Estimating renovation costs BEFORE buying a place

Post date: 2021-05-11 09:11:59

Is there a decent online tool that can help me figure out the ballpark costs of various standard renovations before buying a house? Assume I won't have time to bring a general contractor in.

I'm currently house-hunting, first-time homebuyer, in Seattle, WA. As you may know, the market is RIDICULOUS right now, and my best bet seems to be buying a place that is structurally sound but needs some updates. I'd like to have a sense of how much I could expect to pay, so I can take it into account when I decide if I can afford the house, or how much I should offer for it.

I've heard about people bringing in contractors before making an offer to get an estimate, and I can try to do that, but this market is so heated, I can't really count on being able to do that.

Two examples in houses I recently considered putting bids in for:

- Old, stinky carpeting I'd want to rip up and replace with flooring.
- Basic kitchen remodel to replace appliances but also possibly add things that would require water lines (like a dishwasher/fridge with an icemaker). But then I figure, while I'm doing that, I might as well replace or at least repaint the old cabinets, or re-do the layout of the kitchen so it flows better.

Those are just two examples - I've had other scenarios I've tried to figure out, like the cost to add a wall or install a minisplit.

I can price out the purchases (appliances) and materials (new flooring) but I don't really know how to get a sense of what the whole project would cost without bringing in a contractor for an estimate. Of course I can't get an exact number but even knowing things like "is this going to be in the $5,000-10,000 range or the $20-30,000 range?" would be really helpful.

Is there any sort of tool that would help with this? Or a good online community to ask these kinds of questions?

Please click Here to read the full story.