Renovation Costs of layout change versus no layout change

If you keep your finishes on the lower end, its possible to complete for that price.

neweco

in General Discussion 7 years and 4 months ago

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jserpico | 7 years and 4 months ago

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We have a tight budget of $300k to renovate a two family house with 3 stories and a basement. (roughly 2000sqt)
We are thinking of changing the current layout of lower owner duplex + top floor rental to garden rental+owner duplex which requires:
1. remove the kitchen on the top floor and add a new kitchen to the same location on parlor
2. remove walls on the parlor floor to open up space
3. change the powder room on garden floor to a full bath
4. add additional walls on the parlor to make it a two bed one bath unit

If we keep with the current layout, we will only need to fully gut renovate the lower owner duplex. In that case, I guess the costs difference between layout change versus no layout change mainly depends on the plumbing/gas line work. Does anyone can give me a ballpark number of how much it would cost? Would it be more cost effective if I hire someone to set up the plumbing/gas line first and then hire a GC to start from there?

EJR | 7 years and 4 months ago

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A $300k budget for 2,000 sq ft works out to a reno budget of $150/sq ft. This is on the low end of renovation costs these days. I think a “safe” budget for a middle of the road reno is $200 sq. ft. and it obviously can climb much higher from there. All in, all, if you cannot increase your budget and really need or want to do the full scope of the reno now, then I think you would be best served by not changing the layout.

EJR | 7 years and 4 months ago

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Also, if you can get away with an Alt-2 as opposed to an Alt-1, that will save you a bunch of time and money.

nick521 | 7 years and 4 months ago

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The house that I purchased was similar to yours , 3 stories, owners duplex in lower level and rental on top. But I was bought it from a flipper and we decided to change the layout, move the rental to the garden level, so he bore the cost on the renovation which he factored in his sell price. This was about 4 yrs ago, so pricing has changed. However, the woman whom he bought it from had added a shower in the parlor level which made it easy to covert it to a kitchen, gas line was running up to third floor already, walls were tore down for a open concept living and kitchen. Third floor kitchen was converted to a master bathroom, another option is to convert it to a laundry room if you have gas running (wished I had done that). All bedrooms are on the top floor as there was already a bathroom, just created a master bath.
Food for thought, for me it was a great idea to flip the layout, no one living above me, separate entrances. Things you may want to consider also, access to backyard, laundry room and cellar access. I share the backyard with my tenants, i have a deck and stairs leading to the backyards. Laundry room location , wished I had thought about moving the laundry on 3rd floor instead of cellar. I maintain cellar access; I blocked off the tenants access to cellar.

Guest User | 7 years and 4 months ago

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Hi there. We are in the middle of renovating a property very similar to yours: 3 stories, 2,300 sqft. and moving the rental from the top floor to the bottom. What a crazy world where $300k is considered “tight” but as you’ve worked out – it really is tight. I’m sorry to report that even though we are doing masses of the work ourselves and we are pretty experienced at developing property – our final number to complete the project you’ve described will be substantially higher than 300k.

If your really are stuck at 300k I would advise you to change the layout as little as possible. Putting up new framing and drywall is the easy part. But once you touch those plaster and lath walls – there are knock-on effects and costs everywhere: brand new ceilings, new crowns, mouldings…

Do you already live in the house or have you just bought it? Don’t assume your electrics or plumbing will support the new configuration. Elecs and plumbing alone were 100k with all 3 of the contractors that bid for our project.

I believe with the type of work you are planning you will need a registered engineer or architect – as well as expediter to file permits for you.

Let me know if you want any more guidance on typical costs we’ve faced.

Best of luck – Jason

JPDA | 7 years and 4 months ago

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$200K per floor is pretty typical for a medium-end renovation these days. That being said, we have extensive experience with gut renos on beer budgets. As Jason mentioned the infrastructural costs are always a significant part of the budget, and in order to bring things up to code you may end up spending significantly more that you bargained for.
I would strongly agree that you should begin this process with an architect and a detailed scope budget. Please reach out if you’d like to discuss some options: jordan (at) jpda.net.

randolph | 7 years and 4 months ago

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if your budget is $300k then plan a $150k project because everything ends up costs 2x what you expect. also expect it to take twice as long.