Reno Costs for Frame House

Thanks everyone for your comments – since I’m starting from ZERO, everything I learn is a help! Right now we’re looking at the roughest figures to see what we can finance – if financing the construction is impossible, I don’t want to spend any more of anyone’s time getting very specific.

BUT I will answer some of the questions briefly: It is a 2 story frame house, flat rubber roof (rubber? never heard of that before), 25×50 so 1250/sft per floor. It is currently configured as 4 railroad apts, and we would live in two, rent two.

We would probably leave the 2nd floor apts relatively intact – leaving kitchens and bathrooms where they are but updating and pulling out the layer upon layer of peeling floors . . . and removing bizarre configurations of closets/hallways that seem to have enabled every room to be a bedroom, and seem wonky at best, illegal at worst. (and the doors are really low – what can that be about – could the floor have creeped up a full foot from layers?)

Downstairs, the most crucial work would be to knock out the walls that separate the two units. Our thought was we might be able to reno in stages: Make the downstairs unit minimally habitable for our family of four in the first place, then live there, think about what we want/how we want to use the space, and do a 2nd round within a year or two. We might clean up one bathroom in the first place, and again, do more later.

I have read an engineers report: the most disturbing item is termite damage in the basement. Is that a red flag to stop looking?

I’m not in love with this house, but it’s wide, sunny, and a good location for my particular needs (walking distance to my kid’s school). I could definitely walk away from it, and the house doesn’t have any of its own charm that I’m aware of, so if it’s too expensive/difficult we’ll keep looking. We’re not super handy types, and don’t need to do this! But if we could make it work, it might be a great place for us, for the long haul . . .

Thanks all — ELM

Dear Elm BK:

I’m worried that you’re getting some bad advice here. I’ve been renovating brownstones and apartments in Manhattan and Brooklyn for almost 20 years, but I haven’t seen any substantial renovation happen for under $200 / sq ft in a long time — decent work seems to start at around $300 / sq ft. I also don’t know why a frame house would be very different in cost from a brownstone. Either way, you’re talking about a primarily interior job. If some of the exterior needs work, you’re looking for different trades, but sometimes the trims and siding on those old frame houses really need a lot of TLC.

I realize this isn’t the good news you were seeking, but I’m not into misleading people. Of course, I can’t know what level of fit and finish you would desire, but I’d be happy to talk with your further about this. My contact information is listed below:

http://www.jkosterarch.com/contact_jka.html

Good luck to you!

Gut renovations start at about $125 per square foot and go up from there depending on quality of finishes. $150-$175 a foot is where mid-end gut renovations usually fall.

Keep in mind that all guts are not equal. Are you talking down to the studs, or a complete gut? Structural issues? Sometimes you can keep waste lines, or at the very least, keep them where they are. Are the stairway,bathrooms and the kitchen going to stay in the same location? If so, you may not have to start reconfiguring beam layout which can get expensive. What’s the spacing on the beams? If they’re spaced too far apart, you’ll have to infill with additional beams (This is very simple with a gutted frame, not so simple with a gutted brownstone. Is the current electrical service adequate, is the water main lead and do you want to swap that out? How many kitchens and bathrooms. The square foot cost for a kitchen is obviously a lot higher than the cost of a bedroom. All these things are going to affect the price, all of which is going to affect the bottom line. Places like Brownstoner are great for opinions, but as I’m sure just about everyone who posts here will tell you and as KLS points out, until you actually get some boots on the ground, you can’t be sure what you are going to run into. Spend the money to get a good home inspection before you dive it, it’s well worth the peace of mind.