Adding on to your home?

[ckret01]

We are looking to buy a house. the one we are looking at is a raised ranch. It is on the smaller side but it's what we can afford. Right now it would be great for us but in the furture we thought about adding on to the house or putting an addition on. I know every situation is different and contractor is different but if you had experience with adding on to your home I would love to hear about it or what the approximate cost was. Just trying to get an idea as I am clueless to all this

 

[Pooh Crew]

duplicated post

 

[Pooh Crew]

First of all, your yorkie is ADORABLE!

Now, on to your question. We added on to our former home and I swore that I would never, ever, ever do it again. It was a horrible, terrible, awful experience. The contractor that we used had all sorts of problems that we knew nothing about (filed bankruptcy under a different name, gave us false references, etc.) and was a total and complete jerk once he got the bulk of his money. He started work before the loan was approved (which is a big problem to the bank), he would tell me something was to be done on a specific day and then no one would show up for a week or more, two electricians showed up drunk, one painter showed up with a woman who tried to get me to help her because she claimed to be a sex slave (no exaggeration!), one worker peed in the corner of one of the rooms they were adding on, and the list just goes on and on and on.

Double what ever time table they give you for project completion. Call the city inspectors for references. Call and visit several job sites for references. I will never again have a any kind of renovation done on a house that I have to live in. Nope. Not worth the trouble.

 

[goofy's friends]

As I type this, there are men walking in and out of my house that is covered in dust. ARG! We aren't done with the experience, but it isn't that bad really. We are contracting it out ourselves, which has saved us money and so far guaranteed that the people we use are trustworthy and accountable. It took lots of phone calls at first on my part, but other than that not a lot of extra work. Everyone of them has been recommended by someone who has used them before. We got 3 estimates for each job to be done and we have been pleased with the results so far. Everything has been more expensive than we thought and more than our budget, but isn't that true of about everything!! Now, wouldn't it have been better to do it when we first built? Yes, but we couldn't afford it and didn't need it--now we do!! We are +3 kids

 

[Chicago526]

Not everyone has the trouble Pooh Crew had, although her experiance is a cautionary tale, to be sure.

I lived at home with my parents when they did a big addition on the house we lived in at the time. Picture a ranch home the shape of a rectangle, the long sides are the front and back. They added two rooms off the back of the house to form a "U" shape, and put a deck in between the two additions. One of the new rooms was a master bedroom and bath, the other room was an extention of the existing family room and a new sun room/three season room.

We litteraly had the back of the house ripped open for about a month while they did the work. It was messy, loud, and really inconvienant. Couldn't run the A/C with the back of the house all open, so if it got hot, tough luck.

That said, the project went off without a hitch, our contractor was great and the quality of the work was top notch. Since it was my parents house, I have no idea what they paid, but it was a lot. If I had to take a stab at it, it was around $50,000. That included all the demolition, the two new room additions (plus carpet/paint) a new master bath (with all the fixin's) and a renovated kitchen. This was in 1995.

 

[Auggiedaugie]

Hi ckret01!

We have added onto two different homes. Yes, it is an extremely stressful time but I feel it is well worth it in the end. On the first home we remodeled a bathroom and added a bathroom. It was tricky because we had to finish one before we could start the other since there was only one bathroom in the house. For this job we interviewed several people we found in the phone book, checked references and then picked one. The guy was OK, did what he was supposed to and we were happy with the results. This job was somewhere between 20-30k and took about 2 months to complete.

The second home addition we just completed. We have put an over 600sf addition onto the house for my parents. It contains a bedroom, living room, bathroom, walk in closet and deck. This time we went with a guy who did two additions onto my sisters' house and seems everyone in town uses him. He'd be here a few days, do a ton of work, and then we wouldn't see him for a week. We knew this going into the whole thing. And of course, near the end of the job it seemed his visits got further and further apart.... he needed to be hounded every day. But when all is said and done it is fabulous! I love it, my parents love showing it off, and as I said before, definitely worth it. This job was between 60-70k and took about 6 months to complete.

My advice is, when you are ready, ask friends, neighbors, relatives for references, check out the contractor’s references, and be prepared to spend 10-20% MORE in money and time than quoted. Most importantly if you don't feel comfortable with the person, even if their work is great, he may not be the guy for you. You need to be able to communicate with him effectively and be comfortable with him in your home. These people sometimes become part of your lives, especially when they are around for 3-10 months.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do!