Like I am 5- starting point for remodel

[ladyfern]

Please help! I feel like a dummy with this stuff. We want to remodel our house. It’s an early 1900s house that has been piecemeal added on to/updated over the years. It needs all the electrical/heating etc updated and we want to reconfigure the layout of the main floor and the upstairs to add a bedroom and make the space more liveable. I would love to also widen our super steep and narrow staircase. The kitchen and bathrooms need to be redone. We want to redo the roof and install solar panels. We need insulation in the walls and attic. We want to finish the basement and move the hot water heater and furnace out of the middle of the space. Basically, the whole house needs touched and I feel like it would be easier to move out for 6 months and do the whole thing in one fell swoop rather than trying to live through a floor at a time or room at a time with 2 kids and a husband that works from home.

But where do I start? I have been looking at design build firms in the area, but they want to know budget. I have no idea- obviously we are looking at a large budget given the scope but… $200k? $400k? More? I have no idea and we need help figuring that out. Do we need to find an architect? Should I just call random ones in the area until I hear back from someone? My boss gave me a rec, but its a person she used 12+ years ago and I am not sure they are even in this area anymore.

I know there have been a few posters with large scope remodels, can you walk me through the process a little?

[audry80]

We are just finishing a remodel and addition. We used a design and build firm. They have an architect on staff and they handled it all. I found them on Houzz.

We interviewed three companies and asked for references. Once we selected our firm we met with the architect and told her what we were looking for, the struggles with our current house, and our style, etc. We were absolutely blown away with all the designs she presented us. We had no idea what our options were.

We are very happy except for our floors- see post on married life but they have assured us they will make it right.

We are in a VHCOL area and was hoping to spend 250K and we ended up at 375K. We touched every room in the house with some type of work but most of the work was adding a second bathroom and adding 250 sq feet. we also re-configured our kitchen and moved the location of our washer and dryer.

[dr.girlfriend]

We started by trying to find a contractor ... we asked around, checked NextDoor, etc. It was hard to hear back from people and this was pre-COVID. The estimates varied DRAMATICALLY -- we were doing a fairly significantly-sized addition, and one company quoted us like $700k. Um, our whole house was $300k, that is absurd. I've heard some places quote super high just because they don't really want the work, and then if someone "bites" they make a killing. In the end we really liked our contractor, and asked him for architect recs. We thought our architect was a firm because they had a name like "X and Y" but in the end they were a single proprietor, which I wish we had clarified at the start. Her husband was terminally ill so I *totally* understand the delays, but it ended up delaying the project significantly and to be honest I think some of her initial designs were crap and would have gotten us rejected at the zoning board stage.

One thing I would advise you is to be prepared for how "un-businesslike" a lot of contracting work seems to be, at least in my area. Like, very few places even have websites, etc., and the contracts were very informal with the guy we used, scheduling was pretty much "you'll know when people show up," that kind of thing. I was really worried that there would be hidden costs, etc. but he was actually very on the up-and-up, it's just like the lumber was ordered under some different company's name, etc. We really only were sticklers about proof of licensing and insurance, and on the rest of it was had to learn to "go with the flow."

I think our goal was $200k for a big one-bedroom addition that added a big two-story primary bedroom with loft, bathroom, and a laundry/mudroom. In the end I think we ended up close to $300k but $40k of that was solar panels, and a lot of the rest was scope creep / optional (e.g. adding built-ins where we wanted them, etc.) The only thing that came out over the initial budget was the floors because I was super picky and wanted something way over the alottment, and also our roof turned out to have multiple layers of shingles underneath (we re-roofed our original house and the addition at the same time) and so cost extra to remove. Honestly, if we hadn't asked him to break the roof cost out separately for the solar I think he would have just eaten that cost.

I would *definitely* look at other homes in the area at the same time as you're looking into renovations. First of all, it may be 100% easier and cheaper to buy something already renovated than to make such major changes to your place. Also, it'll give you ideas about what you really like for your renovations, or at least make you feel more confident in your decision to renovate. I used to love the Gardenweb message boards for ideas and advice but since they turned into Houzz they are super-snooty and not helpful IMO -- everyone seems to be building new-construction McMansions and don't really seem to understand the idea that you can't just expand your kitchen or whatever.

