If you're concerned about $100 a square foot to remodel, then don't even think of building new, because my guess is it would be more.

Maybe a better choice is to go up rather than out? Can you effectively add two bedrooms and a bonus room above and leverage the extra space on the main floor for your laundry/mudroom/master?

Can you post the existing floor plan? Moving the stairs and garage seem like unnecessary expenses.

Where are you located? I'm sorry, but $100/SF sounds cheap to me. Perhaps OK for the "inexpensive" bedroom addition, but bathrooms, laundries (and kitchens) are some of the most expensive spaces due to the supply and waste plumbing, plus fixtures, tile, etc.

Have you talked with some builders to get their ball park cost for your ideas?

Folks talking about adding a second story or a basement have no idea of the time and expense involved when these (and the necessary stairs) are connected to a remodel of an existing house.

Good luck with your project!

Yes - the $100/sq foot for the remodel isn't realistic, I don't think. I do think you are going to run out of room - so the space will be needed - and it looks like the architect was trying to be "frugal" but just adding out and not moving anything - but not sure you are getting the layout you need with this plan, either, but it's hard to tell without real before / afters and the right rooms labeled.

I think it's time to put together a list of wants and needs, costs / expenses, staying vs going to your property and building.

Do get some real estimates - I wouldn't be surprised if the remodel didn't come out at 2x that estimate - and then can you even stay there while it's being done?

Time to move.

Thanks everyone, I like to hear everyones opinion because it's making me realize its probably not the smartest decision.

Just to clarify $100 a sq ft is not the cost of the addition (I agree, that would be really inexpensive), its the cost of the remodel too. Its just an average, the addition will probably be more like $140 and the remodel more like $80. So my house is in really good shape, I like how it looks, I am good with the flooring, fixtures. ETC. But it will all need to be redone to flow better. So I have already paid for that sq footage when I bought the house. A tear down is not an option, I would cry that I wasted all the money. However, we did consider moving the house to the acre we own that sits next to us to rent or sell and starting fresh where we are (better views etc).

Average cost to build new in my town for custom, wood floors, good windows, custom cabinetry etc is $130-$140. Basically if I paid for this addition (to get another bedroom, ML Laundry. For a 1700 sq ft home, I'd have over 300,000 into it. It comes out to $189 per sq ft into the house. I could never ever sell it for that, so we'd have to plan on staying here forever. I could build new, how I wanted it for $135 a sq ft. So I could essentially have the same sq footage the way I want it for 229,500 plus the cost of land. It still makes sense financially to build new, but my husband really wants to stay here. So we are looking at different options to make this work.

My goal was to try to do all of this without financing any more than $100,000 because I hate interest with a passion. Biggest waste of money in my opinion, I'd much rather use that money for travel. Luckily with the equity we have in our home we can meet that goal by building new and the equity we have in our building lot, we can make that happen over here too. But I don't want to waste money, so it just seems like a lot with what started out as adding a bedroom.

As far as the existing plans, If you look at the attachment, the existing home is grey inside the dotted lines. Its a small brick rectangle ranch with side gables. It couldn't be more simple. The bathroom and front door remain, all the other rooms are basically just walls coming down to open it up. The stairs are currently in the hallway shown between the master and the bedroom. So it doesn't make sense to keep them there since they are in the middle of the house. They basically cut the home in half. They currently separate our kitchen from a bedroom.

Ahh, I needed to hear this from you all. I think you are prob right were it will end up costing much more than $100 p sq ft in the end and then we just wasted a bunch of money on space that really wasn't 100% necessary. The other option I considered is to take our cistern that is under the existing garage (25X13.5) and making two bedrooms out of it in the basement and add nice windows or a walkout to the side. Then we can just rearrange the main floor to have a nice flow and not add on.

Or we could just have fun with it and make that an indoor swimming pool! We would just need to line it and add a cleaning system! Who needs extra bedrooms when you could have a swimming pool right?

One more question while we are at it. A couple of you mentioned to get a few estimates from builders. What is the etiquette on that? On a different forum people were saying you should in no way waste their time without plans drawn to spec how you want them. This is why this is so hard for me. I am getting a ball park from the architect and I have no idea how accurate that is. I don't want to continue to pay for him to work on them if we aren't going to move forward, but I cant get estimates because I don't have final plans.

$130-140/sf for custom new build is bananas--building new seems like a no duh. In our area in 2013 we were quoted approx $100 to remodel and $250 for custom build.

Those children are going to get bigger and need more space, and travel will be more limited the older they get with school/activities etc. You need more room, one way or another. Interest on a mortgage is not a bad things - rates are VERY low and it is tax deductible. Get a 15 yr fixed rate mortgage and get what you need.

There is nothing wrong with mortgage debt, especially at some of the lowest rates they've ever been. Just if you decide to build or move, do it soon. As Anglophilia mentioned, little is only a short time and then the toys, and needs increase. Those kids will need more closet space, space to do homework, space for friends, etc.

I would move or build. Your needs are just too much for the current house.

