I live in the DC area and I moved here from SoCal about 4years ago. I am in the process of a remodel (drawing and permit approval stage). The going price in this area for a remodel is anywhere from $180-$250/sq.ft. I disagree with marge727 on this. Many homes that I found in the area were built very poorly in terms of layout. Size was another issue, many homes were just too big but so poorly designed that you would drive yourself crazy trying to stay organized or even heat and cool these beasts. Living in the DC area, you will find a variety of homes from 100+ year old homes to new construction. I suggest you pick a great neighborhood and work with an architect. Sometimes, you think you need more space than is really necessary. My home is a ranch style house and has about 1700 sq.ft and my new addition will add 160sq.ft. The house is missing an entry way that is important for storage and transitions through the space. Good luck!

I'm in Essex Ct, NJ. So likely not a big difference in construction costs, etc. Last year we completed a gut reno of our existing 1400 sq feet and added another 1600sq ft (out and up) + 600 foot basement under the addition. Not including any landscaping/hardscaping but including architect fees, permits + everything else it was around $375k. From what I understand costs have gone up since then so maybe $400k+ now. An important consideration that I didn't see you bring up is what the house would be worth after the addition/renovation. That's an important consideration, and what drove our decision to go ahead with the project. As for "it's cheaper to tear down & rebuild" - well, that's not necessarily true. In our town there are huge fees for doing new builds, and a different set of requirements which also add to costs significantly. Plus no matter what you are constrained in size by zoning laws, setbacks, etc. So the resulting home is no bigger. Sure, it is going to have a better layout, and maybe that offsets the big increase in costs, but likely not.

If your plan was to have more bedrooms and baths in basement, I don’t see why that cannot be done on a second floor.. That is very common use for second floors, but of course I have also never seen a basement here (which are very common where I live) designed for “smelly things” as they usually include a family room or den, bedrooms, and a bath as well and are part of the overall living space. If you don’t need 3700 sq feet (that would be too much for me, too) then you definitely don’t need to build over entire second floor. An asymmetrical design can work aesthetically and functionally but you need to work with your architect to get it to look and feel purposeful and not like an “add on”. I do agree you are likely going to need to “start over” though - it does not mean you need to lose all the elements you like about current plan, just need to start over to properly integrate them.

Hi, @Anglophilia Thanks for your reply. It's not about the money. We're a military family stationed in CO and are on a travel ban for at least the next four weeks. Before closing, we visited the house several times. It's such a long story...knowing we were moving to the Fort Hood area, we started searching online and found the home. Our daughter viewed it for us. We went to TX, did a home inspection, and were aware of all issues before purchasing. The previous owners allowed farm animals to live in the property...goats, chickens, poo, and pee everywhere! The stench was unbearable, lots of damage and everything from the floor up to 4' needed gutting/replacing, plus a redesign of kitchen and baths. The house is a diamond in the rough, sits on 5 acres, close to our daughter and two grandkids, and priced well below market value. It is a dream home for us and really suits our lifestyle. We hope to decide on the floorplan while homebound in CO so that once we get to TX, we can move ahead with construction. @millworkman - spiral stairs can be a pain for sure! Yet not a dealbreaker for us. Whoever had this custom house built seemed thoughtful of that specific stair. Downstairs, there is a living room, an open space for dining and kitchenette, laundry, office, and a jack and jill bath with two separate toilets and sinks. For us empty nesters, it's a great floorplan. Our grandkids will have the lower level to themselves when they visit. There will be a washer and dryer added to the master bath, so no lugging laundry up and down those stairs! @Patricia Colwell Consulting, we have a construction loan in place, ready to go, and have allocated more than enough to cover the entire reno. My husband and I have years of experience working on houses with an understanding of expenses, so budgeted accordingly. We drove to TX for closing - right before the virus hit full force and impacted the U.S. We brought our tools with plans to stay a few weeks to demo, meet with contractors and an architect, yet got word of our post lockdown and had to get back to CO quickly, leaving many loose ends. Wanting to move things along and to help family, we've hired our son in law to demo what's definitely not staying and to meet with contractors. He's a muscular guy, is loving the work. Plus is surprising us with his quickness! I'm a home stager by trade @ANNARTHUR HOMES | Home Staging + Design, and we've reworked rooms before, yet adding a bath to this situation is a challenge, and we felt it'd be money well spent to hire an architect. He talked with us while visiting the property...went over our wishes and design ideas in great detail. We received the rough floorplan, and we're working on tweaking particulars with him. Meanwhile, my hope is another professional will see the floorplan and share ideas on how to best to work in a guest bath and redesign the kitchen layout. Thank you all. Very grateful for advice