Buy a new house rather than completely rebuilding that one. Or do a teardown and rebuild instead. You'll already be tearing down the majority.

This is only a bathroom and bedroom that are low ceilings. They were built over a 9ft ceiling family room and the owners decided to keep the total ceiling height the same - weird I know. The house has otherwise been completly renovated already so moving is not an option. This room has to be fixed.

Get out your checkbook. Because it has to be ripped completely apart before anything happens in the way of a different roof. And that is if the foundation can hold it. If the foundation needs to be reinforced, then definitely move. It will be cheaper.

Was it very expensive? Did they have to add any height to the walls? Any details would be appreciated. Thx

Sharleen, here are some pics of before, during & after:

It was the first project in a total rehab of the house, but it included new shingles for the entire house, the demo & new construction (including the interior sheetrock & textured ceiling), plus electrical, and all permits, for a little over $20K. (Windows were NOT replaced as they were only a few years old, and the wood flooring was refinished in a later project.)

That's unbelievable. I got a couple of prices to remove the roof and redo the bathroom with new windows etc...prices ranged from $125- $200k. Your project looks well done.

$200,000.00 to gain what , I think you need to post some pics of the house but really this makes no sense for a bedroom and bathroom.I am sorry but no where in this world would all the above work been done for 20, 000 so don’t believe it a new roof will cost 15, 000 with no construction involved

Patricia CC - the new roof was on ONLY the room that originally had the flat roof. New shingles on the whole house. I still have a copy of the contract and the cancelled check. I guarantee you that was the price, and we are within an hour of Minneapolis.

In addition, we were able to have the project bid BEFORE we purchased the house, and the work was done by a licensed builder - not a "handyman".

I findlay the price ludicrous as well. It can't be that hard. I will post pics and see if a local contract wants to give me a reasonable bid.

Typo: I meant...find the price ludicrous as well

We have two options. Raise the roof and extend out over the ssecond floor deck (family room below). Or just raise the roof on the existing room and the bathroom is set back on the righ. The third floor has a shed roof with a window in the stairwell which we might lose when the roof is raised.

Your redesigning the front facade, moving windows, enclosing a deck, extending the second story and while you are at it, you are raising the ceiling height and renovating a bathroom on the second level. I can't tell but it looks like you might even be moving an entrance way on the lower level. Is that correct?

Yep. That isn't just about raising a roof, that is a 30% change in the home. New siding, new exterior wrap, moving electrical, new insulation, new sheathing, new roofing material (assuming you can find a perfect match to what is there), plumbing, structural assessments, building permits, windows, new insulation. This isn't a simple concept. That's a big enough change to carry a price tag of $125K - $200K.

And remember: a full bathroom renovation averages $30K...A new roof (just remove and replace - no construction) on a home such as yours will be more than $20K all by itself. If you add the two together, you are already at $50K and you haven't TOUCHED the structure.

You add a bump-out here, an enclosed deck here, a ceiling change there, move windows there and extend floor/ceilings/joists and you can triple the $50K in a heart beat. Yah. We are right on track.

Given the sketches, the price appears to be very reasonable. In some older homes, we have been able to do a raised tray ceiling when we could not vault the ceiling reasonably. The third level shed roof might make that impossible.

The initial question that I responded to did not include enough detail as to the scope of the project, but I will leave my post just as a comparison.

Right on target pricing to LOW pricing.

So it sounds like I would be paying the same price if I were adding a bedroom and bathroom on the second floor as I'm going to pay to remodel the second floor. Square footage is about 350-375 sqft. So that comes out to about $400/sqft if I pay $150k. That's a new construction cost and not inexpensive new construction.

The room has ac,electricity,plumbing, is already and is mostly finished on the exterior.

Just as an FYI-This is the back of the home. We are not touching anything on the first floor.

Renovation costs are typically double to triple new construction costs. Tying old into new is a giant pain. Bringing old up to new code is a pain. Doing anything with drywall and finishes in place takes twice as long and costs twice as much. In this case, all that you list as a positive is s negative on a rebuild. It has to be demo’d And start over with the foundation. And sawhole new roof line for the whole house. There’s nothing to keep.

The foundation has already been deemed fine for adding the roof. So I am re-building a bedroom and bathroom on a second floor and not doing any additional foundation work. I understand that renovations can be a pain but I still find the costs exorbitant. How long can it take to do a job like this? Just seems like a big number to me. I did a kitchen renovation 5 yrs ago which included footings and an extension on the back of the house, New electricity windows, ac, plumbing etc... and it cost $100k. I think that was a bigger job than this but maybe I'm wrong

jo

5 years is a long time when you have a huge recession in the rear view mirror. just 3 years ago we had our kitchen redone by contractors happy to have the project, honestly these days they won't even call back for a new project, they're so busy.

i'm sympathetic to your dilemma, i'd wait for a downturn in the economy if you want a better price. things are really go go now.

I agree. Construction is buzzing in the area. That is probably the best way to go...patience.

For remodeling, what we experienced in the last downturn was that price of materials continued to go up - just not as fast as is occurring right now. Many subs went out of business. The ones that were still around increased their rates to make up for the drop in volume of work. As soon as things finally opened up, prices for materials and labor shot up and are still climbing. Price of sheetrock alone went up 50% just this week- although that is probably influenced highly by demand due to hurricanes. I don't think you will see prices drop in the next downturn. I think they will level out or the pace of increases will just slow some.

Ahhh yes. The rebuilding of the South Eastern states after the hurricanes. That's going to take years to deal with. Humans will be in short supply. Materials will be in short supply. Both will drive the price up as Brickwood Builders mentions.