New vs. renovate

A reader asks, "Sorry to be off topic, about the new construction per feet cost. What is a new addition to a house cost nowadays per feet. Also, was told the cost to build a second floor (above the existing house) was much cheaper than adding to first level. Any opinions?"

Well as you know if you stick around this blog, I've got lots of opinions and some of them are actually based on fact (but you'll have to figure out which those are). Anyway, addressing the last question first, I've been disappointed in the past to learn how little money can be saved by adding a second floor to a ranch. Building up, in other words, instead of starting anew.

You start off with a savings, of course, in that you already have a foundation and its infrastructure - water, sewer, etc. But then you have to look at what you're improving. It probably has 8' ceilings which are fine for you but a turn-off these days to buyers. You can add to the height of the first floor, but that's expensive. If you don't, while you won't exactly be putting lipstick on a pig, you will be building a house that lacks appeal to many buyers (unless heating costs stay high, in which case, low ceilings may come back in vogue).

How's your electrical service? It's probably outdated. Will your existing furnace be large enough to service twice the existing space? Are your windows original and hence obsolete? How much will it cost to extend your chimneys? If you're going to have new baths upstairs, do you want to leave the original baths untouched? Is your plumbing adequate? How much will a new kitchen cost?

Etc. So, in my experience, you're not going to achieve much of a cost saving. If other readers have had a better experience, please write in and educate us.

Plain old additions and re-dos are, or can be cheaper than adding on, but it's always cheaper to, say, frame out a nice, square window opening than it is to deal with a slanting old one (blending the outside trim can be a bear, for instance). Having worked on both - old and new, I have spent as long as a full day doing a window in an 1840 Maine farmhouse and perhaps 45 minutes framing and popping in a new window in an addition we put on. And of course, you never know what's behind a wall until you open it up - surprise!

Just remember that the most expensive words in a remodeling job are, "as long as we're doing that ...."

There's nothing wrong with taking an old clunker and bringing it up to date and, if you get the house for the right price you'll make money. Just not as much as you think, though.