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If the housing market was better you might move to a bigger home, but it looks like remodeling your current home is the more practical approach. Thinking ahead to when you will sell the house, you want to insure that the money you invest today will provide a good return later.
Here is a summary of the top 13 projects (full report includes 30) offerings
paybacks of 75% or more when you sell your home. This data is based on
Remodeling Magazine's Cost vs Value Report 2007 for New England. The key messages worth highlighting:
- Exterior projects remain at the top to those projects that increase the value of your home and save energy costs. The focus
continues to be on upgrading windows and siding, which are the biggest sources of heat loss in most homes.
- Deck
projects (wood and composites) made the top 12 this year, as they provide outside living space, without the costs
associated with additions, i.e. excavation, foundations and roofs.
- Interior
projects focus on kitchens and bathrooms which have a great deal of influence on the marketability of your home. New this year is the
attic bedroom remodel, which provides room to grow within your existing home's footprint, at a more affordable price than last year's two-story
addition.
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My Handyman has the expertise to help you with many of
these projects and where a specialty contractor is more practical,
we'll provide you with referrals to members of the NH Home Builder and
Remodelers Association p4 4 Walls 1 Roof, a network of women owned
businesses and professionals providing products and services for the
home.
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Siding Replacement (Midrange)
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$9,990 |
$9,156 |
91.7% |
Siding Replacement - Fiber Cement
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$13,310 |
$11,517 |
86.5% |
Minor Kitchen Remodel (Midrange)
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$21,516 |
$18,507 |
86.0% |
Deck Addition - Wood
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$10,634
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$8,977 |
85.4% |
Siding Replacement - Foam Backed Vinyl
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$12,182 |
$10,328 |
84.4% |
Window Replacmeent - Vinyl (Upscale)
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$13,913 |
$11,470 |
82.4% |
Window Replacement - Vinyl (Midrange)
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$10,702 |
$8,698 |
81.3% |
Window Replacement - Wood (Midrange)
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$11,697 |
$9,514 |
81.3% |
Major Kitchen Remodel
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$56,438 |
$43,848 |
77.7% |
Deck Addition - Composite
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$15,224 |
$11,833 |
77.7% |
Attic Bedroom Remodel
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$48,982 |
$37,584 |
76.7% |
Major Kitchen Remodel (Upscale)
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$110,450 |
$84,689 |
76.7% |
Bathroom Remodel
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$16,302 |
$12,197 |
74.8% |
Note: The table shown in this table comes from Remodeling Magzine's Cost vs Value Report.
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Home owners don't always put new siding on their homes because they want to. My Handyman frequently goes out to repair a small water problem, which turns out to be much bigger. The customer then needs to decide if they want to replace the siding on their entire home (with a siding contractor) or stagger the cost across multiple years. My Handyman can handle repair of all structural damage, replace the siding as needed and install gutters, missing flashing over windows and doors, etc to provide a water tight envelope. Typical symptoms of serious water damage hiding under a home's siding are:
- Difficulty opening/closing doors to decks often means hidden water damage, often due to decks not being properly attached to the house (see sliding glass door below left)
- Spongy wood found when doing touch-up painting often found where doors, windows or trim surrounding them were not flashed properly to keep water from getting behind the siding (see below center)
- Black spots on siding coming through from water damage behind the siding is seen frequently with the old masonite (google "masonite siding" to learn about class action settilements) type of siding (see below right).
Water damage should NOT be deferred. The load bearing wall under the sliding door below was almost totally gone after 20 years of ongoing water damage. The window on the right had similar structural problems. To learn more about water damage and the steps involved in their repairs ...
Read Solving Common Water Damage Problems
Tina
Gleisner, President of My Handyman of Southern NH, publishes Handyman
News and writes articles that address customer problems. Copyright ©
2008 iContractor Solutions Inc.
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