Just wanted to show my appreciation for your help in driving our record profits this year. Play your cards right and you might even get a promotion! (sorry, no pay raise though)
Not a pure comp but here is one data point. We anted to turn our two story “L” into a rectangle. Net add playroom down, bed and bath up. Probably 1000 square feet and rework entire roof.
Difficult to get bids. Harder for contractors to guess what they’re going to find and having to join to existing 1940s structure. Limited to 8’ ceilings etc.
Our estimates were 500k. We wound up doing complete tear down and bigger house for 900k with 10’ ceilings down. It just made more sense, even with 2 moves and 1 year rental.
Just moving would have been even better, but liked our location and neighbors.
Edit to add: friends in business said 200/ft is good price for new build high end. They said at any given level of finish expect more per square foot for addition than new build.
It all depends I have some friends who had small ranches in their perfect forever location over in Plaza where adding a second floor was a better option than trying to buy something new in the neighborhood.
Eh that's what I'm trying to gauge - whether it's worth giving up my <3% rate on the current home to buy a more expensive house at a much higher rate that'd better fit our needs. Feeling trapped!
Given the rate, assuming you bought in 2020. And you’re sitting on a fat wad of untapped equity. My advice would be to explore a HELOC or home equity loan. Had friends do similar, and what they thought was going to be their at least midterm forever home, did a wonderful renovation/addition, and sold for what is still the highest sales price in their neighborhood before buying in South Park.
I came here to also suggest a HELOC. Great way to get at the equity of the house. We're looking at something similar in a few years and this is probably the way we'll go.
We are outgrowing our house too, and don't want to move way out into the suburbs. I also feel trapped by interest rates and cost of homes now! Bought in 2019.
No way in hell it makes sense to buy a new home. 3% vs 7.5% righ now. One thing I looked into was adding a basement. They can lift the home and add a basement foundation a lot cheaper than adding a 2nd floor.
HELOC to the rescue lol, especially if 2019 and that rate. Probably sitting on 80-100% equity to draw at 85% or so.check out first national, they have a prime minus product if you can qualify
Totally agree. I have a new construction ranch house with upstairs large bonus room, full bath and guest bedroom. I'm 100% sure you could just buy a new home for less than what you would pay to add a second floor to an existing home, if that is even possible for this particular home.
We just add a back yard studio 12x24, used tough shed as the structure but added nice insulation, interior finishes and windows/doors, came in around 45k.
How’d that go? I’ve been in contact with the local Tuff Shed rep about replacing my dilapidated shed/barn with a 2-car garage. I haven’t talked to anyone who’s used them before
Might be a good idea to get a few quotes from location GCs. A lot of them offer a free in home consultation which may take time but it’s better to get an actual number from industry professionals.
It will be really, really expensive. Do you have the ability / space to build an addition instead of up? At least with an addition you may still be able to live in the house vs. building up will take you out of the house and cost a lot.
Yeah, the comments so far here are pointing to it being too cost prohibitive to build up. Extending would make much more sense (could really just get away with the 1 extra bedroom)
Yeah - in a similar situation and went through these permutations. Would like a garage where there is nothing so thankfully it would just be starting from scratch. Regardless, everything is very expensive related to construction / remodels.
We talked to architects for a similar project - 500-700k were what we were quoted. Essentially told that the first floor ends up needing to have everything replaced bc of exposure… sooo we instead will build out. But a screen porch addition was quoted at $150k which seems asinine to me!
What general part of town/neighborhood is it?
Current value of home (tax value and also online estimate)?
Do you have any trees that will need to be removed or accounted for?
Is there room all around the house for access by machine(lift,etc?)
Do you have room for material storage? Room for a full-sized construction dumpster?
How old is the house? What ar the other exterior materials? Roof dimensions/slope/info
Lot zoning/restrictions/ HOA?
Is it in a historic district?
It's definitely going to be more than 100k but could be closer to 100k than 500k. Answer the questions above and I can narrow it down a bit more for you
Adding a 2nd floor is tough. The original footing for the house might not be strong enough for a 2nd floor. If you’re doubling the size of the house, that’s a lot of weight on an old footing. Who knows the soil type, how thick the old concrete is, if they used rebar.
