Planning to remodel your home in the New Year? Here’s a great free resource to help you get started: the Cost vs. Value Report.

Published annually by Remodeling Magazine, this report compares the average cost for common remodeling projects in the US with the resale value they add to homes.

The Cost vs. Value report for 2016 and the Cost vs. Value Report for 2017 are both available online.

 

 

Why Explore the Report?

If you want to remodel, we highly recommend exploring the Cost vs. Value Report for three reasons:

1. It will show you what’s realistic for your region and help you to clarify your own budget.

2. It will empower you to decide which projects will add the most value to your home and protect your investment.

3. Most importantly, it will give you relevant regional price data from impartial sources, so that you can prepare to discuss your budget with your contractor of choice.

Let’s discuss each of these points.

Setting a Realistic Remodeling Budget

First, the Cost vs. Value report shows you what’s realistic within your budget and your renovation timeline. This is important, because sources such as reality TV shows are misleading when it comes to cost.

Often these shows don’t factor in the cost of design services, manual labor, and even basic materials in the budgets they display.

Plus, labor and material costs vary significantly by geographic area, so what’s happening on screen may not be realistic for your region.

Enjoy the shows, but remember that the pricing they present is unrealistic if you don’t have a TV station sponsoring your renovation!

Add Value to Your Home

Next, the Cost vs. Value Report reminds you that home remodels are an investment.

Getting a kitchen remodel is not like buying dinner or getting a facial; it’s not a luxury item that you enjoy once and then it stops working for you. On the contrary, renovations done right can increase the value of your home.

Regular renovations are a necessity of maintaining and updating your home. They’re part of your responsibility as a homeowner.

Remember that your home is an investment, and it deserves to be treated as such. Take good care of it, both so that you can enjoy it right now and so as to facilitate a high resale value.

Free, Relevant Renovation Data

Finally, the Cost vs. Value Report allows you to obtain free, relevant renovation data that will help you when it’s time to start your project. You’ll go into your contractor meetings having done your research.

For example, if you want to renovate two full bathrooms and a kitchen in your part of the country, you’ll have a sense for what that project will look like in terms of total costs, including labor, materials and project management.

Designing to the Budget, Not the Other Way Around

The costs presented in the Cost vs. Value Report represent averages. The actual costs of renovating will always depend on the design decisions and material selections.

If all this seems overwhelming, don’t worry. Our Design services are structured to guide you through every step of the process. We work together with you to ensure that every design decision will make you happy stylistically and functionally, and also fit into your overall budget.

Designing to your budget in this way is revolutionary in the renovation industry. People think they’re supposed to meet with a bunch of contractors and then go with the lowest price … but how can those contractors give you an accurate price if you haven’t made any design decisions yet?

When you haven’t defined exactly what you want for your home, shopping by price point alone doesn’t make sense. Many contractor estimates are guesswork, low-balled to make you say yes.

But in the end, contractors who make low-ball offers have to undercut themselves, do a shoddy job, or charge you extra to make up for the difference.

Design and Build for Your Future

At Houseplay, we come at it from a different angle. At our very first client meeting, we provide a realistic budget range for the scope of work you describe.

Then, at end of the Design phase, we give you a firm price based on the decisions that you made and the materials that you chose. Then we build it and make your home a place you love living in!

It’s a full “from concept to completion” strategy, and it’s working: we’re celebrating 10 years in business in 2017.

Furthermore, as our business has grown our focus has shifted to comprehensive design and build projects. We now work exclusively on full home remodels and full apartment remodels.

Interested in working together? Call (646) 243-5765 or email us today!