You may be wondering, How much is it going to cost me to remodel my house? First, it's important to understand that nowadays, most people use the terms remodel and renovate interchangeably. Here are clear definitions of what each term means:
- Remodel: to change the structure or form of something.
- Renovate: to restore (something old, especially a building) to a good state of repair.
As you can see, there is a difference between these two terms. Basically, remodeling refers to creating something new while renovating refers to restoring something to its previous state.
Now that you have a pretty good understanding of the difference between the two terms, here are four things to take into consideration when figuring out how much it is going to cost to remodel your home.
Why do you want to remodel?
It's important to understand why you are wanting to do work on your home. For some people, a house they're thinking of buying may be ideally located but, unfortunately, outdated. In this instance, it may be better to get the home for cheap and remodel the home to your liking once you own the home.
Some people already own the home and are at a place where they need to fix certain safety issues so that they may continue to live there comfortably. Unfortunate events such as foundation issues, roof leaks, or a pipe bursting in the kitchen can speed up the timeline on tackling certain projects around the home.
Others are at a point where they need to sell their home. Your Realtor may have told you it would be best to do certain updates to maximize the value you would be able to sell your house at, so now you are on the hunt to find which upgraded areas of your home would give you the best return on investment.
What do you want to remodel?
Now that you have an understanding of the reason you are wanting to do a remodel, now it's time to outline what you want to accomplish.
You should first prioritize any major items that need to be fixed. You don't want to put a bandage on work that should be resolved by fixing the root of the problem. An example would be if you notice there is mold on the ceiling. The bandage would be to replace the wallboard where the mold is and call it a day. What you really should do is identify and repair the source of the mold (e.g., a leaky pipe or poor bathroom ventilation) so the issue won't arise again.
Make sure you have a list of everything you want to tackle during this remodel. This will help you separate everything you think needs to be done from what really has to be done. This method will also help when it comes to budgeting the cost of the total project.
The most common areas of a home that people are looking to improve are the:
Broken down even further, the most common types of improvements are:
Define the scope of your remodel
There are a few ways you might choose to tackle your remodel. Ask yourself these questions to determine which way you should go:
- Are you a handy individual who can do work around the house?
- Do you have friends willing to help out?
- Are you going to have to subcontract most of the work out, which tends to get expensive but if done right may be the better and quicker option?
No matter how you're planning on going about it, it might be a good idea to have people come in and present quotes for how much certain types of projects would cost.
Vetting subcontractors
When vetting a subcontractor, look at past remodeling products, make sure they are licensed and insured, understand what all is included in their quote, and last but not least, find out how long it will take them to complete the job.
So how much should you spend remodeling your home?
As always, the answer is "It depends." It depends on the square footage of the home and whether you're adding more square footage, the type of quality the remodel will be, and the type of permitting required by the city, especially if you own a home that is considered historic, and whether you will be doing a complete renovation of the entire building or just redoing the kitchen.
Regardless of the plan, you are going to want to have prepared a budget. Be sure to add contingency on top of that, because things never go as planned.
You can break down your remodel project by room to get an average cost range. Here is a helpful starting point from HomeAdvisor (NASDAQ: ANGI):
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