Home Addition Cost - Buyer Experiences and Price Information

I made a big booboo recently when I tried to have my warehouse converted into a infusion service center. My partner said he could do it for 10,000.00. But he was not licensed or insured. And the Office bldg owners required a license architect and Contractor with general liability Insurance to do the Job. Most of the quotes came in at between 22,000 and 28,000 for the Job. A friend of my mothers agreed to do it for 10,700.00 including most of the Materials. Eventhough he and his crew did most of the work and bought most of the materials, they only worked at night and when they could squeeze in the time. Eventually I had to finish the job with other contractors but using the permits of the original contractors. The job is complete now and looks good. But I saved myself several thousands by going this route. I feel though somewhat guilty, because I still owe the original contractor 3500.00. But they have moved to another state and I cannot find them. Any comments on this?

$320/sq ft? Are you kidding? Who charges that much for a simple sq ft. The Bay Area businesses are still trying to rip people beyond belief. This is, in part, what got us into this damn mess of the Depression(yes thats what it is, just a smaller version of the 1930's?) Between the Banks, Real Estate Co's & Contractors we're doomed in the Bay Area to recover anytime soon. All you real estate co's & builders/contractors just dont get it, do you? You think you can mark up stuff 100%, 200% or more & it'll have no efect on the economy down the road. Wake up already.Is your greed so great you have to take that kind of money from people? Absurd.
If I want to add 3500 sq ft to house thats 4000 sq ft already & add both 1st & 2nd flr theres no way it should cost more than $500,000 period, incl 2 bathrooms, 2 bdrms, a game room w/home theatre system, & high level security for the house. $320 per sq ft. The damn lumber & drywall, paint, nails etc doesn't cost anywhere near that nor the labor. One can build a 5000 sq ft house with high end everything for under $600,000. My goodness people are so greedy nowadays. No wonder we're heading downwards instead of upwards. last in education of all the major countries, last in getting global warming under control, & still trying to rip people off to make that extra buck.
When I do my addition I'll find someone reputable thats honest & cares about what my needs are rather than the bottom line.

I am wondering what the cost range is to raise/replace a roof & the end to end 2nd floor addition? I have an unfinished attic which the roof would need to be raised 3-4 feet. I am 6'4 and I can walk down the center of the attic due to a low roof line. I would like to add one bathroom and two or three bedrooms. 1200 sq ft. no fancy extras! New baby & we need extra space... please advise.

its cheap as hell to build one here in florida a slab of 660 sq ft cost about $900 to get poured for you. total for block walls and all. 7000 at max.

You get what you pay for. Slab on grade, stucco exterior, concrete tile roof, 3 Andersen windows and 1 French door, recessed lighting, electrical, drywall, paint in and out, prefinished hardwood all for $ 320/sq ft. That cuts profit to 12% in San Francisco Bay Area. You can always find the illegal to slop it together with no permit, taxes, insurance, etc. for 1/2 the cost and then pay me in 5 years to fix it right. These guys keep me in business and are the reason for construction nightmare stories!

Those prices are tremendously inflated for the Midwest. You can build an entirely new 3000sq house for $225k in metro Indianapolis, and it's even cheaper when you get into the small towns. I'm sure those prices are reasonable for markets where housing prices are a lot higher, though. It just depends on your local market, and this website is smart to estimate on the high side so that people are pleasantly surprised when they go to actually get a real estimate.

Most of do-it-yourself projects for additions or new construction are under estimated: timeline and money way off of the reality. I'm dealing every day with people, who want to build upscale 5000-7000 sq.ft house for $140 sq.ft. or build a 100 sq.ft addition for $90 sq.ft. That is insane. However, some room additions are very simple from construction stand point, and a prices can be low for spaces without bathrooms or kitchen or walk-in closets. Or if your room addition contain only 2 new exterior walls and a new roof is just a an extension of existing gable end. For example: simplest addition project i ever build was 400 sq. ft. Family room, no plumbing, no fireplace, 2 exterior walls, 1 window and 1 sliding patio door. With my crew i built it in 6 weeks from start to final inspection and price was $44K. Compare with 950 sq.ft addition with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and living room, using very basic finish materials - $210,000.00

Anyone know if that amount is what we would be looking at? Just curious

I just got a range from a contractor in Eastern Iowa for a complete room addition. Meaning, I want to add a room and I do not have one there now. He said the price is about $100/SF to $150/SF depending on how fancy you want to go. Figuring mid-range ($125/SF), if I wanted to add a 150SF room addition, I'd be looking at about $18,750. This would be foundation, walls, framing, windows, routing AC and heat and electrical. No plumbing.