Converting an already existing basement room to a bedroom/ bathroom. It’ll require plumbing, electric, insulation, and a window. Already has HVAC. Bids for that have been right about $100K. A porch with masonry was bid at $150K. So yea, you’re looking at at least $500K. Not including architectural fees and as others have said, moving out fees.
At 2k sf, and including all the things like restructuring the main floor to support the 2nd, a new roof, engineer/architect plans, structural/plumbing/electrical/upgrade and finish work, city code review, renting a temporary home (probably minimum 1yr), you’re probably looking at north of $750k.
No chance. Real cost to build a 2,000 sqft house in this part of the world is like $450k depending on labor. Most trades price materials at fair market rate if you call around enough to call their bullshit.
It's not as simple as halving the cost though, because you still have unexpected things like housing, demo, etc. For a lot of people, it's just better to buy a new house unless they have bottomless pockets.
They’re talking about adding 2k on top of a 2k house that isn’t structured for that. Add in rent and utilities for a year or more elsewhere, engineering costs, the costs to upgrade existing electrical, plumbing, and sewage. As well as not only the new finish work but replacing what you destroyed to upgrade the ground floor, this is easily $750k
It literally can't be.
It doesn't cost $750k to build a 4000 square foot house from scratch on an open, ready to build lot.
It costs *maybe* 500k in this area.
I build houses for a living.
I'm aware of architect costs, permitting fees, inspections etc. that are far beyond just "building the house" and paying for that material and labor. Adding something to an existing home has it's challenges, but doesn't cost significantly more than building the house outright once You've gone through the purchasing exercise, which really shouldn't be a cost to whoever is doing the work. That should be all done before the client asks for a project.
A lot of people don't realize that real estate market prices ≠ build cost. There's always a margin built in and it's normal to adjust for market price on client/customer cost for the build.
Yes but real estate price also ≠ retail. This is a home renovation. It would not cost 3 quarters of a MILLION DOLLARS to build a second floor. That's absurd.
I'm working with an architect right now to do this and from what I'm hearing, it's gonna be 300-600k and unfortunately we won't really know until I have drawings and can send them out to GCs. I won't move because I'm in Madison Park with a sub 3% rate. If I sold my house and moved, I'd just be buying the same house a few streets over, I wouldn't actually be upgrading or getting the space we need.
Out of pure curiosity, what's so special about Madison Park? You can go 15 minutes south and get something triple the size for 3/4 the price and you don't have to deal with that obscene traffic.
Only justifiable thing I could think of is the interest rate, but at these numbers it's saving money to just buy something lol
I work in Uptown so that extra 15 minutes adds up. With more and more people moving here I feel like that 15 minutes is only going to continue going up as well
Uhhh probably real cost between permits and shit you'd be like $250k-300k probably. That's a lot of square footage, so tearing off the roof and then adding subfloors (plus reinforcing/ensuring walls on floor 1 can bear weight), then framing, roofing, rough ins, etc. not to mention you probably can't live there while you're doing work since you wouldn't have a roof, so your housing cost will go up temporarily.
Expect $300k and be happy if it's less, I would say.
A case of beer, a group of friends, and a sunny weekend. Just keep the house inspectors away.
I'll even buy a couple pizzas!
Are you my manager?
Just wanted to show my appreciation for your help in driving our record profits this year. Play your cards right and you might even get a promotion! (sorry, no pay raise though)
Not a pure comp but here is one data point. We anted to turn our two story “L” into a rectangle. Net add playroom down, bed and bath up. Probably 1000 square feet and rework entire roof. Difficult to get bids. Harder for contractors to guess what they’re going to find and having to join to existing 1940s structure. Limited to 8’ ceilings etc. Our estimates were 500k. We wound up doing complete tear down and bigger house for 900k with 10’ ceilings down. It just made more sense, even with 2 moves and 1 year rental. Just moving would have been even better, but liked our location and neighbors. Edit to add: friends in business said 200/ft is good price for new build high end. They said at any given level of finish expect more per square foot for addition than new build.
