February, 2007

Is 2007 a Good Year to Remodel?

There are many factors that make 2007 a good year to remodel – but, of course, there are several trends that will make it more expensive than last year.

Reasons favorable for you to remodel this year

	The price of your home isn’t going up as fast, and may have even fallen. This doesn’t help your net worth, but it does help most homeowners realize that home prices won’t go up continually, and that a less risky way to increase your home’s value is to add on or update instead of moving.
	Materials are less expensive. The hurricanes in the Southeast and the new home building boom in the past few years drove up construction material costs. But material producers have now caught up with demand, and demand has slackened, so prices have fallen.
	Home builders are looking for work. With the significant decline in new home construction, many workers, tradespeople and contractors are looking to work for you to remodel your home.

Reason that remodeling in 2007 may be more expensive than a few years ago

Interest rates are higher now, which makes paying for your remodel more expensive than it was previously.

How Much Does It Cost to Remodel and How Do I Get an Estimate?

The decisions you make on how a remodel project is managed, who will do the work, the design of the changes, and the price of the materials and fixtures you choose will have a significant effect on the cost of your remodel. If you choose to hire someone to manage the entire project, and you pay to be least inconvenienced, then you can easily spend four times as much as a homeowner who gets a little dirty, tolerates some of the inconveniences that are part of a remodeling project, and does some of the work himself or herself. Get a free quote now from prescreened contractors. Just click here.

There are several ways to get an estimate for the cost of a remodel project:

Cost per square foot

This is the most common way to do a quick estimate. It simply assigns a cost per square foot to the area that will be remodeled. To calculate your own estimate, determine the square footage of the area that will be built or changed and multiple that by a cost of $100 to $700 per square foot.

For example, if you want to add a 150–square–foot bedroom at the end of a hall by building an addition into the backyard, and also substantially remodel an existing 150–square–foot bedroom and a 50–square–foot bathroom, the total area would be 350 (150+150+50) square feet. Then take 350 and multiply it by the range of possible costs per square foot, $100 to $700, and you’ll get an estimate for this remodel of between $35,000 and $245,000.

You can quickly see that this estimate has little value since the range of potential costs is so great. While $700 per square foot is unusual, and it is unlikely you will spend that, $100 per square foot is unrealistically low unless you make great efforts to minimize the cost.

The Remodel or Move Calculator gives a more accurate estimate by considering information about the rooms that will be remodeled, the level of finish that you want, and how you will manage the project. Read the complete article.

Thanks,

Dan Fritschen
www.remodelormove.com

dan@remodelormove.com

888-825-4169