Remodel Cost - About right?

[Brad Moore]

I’m currently spending right at $39 a foot remodeling houses. One house I remodeled was 1,025 sq ft. Included all new paint, new cabinets, countertops, flooring, AC unit. Outside painted brick. Shutters. Windows. Blinds, vanities sinks toilets. All new everything but sheetrock and roof. Do y’all think $39 a foot is reasonable? Overspending?

I did another at 1,679 sq ft and it also came out at $39 a foot.

[J Scott]

There are a whole lot of factors that come into play when trying to determine what the per square foot cost of remodeling is, including:

- Specific Scope of Work

- Location

- Time of Year

- Level of Finishes

- Style of House

- Size of House (bigger houses have more "empty" square footage)

- Type of Contractors

- How You're Managing Contractors (GC, Subs, Project Manager, etc)

- Your Negotiating Ability

- Quality of Work

You and I could do a similar rehab, and you could spend $20/sf and I could spend $40/sf, and both prices could be reasonable.  Maybe you're using different finishes, maybe my house has an extra bathroom, maybe your house is bigger with more "empty" square footage, maybe you're hiring subs instead of a GC, maybe you're a great negotiator, maybe you are less sensitive to time and quality, etc.

All-in-all, I think $/sf is a horrible metric for trying to determine the right price for a rehab.