Thinking of a Home Addition? What Should You Expect For Your Budget?

You thought about the way you use your existing home, met with a local builder to see what your options are for a new addition.

Below you find a few items that you need to consider when establishing a budget. These items are listed in the order that they will most likely occur when preparing for and completing an addition.

Plans: $2,000 – $5,000

Before you can go any further you need to have a set of plans drawn up. Plans are used by the city to issue a permit. They are used by the contractor to give an estimate for the work, but more importantly they are used to build the addition to the specifications on the plans.
The size of the remodel and the complexity of the remodel will affect the price for plans.
The price will also be affected how many changes are made to the plans as they are being completed.
Having an accurate set of plans allows the contractor to get accurate bids from the subcontractors he is working with.

Designer: $1,500 – $5,000

Depending on the amount of time you have to invest, or your ability in choosing the required for your addition you may need to work with a designer.
You not only have to work with an architect, you have to choose paint colors, flooring, windows, and etc. These items need to chosen before the construction begins to keep your remodel on schedule and the costs to a minimum.

Excavation: $9,000

Excavation is removing the existing soil and earth in preparation for concrete.
This might include removing any part of the existing home, such as a deck, patio, or concrete slab where the new addition is going to be placed.
Depending on the access to where the addition is going to be placed, type of soil, how many loads of soil need to be hauled away, or the amount of sand that needs to be hauled in the excavation costs can vary.

Concrete:

There are a few different areas we need to address when budgeting for concrete:

Footings: $75.00 – $125.00 per linear foot

A footing is a concrete form placed below the frost line with the walls added on top. The footing is wider than the wall, providing extra support at the base of the foundation to help carry the weight of the home.

Walls: Foundation walls will either be poured concrete or concrete blocks.

There are advantages and disadvantages of both. In my opinion both methods will lead to problems if not done right. Both methods can last a long time if done properly.

Slab: $6.00 a square foot

The slab is the concrete floor whether in the basement, garage, or patio.

Framing:

For calculating a budget framing can be broken down into three categories:

Frame floors: $12.00 a square foot for labor and material

If you are building a 20X20 addition the square footage would be 400 square feet. The budgeted costs to frame each floor would $4,800.

If you are adding a two story addition then you would have two floors.

For the floor framing you would have ledger boards, Joists, and a subfloor underlayment.

Frame exterior walls: $7.00 a square foot

If you have a 20 foot wall 8 feet high the square footage of the wall would be 160 square feet. You need to calculate the square footage for each wall.

Framing includes building the exterior walls with 2×6 studs 16 inches on center. Frame window and door openings. Install exterior sheathing. Install house wrap.

Frame soffit and fascia.

Frame interior walls: $3.00 a linear foot

Take the length of the wall and multiply by $3.00 to get a budgeted price for framing.

Includes 2×6 studs 16 inches on center.

Roofing: $30.00 a square foot

Install roof sheathing. Apply ice and water shield. Apply #15 felt paper, use a 25 year shingle, install necessary vents.

Once the roof is on and the shingles are installed, and the house wrap is installed the addition will be water proof. The openings for the windows will be cut out when the windows are to be installed.

The next step for the addition will be to install the windows, insulation, drywall, flooring, and etc.