SFGate

Tressa LoVasco How is the house's foundation?

bubblyjock Only $80 a square foot? That's incredible - we have an 1850s stone farmhouse and we couldn't get any quotes for below $200-$300 a square foot for an addition, and that's for very simple stuff - no fancy carpentry, or anything. Did you get a specifically detailed and itemized quote, or was that just "ball-park" figures? Did it include excavating, finishing, roof, windows, etc?

We would never pull our house down, because it's beautiful, really well built, and suits us very sweetly. OTOH my sister bought an ugly 80yo house that was badly built in the wrong location on a very nice acreage. She had it torn down for nothing - in exchange the guy who did it got to keep and re-use, recycle, or sell, all the materials, and clean up the site.

My sister kept the old pine 1-6 planks that had been in the walls and had them re-planed and t&g'd for flooring, which is very nice. They built the new house in a better location to take full advantage of the view, and now have a really lovely property. And then, of course, he gets a job in a different state so now they have to move - sod's law at work, eh!

BuilderFish My wife's family is from all over IN. Anyway, I'd start by contemplating your life goals and money (financial plans). Remember, you likely won't choose to live in a place you cannot stand. How long do you plan to stay?

Also, relate to your house as a system. Building science has really advanced in the last 5 years, you don't want to pitch money heating and cooling the Great Outdoors so your project is about way more than design. I hesitate to comment on that PSF not having seen the property or knowing your market but the age of the home is a red flag for whether it would be worth retrofitting as a primary residence.

DeWitt Architects I think a lot of questions would need specific answers to determine if you should stay or go.

Some are:
Do you get the house you want after it is complete?
Are you planning to stay in the house for more than 5 years?
What remodel costs will be assigend to the existing house?
Do you have to move out and pay rent?
Does the old house have redeeming historic value and/or materials?
As was said how is existing foundation and struture?
Does the addition make the entire house flow better or just look like a weak addition?

We usually attempt to talk owners out of attached garages if we can. Garages have lots of fumes and chemicals that are really bad for the indoor air quality in the house. Even a minor 5' open covered breezeway can solve this issue.

S. Thomas Kutch Sherry, there is a lot to consider in the decision of whether to demo and start from scratch or to add on and renovate the old..........other than the quote you've received. I'm highly suspicious of an $80/sf quote.... that is low. What does this include? Is this for the new work only or does it include any renovations for the old section? Is this quote from the Architect or a contractor who has priced out the drawings in a detailed take off? I'm sorry but this figure would raise flags for me.

Second issue: What is the condition of the original structure and how much renovation will be required? Has it been inspected by someone other than the Architect?

Undoubtedly, unless the original electrical has been brought up to date, that will need to be addressed..........112 years old I wouldn't be a bit surprised to find a knob and wire system in the original section if it hasn't been updated already

There could be issues with the plumbing in the original portion that don't meet code now....that you could be required to bring up to date based on the addition square footage.

How sound is the foundation and the super structure of the original portion?

All these factors and more should come into consideration along with the sf cost when you make your decision...... quite frankly, the $80/sf seems really low for remodel and new work and would immediately raise red flags for me (designer and design/build contractor).....especially if it was a line item estimate.............something's not right. Beware.

Sherry French So much good feedback and so many good questions:)

We are in our late 50's and hope to retire in this house or another one. We have been looking at sites to build and have had a hard time finding one as pretty as ours. My husband has a rifle and pistol range in the woods, his hobby. We have a root cellar under 1 room and it does have mositure issues. That is our only foundation issue. The stairway is narrow..too narrow for a railing that makes it difficult to move things up or down.

I am concerned about adding the 3 car garage and having the house look ackward. Am also concerned about having a 4400 sq, ft, house to heat and pay taxes on. Realtor was here last night and loved the house. She said it was so well done we could pretty much name a price. Desirable location too. She said we should stay.

The old house has many beautiful details: large moldings, old locks, red pine floors, butlers pantry, 2 porches both have been redone...we have restored every inch including wiring, plumbing, heating, cooling, roofs, gutters, windows etc.

It makes the most sense to move and build new if we could find a place. People rarely sell land around here. Maybe this is so hard because I am not happy with the architects plans yet.

BuilderFish Imagine how you'll live there with each passing decade and that'll help frame your decision. For example, how user-friendly will the home be at 70? 80?

Sherry French BuilderFish, that is what I was thinking. In 10 years we may not even use the upstairs at all. If something happen to my husband I couldn't take care of this land, driveway, workshop:(

Sherry French The reason cost is so low, mostly garage with a bonus room, 1 closet and bathroom. Real Estate is fairly cheap here.

S. Thomas Kutch Okay.... that' explains a lot. It appears that the majority of the cost is associated then with addition and since the majority of that is a 3 car garage, I can better understand the price and it seems more reasonable..........me personally, I would still need an itemized breakdown, but that's just the project manager coming out.

Sherry, it sounds as if you have a beautiful home to start with and as you said you haven't found another site as beautiful as yours is now....that's a pretty big positive.

We're in the same age bracket and retirement is a looming concern.......but think about this, if you had the addition that you were happy with, would this be an pressing issue. None of us know what the future will bring........since 2000, I've been battling a condition that I will for the remainder of my life.....it has forced me into an early retirement and it was the last thing on my horizon 13 years ago. Anything can happen in our lives, but if we live, driven by what might happen, we miss what is happening and it sounds like you have a lot of good happening.

If you're not satisfied with the plans as they are now, then it's not the right design. It's far cheaper to just start over and come up with something new while it's on paper. In this stage there are no limits to the possible solutions other than the designer..........maybe you need another set of design eyes on it. Very rarely is a great design the first shot..........it's an evolutionary process of what ifs and what would this look like and on paper is the time to do it.............. persistence is the key. Keep plugging away with the designer till you get the look you're happy with.

