Help - Newbie trying to learn how to estimate for rehab project for duplex

[Linda Tong]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for my first small MFH to house hack in. I came across a duplex listing in a good school district that is also within my budget. Unit 1 is currently 1B1B and unit 2 is 4B1B, but the listing agent said the 1st unit could be converted back to the original 2 bedroom making the 2nd unit a 3 bedroom if wanted/needed. I think that's exactly what I would want to do, but I'm clueless as to how much such a bedroom conversion project would cost. I'm in the greater boston area. Google search gives me these super wide ranges and mostly talking about adding a bedroom in a SFH, which I'm not sure if applicable to this situation of "moving/subtracting a bedroom from one unit and add it to another unit in a duplex".

I would appreciate any knowledge share, or tips and advice on where to gather information to properly estimate for such a project.