Which floorpan to pick for remodeling?

[Vipin S.]

Hello,

I currently have a 3 bedroom, 2 full bath and an attached 2 car garage single story home in the city of Santa Clara, CA.

I am planning to remodel my home and convert to 5 beds, 4 full baths by adding a new master suite in the backyard and converting the 2 car garage into another master suite (JADU). I have checked with the city about JADU related parking requirements, so that is not a concern. 

I worked with a designer/architect to come up with two ways of accomplish the goal. I have attached three files - Plan1, Plan2 and Existing Plan.

Plan 1

This plan re-arranges the existing hall-way to provide access to the new master suite in the backyard. 

Plan 2

This plan keeps the same hall-way but creates an entry way through an existing bedroom which we use purely as an office room. The advantage of this plan is that it doesn't touch insides of the existing structure at all (and hence comes with cost benefits). However, access to the new master suite is done through the office room which is perfectly fine for our lifestyle. 

The question I have is this - 

I have checked with contractors for ballpark estimates. Plan 1 is about $420,000 to $540,000 and Plan 2 is about $280,000-$350,000. So Plan 1 is about $160,000 more expensive on the midpoint of these ranges. 

I am trying to evaluate if $160,000 is a good investment? Some aspects I am considering are:

- Plan 1 provides complete privacy for all 5 bedrooms while Plan 2 has entryway into new master suite from the office suite. This is fine for our use case, but we are not sure of the market value from the perspective of other buyers. 

- Plan 2 allows us to stay in the house while construction proceeds, Plan 1 we will have to move out for up to a year.

- Plan 2 is $160,000 cheaper. 

- Plan 1 overall looks like a better plan

What plan would you prefer assuming we end up staying in the house for the long term and only think about selling much later on.

I appreciate all your inputs!
Thanks,

Vipin