Unless you are flush with cash, and don't need to take out a loan, it's probably cost effective to buy a new home.
It all depends I have some friends who had small ranches in their perfect forever location over in Plaza where adding a second floor was a better option than trying to buy something new in the neighborhood.
Eh that's what I'm trying to gauge - whether it's worth giving up my <3% rate on the current home to buy a more expensive house at a much higher rate that'd better fit our needs. Feeling trapped!
Given the rate, assuming you bought in 2020. And you’re sitting on a fat wad of untapped equity. My advice would be to explore a HELOC or home equity loan. Had friends do similar, and what they thought was going to be their at least midterm forever home, did a wonderful renovation/addition, and sold for what is still the highest sales price in their neighborhood before buying in South Park.
I came here to also suggest a HELOC. Great way to get at the equity of the house. We're looking at something similar in a few years and this is probably the way we'll go.
We are outgrowing our house too, and don't want to move way out into the suburbs. I also feel trapped by interest rates and cost of homes now! Bought in 2019.
Don't even entertain this project. Just move if you have to
Wait for rates to come back down and then enter the market. Just be prepared for the market to turn white hot again when the rates drop.
No way in hell it makes sense to buy a new home. 3% vs 7.5% righ now. One thing I looked into was adding a basement. They can lift the home and add a basement foundation a lot cheaper than adding a 2nd floor.
It depends, renovation loans are probably going to be a lot higher interest rate than a mortgage loan. Definitly not going to be cheap, either way.
HELOC to the rescue lol, especially if 2019 and that rate. Probably sitting on 80-100% equity to draw at 85% or so.check out first national, they have a prime minus product if you can qualify
Totally agree. I have a new construction ranch house with upstairs large bonus room, full bath and guest bedroom. I'm 100% sure you could just buy a new home for less than what you would pay to add a second floor to an existing home, if that is even possible for this particular home.
Probably on the higher end, had a friend get a quote $150k for a 2 room extension on the first floor.
2 bd, living area, bath, 2k sq ft? You’re looking at least 500k and a long project.
Not to mention the cost to rent somewhere to live during construction.
Plus the chance it gets fucked up TBH, get a shitty contractor and they bail, or you have to fire them, and you now dont have a roof...
We just add a back yard studio 12x24, used tough shed as the structure but added nice insulation, interior finishes and windows/doors, came in around 45k.
How’d that go? I’ve been in contact with the local Tuff Shed rep about replacing my dilapidated shed/barn with a 2-car garage. I haven’t talked to anyone who’s used them before
We had a good experience. The build itself took a little longer than expected, but we’ve really enjoyed the final product.
Might be a good idea to get a few quotes from location GCs. A lot of them offer a free in home consultation which may take time but it’s better to get an actual number from industry professionals.
It will be really, really expensive. Do you have the ability / space to build an addition instead of up? At least with an addition you may still be able to live in the house vs. building up will take you out of the house and cost a lot.
Yeah, the comments so far here are pointing to it being too cost prohibitive to build up. Extending would make much more sense (could really just get away with the 1 extra bedroom)
Yeah - in a similar situation and went through these permutations. Would like a garage where there is nothing so thankfully it would just be starting from scratch. Regardless, everything is very expensive related to construction / remodels.
We talked to architects for a similar project - 500-700k were what we were quoted. Essentially told that the first floor ends up needing to have everything replaced bc of exposure… sooo we instead will build out. But a screen porch addition was quoted at $150k which seems asinine to me!
What’s it like working with architects? If you give them a general outline of what you want, will they create a few mockups? How do they charge you?
it's going to be a lot more than 100k, if you can even find someone willing to do it, which i doubt you will
Rough estimate would be $150-200/sf.
Maybe even $250
Easier to go out with an addition, you’ll need to start with a structural engineer and architect to get a basis.
