Townhouse Updating Estimates

[Anonymous]

Besides calling a contractor what's the best way to go about estimating the costs for updating a home? New house would have about 2300sq ft, replacing all flooring, updating all bathrooms (including expanding one), tearing down 2 walls on the main level and gutting the kitchen.

[Anonymous]

My parents just redid their rental townhouse to prep it for sale. They replaced all the flooring (hardwood on main level, carpet upstairs and basement), put in a granite countertop in the kitchen, new appliances, new flooring in all bathrooms (vinyl tile), painted the whole house. I think they spent about $25k then another $10k on basic repairs the house needed since it had been a rental for years. With structural changes and an entirely new kitchen I think your be looking at at least $60k?

[Anonymous]

We did a significant update of my mother-in-laws large townhouse several years ago (new kitchen, updated baths, wallpaper stripping and full painting inside and out, new windows, refinished floors, new carpet, recessed lighting) in preparation for sale. Cost about 50k, which I think was a bargain.

If you are planning for resale, I would budget $25-30k for the kitchen, $8-10k for each bath (more for the expanded one), $20k for new flooring (wild guess). Impossible to say about the wall tear down, which can introduce a lot of complexity to the process ($). I would imagine you'd want to repaint as well ($5-8k). If this is your personal residence, it will cost more because you will want upgraded materials and custom finishes.

In my experience, the biggest cost variable will be the contractor who does the updates. We got several bids on a home we were renovating for rental a couple of years ago. Estimates ranged from about $50k to three times as much.

[Anonymous]

I spent 75K updating mine. I think the PP above was about right on the cost estimates for MoCo.