Home Renovation Cost Calculator
Renovation cost with bathrooms and the kitchen priced separately from the general area, because wet areas cost several times what a dry room does per square foot and averaging them across the flat hides the real driver.
Also called: home remodel cost, renovation budget calculator.
$1,449,000.00 for 1,200 square feet at the moderate scope, of which $189,000.00 is contingency. The general work is 1080000 at 900 a square foot for a moderate scope. Wet areas add 180000, which is 14% of the work before contingency, from a small fraction of the floor. Pricing them separately is what makes dropping one from the scope a decision the numbers can support. Contingency of 15% is higher than a new build would need, because opening up an existing structure finds problems rather than planning for them. Enter a rent figure if you will have to live elsewhere; six weeks is a real line item. Rates vary by city, season and contractor. Treat the figure as a budget with a stated contingency, not a quotation.
The estimate
| Item | Amount | Share |
|---|---|---|
| General work | $1,080,000 | 74.5% |
| Bathrooms | $180,000 | 12.4% |
| Kitchen | $0 | 0% |
| Contingency | $189,000 | 13% |
| Living elsewhere | $0 | 0% |
How this is calculated
A single rate per square foot works badly for renovation because the cost is not spread evenly. A bathroom involves waterproofing, plumbing, tiling and fittings in a very small area, so it costs several times the per-foot rate of a bedroom, and a kitchen the same again. Pricing them separately makes the estimate both more accurate and more useful, since dropping one bathroom from the scope is a decision the numbers can now support. Renovation contingency runs higher than new build, fifteen to twenty percent, because opening up an existing structure reveals problems a new site does not have. Displacement is the cost people forget entirely: six weeks of rent elsewhere is a real line item.
general work scaled by scope, plus the wet areas priced separately because they cost several times the rate of a dry room- B
- Bathrooms
- K
- Kitchen
- c
- Contingency
Method and limits
What it assumes
- Rates covering material and labour for the scope selected.
What it deliberately does not model
- Old wiring, plumbing and damp are discovered rather than planned for, which is what the contingency exists for.
- Society or building permissions and restricted working hours can extend the timeline and the cost.
Formula version 1.0.0 · definition 1.0.0 · United States · Report a problem with this calculator
Frequently asked questions
- Why price bathrooms separately?
- Because waterproofing, plumbing, tiling and fittings concentrate a lot of cost into a very small area. Spreading that across the whole flat as a per-foot rate hides what is actually driving the budget.
- Why is renovation contingency higher than new build?
- Because you are opening up something already built. Old wiring, hidden damp and non-standard construction are found, not planned, and fifteen to twenty percent is the honest allowance.