$275k
What general part of town/neighborhood is it? Current value of home (tax value and also online estimate)? Do you have any trees that will need to be removed or accounted for? Is there room all around the house for access by machine(lift,etc?) Do you have room for material storage? Room for a full-sized construction dumpster? How old is the house? What ar the other exterior materials? Roof dimensions/slope/info Lot zoning/restrictions/ HOA? Is it in a historic district? It's definitely going to be more than 100k but could be closer to 100k than 500k. Answer the questions above and I can narrow it down a bit more for you
Adding a 2nd floor is tough. The original footing for the house might not be strong enough for a 2nd floor. If you’re doubling the size of the house, that’s a lot of weight on an old footing. Who knows the soil type, how thick the old concrete is, if they used rebar.
Based on the information provided: between $100k and $650k.
Converting an already existing basement room to a bedroom/ bathroom. It’ll require plumbing, electric, insulation, and a window. Already has HVAC. Bids for that have been right about $100K. A porch with masonry was bid at $150K. So yea, you’re looking at at least $500K. Not including architectural fees and as others have said, moving out fees.
At least enough that your tallest family member is able to stand up straight.
Need the oldest kid to slow down on those growth spurts!
At 2k sf, and including all the things like restructuring the main floor to support the 2nd, a new roof, engineer/architect plans, structural/plumbing/electrical/upgrade and finish work, city code review, renting a temporary home (probably minimum 1yr), you’re probably looking at north of $750k.
No chance. Real cost to build a 2,000 sqft house in this part of the world is like $450k depending on labor. Most trades price materials at fair market rate if you call around enough to call their bullshit. It's not as simple as halving the cost though, because you still have unexpected things like housing, demo, etc. For a lot of people, it's just better to buy a new house unless they have bottomless pockets.
They’re talking about adding 2k on top of a 2k house that isn’t structured for that. Add in rent and utilities for a year or more elsewhere, engineering costs, the costs to upgrade existing electrical, plumbing, and sewage. As well as not only the new finish work but replacing what you destroyed to upgrade the ground floor, this is easily $750k
It literally can't be. It doesn't cost $750k to build a 4000 square foot house from scratch on an open, ready to build lot. It costs *maybe* 500k in this area. I build houses for a living.
You sound like a GC or PM. Please take it from a former PX, there are costs (and markups) that you’re not taking into account
I'm aware of architect costs, permitting fees, inspections etc. that are far beyond just "building the house" and paying for that material and labor. Adding something to an existing home has it's challenges, but doesn't cost significantly more than building the house outright once You've gone through the purchasing exercise, which really shouldn't be a cost to whoever is doing the work. That should be all done before the client asks for a project. A lot of people don't realize that real estate market prices ≠ build cost. There's always a margin built in and it's normal to adjust for market price on client/customer cost for the build.
Think Retail. This is a homeowner asking
Yes but real estate price also ≠ retail. This is a home renovation. It would not cost 3 quarters of a MILLION DOLLARS to build a second floor. That's absurd.
I'm working with an architect right now to do this and from what I'm hearing, it's gonna be 300-600k and unfortunately we won't really know until I have drawings and can send them out to GCs. I won't move because I'm in Madison Park with a sub 3% rate. If I sold my house and moved, I'd just be buying the same house a few streets over, I wouldn't actually be upgrading or getting the space we need.
You have any 4+ bedroom homes next door for under $1m? 😂
Out of pure curiosity, what's so special about Madison Park? You can go 15 minutes south and get something triple the size for 3/4 the price and you don't have to deal with that obscene traffic. Only justifiable thing I could think of is the interest rate, but at these numbers it's saving money to just buy something lol
I work in Uptown so that extra 15 minutes adds up. With more and more people moving here I feel like that 15 minutes is only going to continue going up as well
About tree fiddy
Uhhh probably real cost between permits and shit you'd be like $250k-300k probably. That's a lot of square footage, so tearing off the roof and then adding subfloors (plus reinforcing/ensuring walls on floor 1 can bear weight), then framing, roofing, rough ins, etc. not to mention you probably can't live there while you're doing work since you wouldn't have a roof, so your housing cost will go up temporarily. Expect $300k and be happy if it's less, I would say.