Demolish or remodel?

You’ve found it: the perfect neighborhood. It’s the exact place you always imagined you would raise your children and grow old with your spouse. A playground lies directly across the street from the property for sale, the elementary school is around the corner and the grocery store a mile away. You’ve met the neighbors and they’re kind and welcoming with kids around the same age as yours. Sound too good to be true? It is.

DIY might not be best

The problem is the house for sale is in bad repair. The former owners didn’t keep up on maintenance issues, nothing is up to date, and you dislike the floor plan. In this day and age when DIY projects (do-it-yourself) have become as ubiquitous as mowing your own lawn, it seems possible that you could buy the home with the intention of fixing it to your own specifications. The neighborhood is perfect, after all.

Every situation varies

However, Kirsten Craze of The Daily Telegraph warns this might not be the smartest or most financially sound decision. She said, "It is possible that demolish a house and rebuilding on the site may produce a more successful and cost-effective result than a cosmetic renovation." The decision of whether to demolish or remodel depends entirely on the situation.

Renovations more expensive than original construction

One example of how remodeling can be more expensive than demolishing comes from statistics released by the Australian Institute of Architects’ design and advisory service. They found that kitchen renovations average $10,000 to $31,000, bathrooms are $10,000 to $25,000, and laundry is $4,000 to $10,000. All of these prices are more than the actual original construction of these three homes tends to be. The actual costs for each of these rooms originally are, respectively, $7,650 to $28,600, $5,6000 to $18,400 and $4,000 to $8,000.

Remodeling can be more expensive because it takes more time and finesse to replace existing plasterwork, paint, plumbing, and electrical wiring. Seasoned architect Ian Agnew explained, "An old home that’s been poorly maintained will usually require extensive repair work such as rewiring, replumbing, and reroofing and the cost will inevitably eat into the renovation budget."

However, he did concede that older homes "often have generous sub-floor and roof spaces, higher ceilings, and larger rooms . . . making them feel bigger and providing more furnishing and storage space."

Interior Decorating and Remodeling News Brought to You by EZSnapCovers.com

Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/stow/newsnow/x1655336185/Home-Help-High-design-low-cost

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