cost of adding a level to brownstone
I know this is quite a complicated process with the DOB, but wondering how much roughly it would cost to add a 4th flr onto the existing roof a 3 stry brownstone 20 x50\. Someone posted 250/sf but this was 5 yrs ago. Anyone with more recent experience? The place already needs a gut renovation so we will hire architects in any case. Just don’t know if the cost is prohibitively expensive to add to the frame of the house itself and have an engineer assess if the structure can bare the extra weight. Concrete numbers and advice would be greatly appreciated!!
onenicedacha
in Construction 12 years and 5 months ago
8
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8 replies
dazednconfused2 | 12 years and 5 months ago
Hah! I still have a few years before I have to deal with that. With 6 month old and 8 year daughters, I’m hoping the one starts sleeping through the night before the other keeps me up at night. Jim
brucef | 12 years and 5 months ago
Jim, Now that it is no longer 2:17 AM, life is, in fact, a mixed bag. If we knew what teenagers are like, we would never have children. Bruce
dazednconfused2 | 12 years and 5 months ago
Holy Debbie Downer, Bruce! Yes the DOB is huge pain, but with some patience and persistence, an experienced architect can get the job done. You just have to be realistic about the process and realize that it will be frustrating and time consuming. Go into it with that mindset and be pleasantly surprised if the architect can get it through in less then 3 months.
brucef | 12 years and 5 months ago
Reality check required here. Like Wiley Coyote salivating after Road Runner, Dep’t of Buildings and required professionals will make you feel like giving away your building. DOB is geared to developers and their blank slates. You can’t satisfy their “No to Everything” mindset without obscene expenses and unreasonable delays. Improve your property – Forget it! Correct problems – not without a pound of flesh. Architects will tell you what the law says. All well and good. Then the DOB proceeds to arbitrarily turn you down, roll you over, and… No one has the deep pockets and the time to fight back.
joearchitect | 12 years and 5 months ago
You will also need to be sure your property has enough allowable floor area ratio (FAR) to add 1,000 additional square feet. I agree that $350 sf is a reasonable round number. If you are comfortable with that budget, it would not take too much investment in time or fees to have an architect do a feasibility study to work out possible design options and budgets. You could then review the preferred design with several contractors to make sure the budget is realistic before proceeding with a full set of documents, permits, etc.
dazednconfused2 | 12 years and 5 months ago
We usually budget around $300 – $350 per sq ft for new construction. It can easily go up or down from there depending upon what the floor contains. For instance, a kitchen and bath are typically more expensive per foot than a living room because of the plumbing, appliances, cabinets, etc. You should also consider the collateral changes on the floor below, like what might need to change to accommodate a new set of stairs. You say it’s a gut job, but that means different things to different people. A gut could be bringing everything down to the structural materials, studs, flooring, etc, or it could mean removing all plumbing, electrical, mechanical, framing, etc. In addition, you may very well be required to add sprinklers, possibly even to the whole building. That alone could easily be $30k – $50k. What is the existing structure, wood or masonry? If masonry, then you can do it relatively easily. If wood, then you’ll probably need to add a steel structure to support the top floor. That steel would go all the way to the cellar, possibly requiring some new footings. Not to try to scare you, but there’s a whole lot to consider here. Jim Hill, RA, LEED AP Urban Pioneering Architecture
Putnamdenizen | 12 years and 5 months ago
So master builder is saying that it would cost 1 million dollars to add on another floor? My architect estimated that a bare bones white box 20 x 20 would run me around 250k. But I expected that to go up. Didn’t pursue it.
masterbuilder | 12 years and 5 months ago
I generate hard numbers for these kinds of projects. They vary from high six figures to low seven. The new insurance requirements are now adding a much higher percentage to cost as well.