The house is a 3-story structure with solid bones, including a brick wall on the 1st floor, and it has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths on the upper floor—rare for older homes. Most teardowns in McLean are typically ramblers, split foyers, or split levels.

[Anonymous]

My guess is $750k. Sell it and buy something else.

[Anonymous]

Do a studs-out renovation and might be doable around 800k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You'd be better off tearing it all down and starting from scratch. With just the electrical wiring and plumbing you are talking about, that requires basically tearing through all of your drywall.

You'll also be better off living someplace else while the work is going on, which will also have to factor into your costs.

This. Unless you are wealthy (not working law firm partner, but actually wealthy) and LOVE renovations and architecture, it’s not worth it. You are easily looking at $700k

[Anonymous]

It’s not just the money you’ll spend. I’m trying to imagine the headache of coordinating the whole process.

[Anonymous]

PPs who said $1m are correct. We did something similar a few years ago to a much, much smaller house (minus the kitchen, minus the pipes) and it cost around $450k.

[Anonymous]

Easily $700k. And if you won't tear it down, do a true gut reno down to the studs because it's foolishness to replace pipes and loghts but not also take the opportunity to replace wiring and insulation, add geothermal, address drainage, add ADA age in place options, etc.

I did a $300k reno on mine (much smaller scope) and you run into stuff like the old walls aren't square anymore so joining the new walls and floor with the old is awkward. Much cleaner to demo as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The house is a 3-story structure with solid bones, including a brick wall on the 1st floor, and it has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths on the upper floor—rare for older homes. Most teardowns in McLean are typically ramblers, split foyers, or split levels.

No. Plenty of tear downs in McLean fit your description exactly.

You are me a few years ago. We got several quotes and it was around $700K and no guarentee that the cost would not increase.

We instead used Focal Point Homes for our tear down and it cost about $125K more. We got a much bigger, well built house that is worth much more than if we had renovated. iIt was fairly painless and was less than five months from the time we moved out to the time we moved back in. We also used a charity (2nd Chance something) that came in before the demolition and stripped out anything valuable or that could be reused. This was a decent tax deduction.

Unless the house is truly remarkable, I would at least talk to a few builders before dismissing the idea of tearing down.