[Guest]

i live in indianapolis area ...there is a good deal on an older house....1984 built....4500 sq foot.....$285,000 ....it would need totally remodelled on inside (in good shape but outdated) how much would u expect remodel of this magnitude to cost...needs panelling removed..kitchen and bathrooms redone...new flooring....im hope $75000-100k is that reasonable???? thanks on any info

 

[Nathan]

That's a hard question to answer. It totally depends on what how you choose to remodel the house. I've seen kitchens that cost $100K plus and bathrooms that cost $40K plus easy.

Can it be done for that much... yes, but totally depends on your plans.

- Nathan

 

[Grumpy]

I have never done a complete remodel so I can't answer. I do know a friend of mine got an estimate of $200k for a small 1 story addition. I do know a friend of a friend paid $20k for a kitchen remodel.

Sheesh how do you tell your friends they are fricking morons for not asking you for a referral? I coulda got them someone to do their kitchen for much less and with better fixturers and coutner tops...

 

[sunnyholme]

I am in the process of a complete remoel of a home I purchased. It is 2800 sq ft and I totally gutted it. 1956 brick ranch in a very good part of town. Paid 220,000 for it and will put 40,000 into it but I am doing 90% of the work myself. I have completed about half of the job.
Floors have been jacked up and leveled, framing redone with new rooms added and bathrooms ripped out and completely added new fixtures. New electrical throughout the house with a new 200 amp service and wiring hooked up the old way with outlets together and lights together.
New plumbing completely with PEX and new sewer lines. Sewer line from main replaced as well as new water main.
New French drains put in outside the house as well as 4" pipie for the 6 gutter downspouts all under ground.
New CAT5 and RG6 wiring throught house as well as security.
I will be adding central vac tubing as well.
I will be switching out the furnace with a 5 ton Gas pack. New duct work.
New insullation in the attic as I will be sucking out the old cellulose insulation from the attic and putting in new blown.

The key to this whole project is that I sell myself as a builder/remodeler to all these suppliers of materials and I shop around for good deals. I never accept the first price and I haggle for a better price. These people want my business as they do not know whether I am a one house contractor or a life long contractor.
I also look in the local constuction garbage piles for stuff being thrown out and I ask if I can have ggod stuff laying next to houses after the particular trade is done.
It is a mazing what gets thrown out, so don't be afraid to ask for it.
Hope this helps
Daniel

 

[Mike Finley]

A 285k house in Indy is a pretty nice house but will it be worth $385k after you but $100k into it? You need to give us some more information. Are you talking about $100k retail, just hiring it all out? Or $100k wholesale, where you are just paying for materials and doing the work yourself? Are you going to live in it or are you going to sell it right after you get done? The level of finish is everything. You can put in counters in the kitchen for $1200 (formica) or $12,000 (granite).

If this is an investment you need to check the comps of the other houses in the neighborhood and do the math. If you are going to live in it for a long time, well then it really doesn't matter what you spend on it, because appreciation covers a multitude of stupid remodels.

The last house I did this to I bought for $360,000 and have put $40,000 in materials into it. The house is worth in the $450,000s. However, since we are going to be living in it for the next 5-7 years there is a lot of leway in what to do and how to do it, compared to a house you buy as a pure investment.

 

[Grumpy]

Why bother going through all the trouble if your only going to break even. Figure in all your expenses and if your not going to make 15% for your trouble then walk! Don't forget to count your hours for any work you are planning on doing yourself. Your time is money too!

 

[Teetorbilt]

Also watch out for the neighborhood. A $450,000 house might be hard to sell if the surrounding homes are in the $200,000 bracket. The place to be is somewhere in the middle.

 

[Mike Finley]

Teetorbilt - good advise. I was doing some work in a neighborhood and I checked out some of the for sales, there is a ton of builders doing spec homes. In this same neighborhood there would be a ranch from the 1950s, then next to it would be a lot that had been scraped off and a new house on it, then another in the process and another then a 1950s ranch again, really crazy neighborhood like nothing I have seen before. The ranchs were selling for $400,000 - 500,000 and the new spec homes were on the market for $1,500,000 to $2,500,000. There are builders in the area that buy a house for $500,000 and scrape if off just to get the land, then they build a all brick beauty and put it on the market for 2 million. The new homes are really beautiful and works of art. But it is so strange to see them next to an old ranch that where I come from would sell for $90,000.

 

[Teetorbilt]

Mike, the most bizarre thing that I have seen here is a large tract of land sold to a developer by some commercial fishing locals.
Condos start at $400K, homes at $1.5M. The original owner kept almost 1500 ft. of prime waterfront and a few acres. He also exempted himself from the HOA.
Result: Very exclusive neighborhood and shortly after passing the guard gate you find the Beverly Hillbillies except they brought the shack and half the forest with them, actually it never moved or was improved upon. I think that they may have installed A/C. There are old (60's) pickups on blocks and older wood commercial boats pulled onshore and in various stages of repair. They still get drunk and carouse around and cook over a 55 gal. drum.
Just what you want your friends to see on their way to your $5.5M home on the point.

 

[Mike Finley]

LOL! That is pretty funny. I hope the dueling banjos don't keep the rich folks up at night!

 

[Adenmoor]

RG6 wiring throught house as well as security.

Daniel

What's RG6 for?

 

[Mike Finley]

RG6 is considered the grade of co-ax (the type of wire that your cable uses) that you should be using for structured wiring projects. It is also known as quad shielded coax, it is thicker has more shielding and is supposed to produce a better picture. You need to use quad shielded F connectors (the part on the end of the wire you plug into your TV) and a special tool to cut the extra shielding.