I added a 16x18 raised kitchen with center island on the main level with block basement finished bedroom on lower level. They also redid old wiring and added another breaker box to bring entire house up to code. The old 18X14 combination kitchen/dining room was remodeled and turned into a dining room with gas fireplace and wet bar. In both upper rooms this included all new flooring, light fixtures, cabinets (mid-upper range price),countertops(not Granite, but mid-upper range price), appliances, chromecraft table and chairs and matching barstools. He also poured a concrete covered patio and added a new designer front door and did beautiful work! The contractors were great, and cleaned/swept up after themselves after each day on the job. I thought 82000.00 was well worth it! Every time someone walks into my kitchen/dining room for the first time I hear "Wow, this is really nice", and I love it too!

I am purchasing a 680 sf bungalow home built in 1927. The lot is large and flat (0.85 acres). What would the ROUGH cost range be to add a moderate 2-story addition that would include a totally brand new addition of: kitchen, family room, 2nd floor master bedroom, full bath, porch? I want to spend no more than $80,000 including plumbing/electrical/framing, etc. I will do the interior painting/finishing. Is this unreasonable?

These prices are close. Depending on were u live I do work in MD,DC, and VA. I charge 300+ per square foot for renovations I've gone as low as 250 a sq ft for new construction but the prices u see in the posting are very accurate but if ur unsure call and get multiple estimate we all do free estimates... Meaning it costs u nothing! Just a thought! Thanxs Matt

I am in California Bay area. I want to extend my 2 bed one bath house to 3 bed 2 bath. want to add master bed with bath.
What would be the cost per sqft to contract? I have no experience in building. What would be a good price per sqft to contract?

I am looking to add a 15 x 20 foot dining room and a 20 x 12 foot garage to my 1 1/2 story cape cod home. My husband is handy and can do much of the work himself. However, his knees do not permit him to do work on a ladder so that rules out him doing the framing and such. I expected the cost to be around $70 psf for just the outside work, excavation, framing, foundation, siding and electrical and a small amount of plumbing. We are doing all the inside work. I expected an estimate between $30,000 and &40,000. I was shocked to get between $60,000 and $70,000. I don't mind paying a fair price but this is outrageous. After doing some research on wages and material cost I found I can do the entire job, both inside and out plus remodel my kitchen for $45,009 and $50,000, all materials are mid range price. I would like to know exactly how much a general contractor adds to the basics to get such inflated prices.

Will someone tell me ACCUAL prices of how much it would cost just to have a contractor build the walls and a floor and do plumbing and electrical? Because I will do the rest myself...

We are bumping out the back to square off the house, within this bump out, we are adding a laundry room - re-doing the roof and making a one-level house into a Cape Cod - adding a porch - we are finishing the work ourselves - just the frame, etc will be done professionally. Estimatas have been $60k-$85k. When quoted on doing an entire 2nd floor - 2 br and 1 ba or 3 br and 1 bath upstairs - the estimates were close to $200k+.

We just rebuilt our home (complete tearout) after the floods of 2009. From drywall to floors to paint to trim...all new. $28000. Luckily the slab and stubs were there. But, we did ALL the work ourselves and we choose mid-upper quality on everything. Where Brandon got away with $10/ft is in quality I imagine. Everything you buy has a ccheap option, a mid-range option and a luxury option, plus many in between. That's why you can redo your kitchen yourself for $4000 with inexpensive cabinetry or you can hire a designer, pay a contractor and do an upscale kitchen remodel or $75,000. There are so many questions beyond square footage that determine cost. So talk to someone or get out your pencil and paper, because the internet doesnt know how much your renovation will cost.

I am a contractor in New Mexico, where we compete with many unliscensed contracctors. Unliscensed / uninsured contractors are 20 to 50% less because they aren't paying dues, taxes, insurance, etc. Even here in New Mexico, those prices are accurate, when the costs for being a legit contractor are considered. If you are blessed with the talent to do all that work yourself, then do-it. If not, just like everything else in this world, you will pay someone else to do it.

My post was directed more towards the do-ir-yourself prices in the article above.. i know it didnt have much to say about an actualy addition but what i was getting at was if i can do all of what i did to my home then the prices above are incredibly wack even at the "do it yourself" price qouted from about....... "Adding new floor space for a basic 10x15-foot bedroom runs around $3,750 -$7,500 for an entirely do-it-yourself project or $7,500 -$22,500 or more to hire a contractor" the do it yourself 10x15 room will run 3750-7500, so this post says.. im adding on a new bathroom to the master bedroom.. the mstr bed is 18 wide and 20 long im adding off the 18ft wall and going out 10 feet.. so thats 18x10.. bigger then the 15x10 the mentioned.. i just bought all the materials for the walls the foundation (cinderblocks (sp) ) new room, sub floor etc. for 1736.87.. the lowest price about is twice that.. yes i do not have carpet which is in the price so lets add on 300 for that nor do we have electricle so lets add on 30 for wire and another 50 for light fixture and outlets so i just made my space a bed room (in theory) for $2116.87 1500 less then they stated above. Im guessing my final cost on my new bathroom will be around 4500 whith whirlpool tub and seperate walk in shower.. my price is including EVERYTHING plumbing, faucets, fixtures the works.. and yes thats my mistake my cost fromt he previous post didnt include new range or refrigerator.. 1200 for the refrigerator and i think the range was 900.. and by the way this was all in referance to the do-it-yourself people because i did it myself, i didnt hire anyone out.

