Price for Squ/Ft Pricing Help?

Question

Hey all, I’m looking for a single house that needs renovations in order to convert this into a PadSplit opportunity. With this being my first rehab I wanted to ask y’all what I could expect to pay per sq/ft  on a property depending on the level of renovation needed on single family house.

I have broken down the categories into Heavy, Intermediate, and Light rehabs.

Heavy:

• •Systems Replacement: Complete overhaul of electrical, plumbing, HVAC systems.
• •Full Interior Renovation: All new flooring, drywall, insulation, and possibly reconfiguring layouts.
• •Windows & Doors: Replace or upgrade to meet code or aesthetic goals.
• •Exterior Work: New siding, roofing, and possibly landscape overhaul.
•

Intermediate:

• •Moderate Structural Repairs: Repairs to less critical areas, such as siding or smaller framing issues.
• •System Upgrades: Partial updates to plumbing, electrical, or HVAC, especially if outdated or inefficient.
• •Interior Renovation: Cosmetic updates like new flooring, updated kitchen and bathroom, and drywall repair.
• •Exterior Updates: Painting or partial siding replacement, minor roof repairs

Light:

• •Cosmetic Updates: Painting, new flooring, minor drywall repairs, and updating finishes (fixtures, countertops).
• •Minor System Repairs: Fixing or updating smaller components of electrical, plumbing, or HVAC systems.
• •Kitchen/Bathroom Refresh: New appliances, hardware, and minor upgrades without full renovations.
• •Exterior Curb Appeal: Cleaning, landscaping, and small repairs to the exterior.

This would be of a big help to more efficiently run number on deals if anyone could help. Thank y’all.

Kyle Trotman · Answer

@Josh Bowser Josh buddy! Hope all is well! Thanks for this! Would you ever look into mini splits as opposed to the ductwork renovation? That ball park price will be helpful for running numbers on deals to see if it'll fall within the rhelm of a deal that will work! Thanks dude.

Also! You bet, I'll be looking in the Decatur area as you know so I'll send you over a couple of properties to get your opinion on them.

Josh Bowser · Answer

Hey Kyle!Baseline reno costs for a 1750 sqft home for a coliving conversion is roughly $45k. That's paint, floors, additional frame out, rerunning electrical & duct work, and furniture. Roof $8-$12k depending on foundation / surface areaCondenser $6kFurnace $8kFull kitchen reno $15kPer Bathroom remodel ($4k half / $7k full)Bathroom addition ($10-20k depending on slab / crawl / finished area)

This is broad but you can knock out a conversion between ($45k-$90k) depending on scope. Just shoot me over the house and I can ball park it for you - i've seen a ton of these conversions completed and can refer contractors that know the space.

Josh Bowser · Answer

Occasionally you will see mini splits in a garage or basement conversion. However, often times it is just as cost effective to size up the condenser and reroute duct work.

Kyle Trotman · Answer

@Lateefah Mathews Thanks for the reply Lateefah! Yes exactly, quick back of napkin math is more or less what I was looking for to see if the deal would work at a certain price. Right now I'm looking at properties on the MLS so that would be helpful to see if the current purchase price would work considering the expected arv of the property!

inwill be doing further due diligence as far as walking the properties and consulting companies or a Gc for more accurate pricing but those numbers are a big help. I'll be conservative and add another $10-15 per square foot. So thanks for the advice and the reply Lateefah!

Lateefah Mathews · Answer

@Kyle Trotman  I think it's awesome that you’re breaking down your projects by rehab level – that’s a strategy I  recommend to clients, and it’s super helpful when getting contractor quotes. It also helps you run your numbers more efficiently. Based on my experience here in Atlanta, and from multiple contractor quotes across different-sized projects, here’s what I typically see for rehab costs per square foot:

• Heavy Rehab: $100+ per square foot, plus an additional $200+ per square foot for any added areas (like extensions, popping the roof, etc.).
• Medium Rehab: $70-$80 per square foot.
• Low Rehab: $50-$60 per square foot.

Heavy Rehab: $100+ per square foot, plus an additional $200+ per square foot for any added areas (like extensions, popping the roof, etc.).

Medium Rehab: $70-$80 per square foot.

Low Rehab: $50-$60 per square foot.

These numbers should help with your back-of-the-napkin math to get a feel for the deal or decide if you want to pass.

As for quick analysis w/o bids...I recommend walking the property in person. Pictures online just don’t show the full picture...like structural issues or hidden damage that could murder your budget. If you can’t do that, at least try to get a feel for the property from every angle. Use your square footage and apply those rough rehab cost estimates to get a ballpark idea.

Matthew Porcaro · Answer

Definitely a loaded question as said above.

What I'll say is renovation cost is renovation cost. Doing it yourself or GC'ing it yourself isn't a subtraction of cost or a savings. No matter how you cut it, estimated renovation costs are going off of labor, materials, and some magnitude of profit. Take these numbers with a grain of salt, but I help people with renovation loans across the united states and these are the rough order of magnitude numbers I use.

Full gut + additions/alterations/dormers = $150-200/sqft

Heavy Renovation $100-$150/sqft

Moderate Reno $60-100/sqft

Light $40-60/sqft

Minimal $20-40/sqftThe only way to know is to get contractor bids in your market and take an aggregate across the board.

Also go to local REIA meetups or real estate meetups and ask investors and agents what they're projecting in their market.

That's the only way to know for sure, and even then its just an estimate or guess.

Matthew Porcaro · Answer

Unfortunately like I said, theres no shortcut for this. You have to learn by experience/by doing. You can use the numbers I gave you as a really rough guideline.

There are some softwares that do it, but the amount of time its going to take you to try to measure eveything and get it exact, you could be making more waves by placing a lot more offers and getting into the actual property with a contractor or inspector to find out true pricing.

In my experience, Ive also seen that ChatGPT is pretty good at analyzing renovation costs in markets if you give it pictures of the property, square footage, and location. But do NOT lean on this lol

Kyle Trotman · Answer

@Matthew Porcaro Matthew! How's it going dude. Thanks for the reply! I appreciate that information, that gives me a place to start as far as the price/sqft. I was looking for a streamlined way to run numbers on a few deals that would be more or less a good reference until I receive actual bids on the specific property for the scope of work. While I can provide a lot of the renovations myself it will be helpful until I have a property under contract to save some time penciling if the numbers will work at a specific price.

What do you find is the best way to quickly analyze the rehabs of properties without necessarily getting bids?

Again, thank you for the response. I'll be looking into some REIA's in the local market to chat more.

Thanks again.

Andy Sabisch · Answer

That's a loaded question.  Are you doing the work yourself or contracting it all out? Will you be the GC or need to hire one?  Have you done similar projects or is this your first? Do you have contractors ready or will you need to find them from ground zero?  All of these have costs associated with them and affect holding costs which play into cost per ft2.  Also different areas can vary widely in costs.

If you can narrow things down a bit it would help with a more detailed response.

Kyle Trotman · Answer

@Andy Sabisch  Hey Andy! Nice to meet you and thanks for the reply. I would be supervising the renovations but this would be my first project! I'm a plumber so I know about the construction process to an extent. I work with a wide variety of contractors which should cut down on the holding time for the rehab.

I would obviously be do the plumbing myself but since this is my first renno I did guess I'd ask around and see if anyone had an average price/sqft that they use to quickly analyze deals. I listened to a guest with Brandon Turner and they mentioned that a price/sqft model is a good place to start.

Also I am in the Atlanta area. I can make a list of typical services provided by each contractor to be more accurate. Any info on the best way to go about estimating rehabs would be helpful, even through I understand this can be a bit difficult without property specifics.