Gutting a home and estimating the cost.

[John Taylor]

I am thinking about buying a condemned house in western Virginia. The home was built in 1898 and is 1456 sq ft. The cost of the home is $20K. I have had a contractor inspect the property and he said that it is structurally sound but will need to be gutted down to the studs. I estimate that the after repair value is $175,000. I am not sure at this point if I will flip it or live in it and want to make sure that when all is said and done that I am in a position to sell it and move on if I decide to do so. I have some experience with the costs associated with a remodel but not a total gut job. I will be using my own money for all work and no financing will be used.

My question is, is their an average square foot cost for doing a complete gut job that I can use as a rough guide? Are their any resources or links that anyone can provide on this subject? Thanks in advance for any help that you can provide.

[Will Barnard]

I am an investor/developer and a contractor and I can say that this $20 per SF number for full gut is not close to accurate and must be a typo. Nobody in any state can do a full gut rehab for $20 per SF.

I am closing on a single family home (elevated foundation) built in the 50's and it is a full gut plus roof, termite tenting, and the whole works. The only thing I can keep is most of the windows. My budget (my cost as a contractor, yours would be higher) here in SO Cal (which is obviously a more costly market) is $110k. The home is only 1300sf so that comes to ~ $85 per SF. It would easily be $140k if I was doing this for a client (or ~ $108 per SF).