How much does a two-story extension cost?

[Anonymous]

Thinking about buying a smaller home now and adding on later. How much does a 2-level extension (family room and 1/2 bath on ground, master bed and bath on 2nd) cost? Any guesses/recent experiences?

Would be about 20ftx18ft, I think...

[Anonymous]

My guess would be $250,000-300,000 depending on what kind of finishes you want to use. We recently did a 18ft x 22 ft two story addition, plus renovated the existing kitchen and did some other cosmetic work throughout the house and we spent about $400,000.

[Anonymous]

A good baseline number to use is $200-$250/square foot for an addition (at a basic trim level) that doesn't require plumbing or expanding the kitchen. The 1 1/2 bathrooms you're planning for will add on to the cost from there. I'd bet $200K to $250K for the 800 square feet you have in mind, assuming the addition is fairly basic.

[Anonymous]

We gutted our tiny house in Bethesda, including the kitchen and 3 baths - cost us $200K with above average finishes. But we worked with an inexperienced contractor and my husband did some work himself. I had to act as general coordinator many times as well.

If you are looking for a full-service, highly reputable contracting company, it will probably cost 300K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thinking about buying a smaller home now and adding on later. How much does a 2-level extension (family room and 1/2 bath on ground, master bed and bath on 2nd) cost? Any guesses/recent experiences?

Would be about 20ftx18ft, I think...

This is exactly what we are planning. We really wanted to be in a particular neighborhood where everything in our price range at the time was not an option for us. We knew that our income would dramatically increase (once grad school ended) so we bought. The bright side of living in this small space for a while is that we realized we don't need as large of an addition as we once thought. So, now we will probably only improve the kitchen and add a master BR and bath. We initially thought we needed to dramatically increase the footprint of the kitchen, add a huge family room and bump out the dining room as well. We plan to stay in this house for a very long time, so we're happy with the choice we made. If you plan to move in fewer than 10 years, I would worry that you will lose money.