I’m trying to assess if this is worth it before talking to contractors. I’ve done a lot of DIY remodels and hired out some but never anything of this magnitude. I want to build an addition on top of the garage and connect to the rest of the 2nd floor. Here’s some assumptions I have.

-The slab foundation appears to have same construction as the rest of the house. Let’s assume the footings are good for a second floor

-The joists and walls in the garage do not appear to be structured for a second floor. Will need to reinforce garage walls and add joists.

-This project would coincide with an already planned new roof and HVAC upgrade. So HVAC could be sized for the new square footage

Houses are going for about $275 square foot in our area. This will add about 250 square feet to the house. So if this could be done for $60k or less I won’t lose equity.

  1. Any success or horror stories with this sort of thing?
  2. Any one tackle something like this as your own GC?
  • mookulator
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    31 year ago

    I recently added a bedroom and did some research about cost vs home value added. I think the general takeaway is you probably only get like 80% ROI (or if you spend 100k, it’ll add 80k to your home value.

    So the big question is: how much personal value will you get from this room in the meantime? Does it make up that 20%?

    • LumberjackedOP
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      11 year ago

      More than likely. Because it means I’m not moving. I’d pay 20k in realtor fee easily. But my questions were less about the value and more about the experience. Did you do any of it yourself or use a GC?

      • mookulator
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        11 year ago

        Got it. I used a GC. There was structural/foundation stuff involved and I didn’t want to fuck that up!

        • LumberjackedOP
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          11 year ago

          Gotcha. I’m thinking I might be able to get a GC to do the outside and white box on the inside. I can finish it from there.