A home addition can give you more room for extending your family, treat
you to that dream room that you always wanted to have, or simply add
value and beauty to your house.
There are endless reasons that make sense for extending your own
property, but the fact remains that it costs a lot of money to do so and
you need to be prepared for the expense. Obviously, you can’t prepare
for an expense that is merely defined as “a lot”, so you need to find
ways to get some precision into those numbers. Here are some simple
steps you can take to come up with a ballpark figure. Remember: be
liberal with your estimates. Better to over-budget than under-budget.
Calling contractors can give you your first estimates, as they’ll all
have a price quote they can give you for the job you want done. A home
addition is a big project, however, and these price quotes may not
always match up to reality. Furthermore, if you call enough companies,
you may find that their price quotes vary to an extraordinary degree.
How can this be? Well, certain companies may have a different style of
work, some may have a different idea of what you’re trying to do, some
will use subcontractors, and others will simply be trying to undercut
the competition. Be especially wary of this last category. You don’t
want to be taken in by a contractor that promises prices that seem too
good to be true. They probably are.
If you’re still in the early thinking stages of your home addition
project, there are several online sites that can help you calculate the
likely costs of what you’re trying to do. These online calculators can
give you a (very) rough estimate of what you might be likely to spend.
Be cautious when depending on these numbers, however. Keep the rule
mentioned above very much in mind: think liberally. If you get a price
quote, go ahead an add a couple of thousand dollars to it just so you
have a cushion. Maybe more than that, depending on how reliable your
early information is.
Finally, if you know anyone who has recently had a home addition
project, ask them how much they spent to have it done. Obviously, you’ll
have to have a particular relationship to the person to ask such a
question. Knowing what others are spending for similar projects can give
you an excellent idea of how much you need to budget for.