More importantly you have three young children. Where will you all live when you're renovating the house because there will be no way you can live in it with walls coming down, nor would you want to subject your children to the dust, etc.

CP brings up an important point. Where to live if you go the renovation route. If you have family with room in the area, you could make that work for a period of time... BUT - you have no guarantee that you can be ready to move back as soon as the contractors think. (I was told I could move in last December. It's August, now....)

Any architect who tells you $100 a square for anything is either designing a garage, or is stuck in 1990. That's fantasy.

The plans are very very rough. First draft just to get an idea of layout, he even said we would probably move the Washer/dryer, toilet, sinks etc to fit our needs. It just to get an idea of how we could lay it out before he added all the details and to get an estimated price so we can make a decision. I agree with all of you, its not functional and it needs to be changed. We tried to maximize the views on the West side of the house with the living, dining, kitchen areas. We don't have a lot of stuff either. we do not need wall space. All we need is a bed and a closet, we have capsule wardrobes, we don't do TV, we don't need excess furniture. We spend our time outdoors, gardening and as a family. So we need a very functional mudroom that can be our catch all, be our winter potting room, house all of our summer produce so its not spread out in the kitchen, and be a place for homework. I'd say we are very different than many people who want to make sure they have space for all of their furniture and plenty of wall space for shelving and trinkets and curio cabinets etc. Thats just not us, to me that is just noise that stresses me out. I am hoping for an opinion from other minimalist minded people who can tell me that that A )this is too much space and we can do with less or B) that can help with layout).

You all have talked me into just starting fresh with a new home. Even our architect recommended that. It becomes a problem when you can't get your husband on board. So if I can't, I need to rework this thing to the best of my abilities to make it work for us. I already mentioned to him that I am not interested in spending this much money on getting something that is not functional. I'd rather just keep it the way it is in that case.

In my area, I do not think that $140 a sq ft is unreasonable. This is my neighbors house that just went up this summer. They ended up at $140 per the contractor and I would keep it more simple with roof pitches etc.

Is your husband home all day with the kids? Are you? If you are and he's not, then he needs to come around to the idea that you need to have enough space to raise those kids where they're not jammed in. If he's the one home all day with the kids, then yes, let him keep the house as is.

Honestly, it sounds like with this house you're trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear vs making sewing the purse from scratch.

Even though you're a minimalist, there are still things I'm sure you want. A good kitchen where you can do all your cooking, canning etc and eventually teach the kids how to cook too. Your potting/mudroom area. Enough bathrooms for a family of 5. A large enough laundry for all the clothes that need to be washed.

And I'm sure you want the materials for the house to be easy to care for and updated. An new home will give you more energy efficiency, and be cleaner overall. Also you say right now in your current house the best views are to the west. However for energy efficiency and passive solar heating/cooling, west facing is the worst orientation for windows.

I recognize the neighbor's house you posted from the builder's site. You are likely in the same county as me or just to the south. We talked to this builder a few years ago before deciding to buy existing. The price per sq. ft. is in the ballpark of what we found. Rather than build, we bought existing with plans to remodel. We are nearing the end of an entire house remodel (opening walls, new kitchen, flooring, staircase). We didn't add any square footage so our numbers would likely be very different than yours. To help minimize the disruptions, we rented a temporary house and moved out. I couldn't imagine living in the house with workers in and out, the mess, kids, pets, and all the delays. We really like our location, property, and some of the extras that a new house wouldn't have. On the flip side, we don't have brand new everything or the energy efficiency a new house would have. Only you know if the numbers would work but I would definitely take a hard look at building before committing to such a large remodel in this area.

Wow done_again_2, thats crazy! Its a small world we live in isn't it? I wanted to post that because it shows the diversity between different living areas and cost of construction. Our are $130-140 is pretty standard I believe. Are you happy with the decision you made to add on rather than start new? I guess you wont really know until you are in there for a while and get to experience it. People always say, location location location!

It is a small world. The houses I've seen at that price are not "minimalist" either. Most have complex rooflines/foundations, a lot of moldings, tray ceilings, arches, decorative kitchens, and so on. For the area, they are on the higher end.

We are happy with our decision since we like the feel of a more established area with mature trees, landscaping, privacy, and character.

Honestly - it sounds like a simple farmhouse with a good kitchen, mudroom, laundry and living is what you need. Along with GREAT connections to the outdoors and some small simple beds and baths. I think you could do so much with that if you built NEW - and it would be new. Aside from any weird soil conditions, most of it would be a known entity (read: predictable cost!) instead of a remodel where Lord only knows what you'll find.

I'd look for some simple farmhouse plans, and then customize. I think this could be fabulous.

Clearing your lot and removing standing water, etc should cut down on the mosquitos.

Hey All, I think we have made the decision to build new. We appreciate all of your input!

I'm so glad to hear you'll be building.

Maybe you can find a different lot to build on rather than the one you already own which is too wooded for your husband and has mosquitos?

Do avoid all those roof lines! When you need a new roof one day, it will cost you a fortune. Keep your roof lines very simple.