We are really happy with our renovation in the end. We did something that worked for us and probably no one else, with the goal of this being our "age-in-place" forever home and not worrying about resale. In the end, with home prices jumping we probably *would* make back what we spent on renos but that seemed absurd at the time, and was a decision we were willing to make. We have extremely stable jobs, etc. though so that all factored in.

This should help you find some of my planning and in-progress threads, as well as final pics. Good luck!

www.google.com/search?q=site:pandce.proboards.com+dr.girlfriend+addition&source=lmns&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS769US769&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjE-OK91831AhVHqnIEHUR2CvkQ_AUoAHoECAEQAA

[simpsongal]

In your case, I would also try to find someone who has some experience w/very old houses (esp if you want to retain some character). Maybe talk to a design/build, as well as an architect. The architect fees may be $15-25K for a project of that size.

A staircase change is going to be very $$$, I'm guessing you're looking at at least $400K (finishes are a huge cost driver too - two neighbors did similar additions, one saved about $150K on middle-road finishes and not recessing beams, etc.). I'd also expect a major reno like that to take 9+ months - the supply chain issues are really something now.

Good luck!

[winecat]

I’d start with a structural engineer who is experienced with old homes.

[dancingirl21]

I would look for a design/build group in your area. They should have an architect already on staff, or at least someone they work with. Have them come and look at your house and help give you an idea on cost. They should be able to guide you on what can/can’t be done. And if you know your budget is $300k, tell them that and see what can be done for that cost. Ideally you meet with a few to get a good idea of who you like and feel most comfortable with. Good luck!

[boiler717]

I haven’t done this personally yet, but are preparing to do so. Based on experiences of our friends, I am pretty set on hiring a separate architect and designer, then finding a contractor to do the work. My friends that used design/build had a lot of “oh this actually costs XYZ more to do” that our estimate. Friends that used separate architect and designers had a “per plan” clause that anything that came up that was on the plan was covered cost wise. They saved far more than their initial design and architect costs by doing it this way, plus their homes were more thoughtfully designed than some of the design/build people (although some of those were good, too, but the separate firms definitely were better than the combo IMO).

[mrsukyankee]

We hired an architect first to do the design of what we wanted. We then got four contractors to come in to bid. We asked for baseline bids without them quoting for specific items (such as toilets/kitchen stuff/fittings) as we wanted to be able to see what costs would be like without those items (and we went and looked for those things on our own so we could cheap out in some areas and upgrade in others). When asked for our budget, we said we had enough to definitely cover the costs of this work and to just give us what their estimates were.

[bittybomb]

We started a large scale renovation of our 1912 side hall colonial that had been converted from a one family to a two family probably about 50 or so years ago in 2018.  We wanted to return it to a one family, and added a 400 square foot addition.  Our original budget increased by more than 100% - but that's because the scope of the project changed as we went along.  For ex we hadn't planned to strip the siding and roof to redo, but we ending up doing that, we had not planned to add a basement under the new addition, but we did because our existing basement has too low ceilings for any kind of rec space, we bumped out the back of the house in one part to meet an existing addition in the next room to create more room in our son's bedroom.  Everything needed to be updated along the way, and ultimately every single wall of our house was touched. 


We used a design build firm who had been around forever.  We used their architect, but he would have worked with someone else if we wanted.  The owner came to our house every single day, and sat and watched his workers.  They subbed some work out - electrical, plumbing, roofing, cement/masonry, but all of the craftmanship and woodwork was done by them.  The project took about 10 months from start to finish and we love it.     

[ladyfern]

Thanks for all the advice! I keep an eye on the housing market but prices are way up and inventory is very very limited. Also, we love our location in a very walkable urban neighborhood. So we would rather renovate than move and will deal with the house as is until we can get there. But i will start reaching out to architects via Houzz i think and see if I can get anyone to call me back. Maybe someday I will be able to post progress pics here…