Brandon, it's great that you are so satisfied with the changes you got for $12,363, BUT the stuff you list sounds more like a home "updating", not a home remodel, and certainly not a home addition. A home addition is when you actually add more square footage to your home. When I was shopping for homes, my real estate broker recommended to buy a house with as much foundation as I'd ever want, because she said laying more foundation was incredibly expensive, and I'd never get nearly as much money back when I sold the home. A home remodel is when you totally change stuff up inside -- my brother recently spent $70,000 to remodel his home into a rentable triplex. He tore down walls, changed all the flooring to wood, changed the cabinetry, and all his friends told him he got a killer deal at 70k, plus he is an architect so he deals with this stuff all the time. Out where I live, most HVAC firms quote $3k-$6k just for A/C, and even at *Costco*, I see the cheapest do-it-yourself wood flooring at $1 a square foot (that's uninstalled!) and even at IKEA, the cheapest kitchen sets (cabinets, surfaces, etc.) seem around $5K UNINSTALLED, and usually a total remodel would include all new applianecs -- refrigerator (usually 1K plus unless you get one of those white plastic looking ones), new range, etc. So, I'm curious who you hired to change all the floors on a home, installed all new windows (we paid 6k just for Simontin windows for 10 windows and the sliding patio door),a new furnace A/C and a total kitchen and bath remodel for 12k. Let me know their name, I'd fly them out and pay for their hotel room, and I'd still save a bundle if they'd do all that work, including materials (change all flooring, new A/C unit unit , windows, doors, cabinets, appliances, counters, showers, all new kitchen + bath everything, paint) for 12k.

My home is a 1200 sqft home.. (small i know) but even in 2009 witht he prices they are now for anything i was able to remodel from top to bottem my entire house for 12,000, New furnace and a/c COMPLETE new kitchen.. Total bathroom renovation.. AL new double pain windows new HARDWOOD floors every outlight every switch every light EVERYTHING was completely renovated this was all for 12000 if you think about it my house is 1200 sqft i spent around 12000 thats only 10 dollars a sqft to remodel.. i dont know where these idiots gets these prices even at the do-it-yourself price.. this is an insane post and should be taken off this is giving potential home remodelers a wrong impression of cost, its not wonder why prices are going up because everyone believes what they read and if i didnt know shit about home prices i woudl be scared to remodel in times like this after seeing these prices... and not to mention i didnt put low end crap in either.. i didnt put high end but deff. did not going low end.. and i also put in a 12x8 walk in cedar closet

These prices are way off if you are doing most of the labor yourself or with friends/relatives.

Who here is actually in business and knows how to estimate and make a proffit?

I am a remodeling contractor in Iowa. I just finished an addition with 400sqft of new space and 400sqft of remodeled space. Master suite and bath. Walk-in closet and powder room. My cost to produce this space was 260.00 sqft or 208.000.00 with a sale price of 356.00 sqft 285,000.00 The prices listed here are not far off.

I am going to add an addition with a second story. I would much prefer your estimates be too high than too low.Additions are not all created equal. If mine comes in lower, I WILL BE DELIGHTED. But, if it had come in a lot higher, I would never have believed anything you printed again.

Those prices are pretty accurate here in southern california. A simple2-car garage costs $35,000. And additions are about $300 psf. It is insane.

Cedar shingle siding for my 1200sf house is about $15,000.

Geez man.. take those prices off your website.. I'm a renovation contractor and if I could charge those prices I would have retired years ago...If your stupid enough to pay $35,000!! for a tiny6x8 bathroom.. than you deserve to get hossed..

I cant believe you have someone so off base and obviously has no actual knowledge about building cost.These prices are so inflated It is ridiculous.Do you check their credentials before using their info on this website????????? Like my dad use to say"you cant always believe what you read!"

We are interested in putting an addition on- and thank god i read the posts after the article!! Otherwise, we would never beable to do it!

Who wrote this article?? You are WAY off on prices! You have over quoted these prices by more than double..

Your costs lister are INSANE !!!!!!! They cost one third of the crazy prices !!!!!