Complete remodel with addition or build new?

7 years ago

Central North West Iowa- bought this acreage. No ties to the house except that it’s nice and big! Would need a wrap around porch and complete remodel with addition- I’ve heard from several friends (who may not be so accurate in their book keeping) that their houses were $200/sq fit to $113-sq foot for relatively similar homes. We want to make the smartest decision!

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littlebug zone 5 Missouri

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

I’m Iowa-born-and-raised, and I loved seeing this house. I lived in one very similar near Mason City when I was a kid.

What’s the foundation like? And wiring and HVAC? It’s almost always cheaper to build completely new, but I could understand wanting to save this old beauty. (And I’d tear off that add-on at the back and build one more appropriate for the home.)

I’m imagining what it used to look like in the good old days. Probably a big old barn, a machine shed or two, a chicken house, maybe a smokehouse. All gone now. It probably was a fine farmstead in its day.

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Comments (18)

millworkman
7 years ago
Remodels typically are considerably more dollar wose per sq ft than new construction. That being said dollars per sq ft realistically mean absolutely nothing. From what I have read and been told, figure what the house should have sold for (this assumes you got a smoking deal) and figure 1.5 to 2 times the value for a full remodel. Of course this is really only a guess as no one knows the type of finish you are going to spec.
cpartist
7 years ago
From the outside that's a nice looking four square. What does the inside look like? Any original woodwork?
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I used Building-Cost-Net which I found online to get a estimate for the house we are building. The program is fairly detailed and takes some thought and time to get through the questions. For example, it will ask you want type of exterior siding you plan to use and where your home will be located. Because the location, rural, city, etc. can make a difference to the overall cost to build. Another idea is to google price per square foot in your area. That also gave me a very good idea of what we would be paying to build our house. Having these estimates in hand did help us when we started meeting with builders. The builder we chose brought in an architect who worked with us to modify the plans to include our 'must have's and to improve the layout of a few areas; we needed to add two bedrooms to the main floor. We met with both the builder and the architect for a couple of hours the first time. During the first meeting the architect asked us a lot of questions about our likes, dislikes, family and lifestyle. During the second meeting he came with his changes. I'm not sure that anyone who doesn't have this information could help make changes to a floor plan. In my opinion hiring the architect was very important step and worth the extra time and expense. We originally felt the plan didn't need much tweaking, other than the addition of the bedrooms, but the architect came up with a layout that fit our lifestyle and family much better. We have a big family, by modifying the layout slightly, he was able to make the pantry, mudroom and laundry room bigger. And he did all this without taking away from the things we loved about the plan; open living area which flow well into the outdoor areas. He was also able to eliminate things that weren't important to us, such as a large built-in bathtub and a second, large closet in the master, which will save us money. The original designer may offer this as a service or may allow you to take the plans to a local architect. I personally liked using the local architect better. He went out to our land and was able to suggest how he thought the house should sit to take advantage of the best views and get the most sun in the winter. This was different than the original way we or the builder thought the house should sit.
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As an interior designer, my first thought is you should have someone look at it with you: an architect, an interior architect, designer...not a decorator, not a contractor...and see what a professional thinks about a remodel. A typical 60's house has some qualities that are lacking in new homes and quite often can be "gutted" and rebuilt like new. So my answer is it might be possible to do something between tearing it down and just fixing up the problems. While many choose to live "large," I find that most families use 1/4 of these homes and are faced with exorbitant prices to furnish and never complete these cavernous spaces. They are cheaply made and expensive to fix. If you want to provide some photos, perhaps some of us can help steer you in a direction. I personally just bought a little 70's house after living in a 100 yr. old sprawling farmhouse for almost 20 years and I am loving my modern split level. I may eventually add a small addition but I am making it Scandinavian in feel and super energy efficient so that I can design and enjoy every square inch.
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To obtain all of those wants you will need more than one room plus some time in the future your little ones may want to have rooms of their own. With 5 acres if you should have room to build another house then when it is built either tear down the old one or use it as office and guest quarters. The builders in your area may be open to connecting via a wide hallway to a new building vs simply taking out a wall and expanding the existing building. A neighbor's house has something similar connecting what was to be a garage that used to be filled with plants during the winter and in the summer it was where they sat.
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Usually these glass boxes are full of "expensive tricks", if you watch the shows where this sort of renovation is done regularly (usually UK). While these builds don't always have huge budgets, things like steel and concrete structure and large direct set windows seem to be much more accessible in the residential market than they do here. If you were doing a glass box by itself I think you could kind of set the bar for "finish" at a certain height and then be consistent througout the build. But I think the proposal of taking a 200 year old timber frame and renovating that, and then connecting it to a glass box requires a lot of finesse to be successful. I think the high contrast raises the bar as to what each structure is, character wise on the interior. Ideally there would be a certain amount of preservation on the interior of the 1800 structure for contrast to the modern structure. And that alone could take most of the $300K. If the budget just turns the 1800 house to a generic drywall box that could be any new suburban transitional house on the interior, I am not certain I see the point of starting out with the 1800 structure to begin with. I live in an area with a lot of pre Victorian and early Victorian structures (Georgian/Federal/Greek Revival/Classical) and a lot of them still get renovated by gutting the interior and turning it into something that looks brand new and generic. It's done here because people want the location, mostly and it's much cheaper to just go generic with the interior. But then it's no longer an old house as far as I am concerned. I am assuming that your concept is really about the contrast between old and new, and I like that. But if it's only on the exterior I am not sure I see the point. Glass box contrasted with an 1800 interior is one thing, Glass box contrasted with c. 2000 suburban is another. I still don't think your budget is large enough to execute what I think you want.
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Jacque Renze
Original Author
7 years ago
Basement is good. $15k to open up basement and put in beam. Otherwise wood floors in second story are there. Not sure about main floor hardwood. Trim is there but kinda rough on main floor. If you go to realtor.com zip code 51450
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I love to renovate and bring life back into old houses but honestly it is a labour of love not money. Maybe try to sell this one and have it moved so someone else can enjoy. IMO if you mostly love the house and where it is and you can live in it while you do the work get some quotes in your area.Where I live a new build is $ 200 /sq ft for a pretty average home.
Jacque Renze
Original Author
7 years ago
We’re planning on updating all hvac, plumbing and electrical. Would tear off both pitches and garage shanty. Add on main floor bedroom/ laundry. Breezeway to hidden garage. Basement is good. $15-20k estimate to repair basement where needed, put in egress window and open up the basement for possibly finishing later.
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PRO
Virgil Carter Fine Art
7 years ago
No one here can give you any cost figures. Why? Because no one here knows the actual condition of the house and all its components.

