Addition (insurance, credit, house)

[alliswellinnc]

I'm thinking about adding a two-story addition to the backside of my house (maybe 2 bedrooms, 1 bath with bonus room). Can anyone tell me what the cost per Square Foot would be to give me some idea if it's worth doing? Help please!!!

[dedratermi]

With the detail you've given in your post, you're basically asking someone to "pick a number, any number" but you're probably looking at somewhere between $120 and $200 per sqft - depends on a lot of different things. That's a pretty big project and it might be more cost effective to sell your house and buy a bigger house, especially with the tax credit gift that expires in April.

[KFran]

We're thinking of adding a master suite and a garage as well, I've been thinking about posting the same question. We also looked into the option of buying something new or building on and for us, we decided building on is what we want to do because of our location.

[J. Trent Hicks]

There are lots of threads (see archives) on pricing for lots of construction related projects. If you require a foundation, walls and a roof those costs for even the shell can vary widely. For many materials (especially wood) we're paying lower prices than we have in many years. Shingles now cost an arm and a leg with another price increase announced this month.

It would be great if you could establish a minimum list of specifications that you absolutely MUST have and separately prepare a list that you'd LIKE to have before you start developing a budget. An experienced contractor should be able to help you finalize both lists in just over an hour or so to get you started on pricing.

Short answer: Try to establish a budget for the project around $150-$175/SF and adjust accordingly as funds are available or as you decide you really don't need a $5,000 bath tub or $100/SY wool carpeting. You can have a reasonably nice addition in that price range; but we've done other projects that were $250 or more per square foot. It just depends upon the customer.

[kwalk65]

I know just where you are at. We added a 400 square foot bonus room onto our ranch house (2nd floor was just attic open space) last year and I got quotes that were all over the place. For me, I think the most important thing to do was to establish my own budget for what I could afford before starting down the road of getting quotes, etc. I spent a huge amount of time gaining knowledge of what I could do, what the contractor/builder could do in order to get it within my budget. We had a budget of $13,000 and I did it within that budget. I did save some money doing my own painting, carrying all the building supplies up the stairs, etc. I found that there were things that I could do that did save me money and did not affect the quality of the space.

Above all, know what your budget is so that when you start getting quotes you can figure out what your budget can/cannot afford. I think a big mistake often made is to go into a project blindly and budgetless and end up feeling ripped off in the end.

Also, make sure who you hire is insured. I pulled my own permits and hired everyone who stepped onto my property. I called each and every sub-contractors insurance to make sure they were insured before ever hiring them. Since I pulled my own permit from the county I was liable and so making sure everyone who worked on the project was insured was a huge priority for me.

I spent time ruling out a glut of "contractors" who I knew would not serve me well. I hired the framer(insulation), the electrician, the HVAC company, flooring, and the finisher. I have a well-built quality bonus room that I have no regrets about. Do your homework and don't rush the project and you will too!