In general, old houses need lots more upgrading than first recognized or estimated. Why? Because there's lots of problems and deterioriation not visible on the surface. In the trade these are called "Ooops"! Ooops, we just opened up a wall...and found termites...that the floor sill plate is rotted out and the studs aren't connected...the HVAC system doesn't work...the electrical service is all knob and tube with aluminum wiring...the foundation is cracked and crumbling...yada yada.

Demolition and building new makes the work much more likely to be estimated correctly and completely.

Good luck on your decisions!
ladygibbs
7 years ago
I am in the tail end of a full remodel and addition to an old farmhouse. It is definitely a labor of love. (hate?) We have spent more than double on remodeling than we paid for the house. We could have built a new house for cheaper...

Just depends what you want. We did it to save on taxes and because we could do most of the work ourselves. That said, I think I would prefer to live in a new house. Old ones come with a lot of character... and problems/quirks. Ours will be beautiful when it is done, and I'm glad we saved it. But yikes it is a lot of work.
amiebeth01
7 years ago
Also born and raised in small town Iowa (about as far NW in Iowa as you can get) and this house reminds me of “home” :-).

I no longer live there, and haven’t for some time, so I can’t comment on cost. I will say that I have 2 different family members who owned farms with houses similar to this, and they both eventually sold the houses separately, moving them off the farm(s) and into town, and built new. They are both pretty frugal and sensible when it comes to spending money, so this tells me that building new is what made the most sense financially.
User
7 years ago
Is this a cold money decision? Or are there other factors that come into play? Money will say new will win. Money being only one factor will have tossup results.

Do you love the land, and the house is just a convenience in that it’s already built? If you had your choice of building site, would that be it? Or is there a better location with a better view or road access or more screening from neighbors?

Do you love the house? Do you care if it cists you double to have it remodeled rather than building new? Are you a purist who would want to do more restoration than remuddle?
Jacque Renze
Original Author
7 years ago
Thanks all! I think we’ve come to conclusion to build. We just purchased this acreage off foreclosure. The house is there, I love big square houses but would need to totally remodel and add on. Another person in the area did the same and tried telling us he saved $80-100k. Our initial plans were to build, but then when we heard this $$$ we thought we should ask around more! No ties to the house except the wood floors would refinishing gorgeously. But I can use those in the new house if I saved them!
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cpartist
7 years ago
I wasn't talking about wood floor details but molding details and any original built ins that some of those old homes have.
Jacque Renze
Original Author
7 years ago
@cpartist none really. The crown mounding in some rooms is not in good shape- has been repainted and would take more work to bring back than its worth. We definitely aren’t purists, we’d remodel to all new except floors.
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PRO
Summit Studio Architects
7 years ago
If you build new you will have a sturdier, safer, and much more energy efficient home.
trifecta264
7 years ago
I cannot imagine always having to work around something that is existing in the house at every turn. And anything not new looks like it. And lead paint, termite damage, rooms of the wrong size for today's needs, insulation, inefficient windows, etc. With new you can make everything just how you want it!! So I guess I'd go for new!
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Bri Bosh
7 years ago
Our family is renovating our 1800s farmhouse in southern MN. We are also trying to save a barn so it’s a money suck but we also aren’t trying to renovate it as a full tile residence... it will be for family vacations so it’s ok that the kitchen layout is clunky, there’s only one bathroom, and things are creaky! But if I didn’t have an emotional attachment, yes... I would probably build new.
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cpartist
7 years ago
I cannot imagine always having to work around something that is existing in the house at every turn. And anything not new looks like it. And lead paint, termite damage, rooms of the wrong size for today's needs, insulation, inefficient windows, etc. With new you can make everything just how you want it!! So I guess I'd go for new!

And that's why you shouldn't own an old home. You obviously don't understand the pull of an old home.

To the OP, if there's nothing redeeming with the house, then I don't see a reason to keep it. I agree it would probably be better to build new.
Jacque Renze
Original Author
7 years ago
Nothing redeeming except the floors are gorgeous and it’s a big house. But honestly it was built pretty close to the highway and that always kind of bothered us. Which is why we talked about moving the front door. But nothing special inside of here besides that it was solid. New roof and windows- but we were going to replace them anyway so it matched new addition. Will be better to set the house where we want it! Thanks everyone!

Complete remodel with addition or build new?

littlebug zone 5 Missouri

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millworkman

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Complete remodel with addition or build new?

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