If your home is hot now for resale, I suspect, unless something drastic happens to our economy, it will be even hotter once you get the addition design you're happy with. Good luck and keep us informed as to your progress and hopefully some finished pictures...........

Just my opinion and with that and $1.29 I can get a small coffee to go at Mapco this morning.

BuilderFish Forgive the self promotion but, since my wife's family is spread all over IN (South Bend, Indy, Elkhart, Bloomington area), I want to help you from afar (I'm in VA) assess your current residence and perhaps scout others. Review our PDF of our LTHS at LifetimeHomeSurvey.com . You can use as either an easement tool or wish list. I'll gladly answer questions. Oh, my name is Todd Hawkins and BuilderFish is our company.

Dytecture Building new gives you the benefit of starting everything fresh and you can customize the house as you wish, whereas with renovations you are constricted with what you can do with existing structures. If you are able to find a piece of land to build new, in most cases it would be further away from your current house and amenities.

rinqreation Have you considered a precast basement (caisson) right next to the house? Here in the Netherlands square meters are expensive and more and more home owners dig the needed space underneath their patio or add-on.

Sherry French S. Thomas Kutch thanks for your comments. This decision is somewhat a moral one. Should 2 people live and pay for such a big house or should we build a smaller one? As a midwesterner, I am torn. The money part of it is almost a swap. Don't want to be wasteful but don't want to compromise to much.

bubblyjock Sherry - this is a great discussion - thanks for posting it. You're getting some very sound feedback, imo.

In our case (described above), we eventually gave up on the idea of attaching a garage, because the challenges of affording a design that would work were unsurmountable: unless we spent an absolute fortune, which would have priced our property right out of the resale market, and left us too broke to eat! We have a gorgeous design....which I intend to use to paper the walls in the downstairs bathroom, lol.

We will probably eventually be building an unattached garage, probably 2-car, probably with living space - bedroom or two and bathroom - up above, if we can meet building code requirements (septic et al).

Have you got to the stage of having a couple of local (experienced, reputable, etc) contractors run their eye over your architect's drawings? Our architect was "shocked and amazed" at how high the contractors' quotes were....lovely man, but I honestly believe he hadn't a clue about pricing in the real world, sadly.

Sherry French Good question bubblyjock. We have worked with this architect on 2 previous projects. We just finished a 20,000 foot retail space and he estimated a little high, so I trust his quote. He knows lots of trades people as do we.

Sorry about your project. Where do you live?

bubblyjock We're in Eastern Canada; I suspect our construction costs might be higher than yours across the board, really.

Glad you're happy with your architect - s/he's a keeper, I should think!

We ended up doing the basic design work ourself, keeping it super-simple, having it engineered by a draughtsman for permits, and hiring an experienced and reliable contractor to start.....as soon as this miserable winter melts into spring!

Sherry French Good Luck to you:)

Lizabeth Very interesting discussion. Since it is just the two of you can you repurpose existing space to create your master on the first floor. Do you have a living room, dining room and family room on the first floor now? do you need all those rooms? Right now I have 2700 sq feet on two floors and an attic . Graduated son retuned home and took living room and dining room as his " apt suite" and left me with the family room. And it is fine. I still have my master on the second floor and my daugher who will soon leave for college has her bedroom. I bought this house because floor plan was flexible.

Can you imagine how to reconfigure house without adding sq footage? You could add breezeway to make garage 'attached".

I tend to think 4400 sq feet for two people is certainly not green nor efficient. Can you stay in the property and not expand? I find most people already have the space they need in the living room that nobody uses.

Mega Builders Ultimately, this is a question of cost (unless strong emotions/attachments are involved, which does not sees to be the case).
Do your due diligence and price WITH EXACTITUDE each option.
Also factor in time for plans/approval and overall project.
I do not think that these questions could be answered with certainty without these data.
Good luck!

S. Thomas Kutch Sherry, I can understand your considerations. Our children are grown and it's just the wife and I as well.....we are current working on a whole house renovation of a 1950's era post war home in the University District that is approximately 1280 sf......and as well, I'm working on a 750 sf plan for just the two of us with a detached garage and my studio space. Like you, we are considering that even though this is reasonable and comfortable, especially when it's completed, we have space that is just unused.....and do we really need it other than to collect things? And, I doubt our home is anywhere near yours in size.........so I can completely understand the the emotional struggle.

Here's another factor to throw in there to muddle your waters even more.....(sorry)........is it possible that the proceeds from the sale of your current abode covering the cost of a smaller down sized place with any excess being put towards that future retirement? Just a thought the meandered through my mind...........

I really think you're doing the right thing........consideration all the options and weighing them carefully. I'm encouraged by your posting that you'll come to the right course of action for you and your husband.

Sherry French Once again good feedback. I have taken the day off and worked on this all day. We have no other spaces in the house to use. Only have great room/dining room. Already turned study into guest room, where we will put the master. But it has no closet and only small bath on the other side of the house.

My husband and I have been stuggling for months where to put the addition without making the house look funky. We can't seem to figure it out. Front entry is on the side causing us some issues.

Money wise: the costs of remodeling and the costs of building are very close after we sell the house. When something is this difficult then I might be going in the wrong direction, still not sure what to do. It does help to have other input:)

Lizabeth You seem like a woman who has a good grasp of design. If you cannot see how to add on it may not be possible. I am always sad when I see a lovely home that has been remuddled by a bad addition. I know you would not do that.

Building new will give you loads of opportunities for energy improvements. You also have local sawmills to buy materials from in Indiana. I will be visiting one next week. You can get hickory, cherry, oak all at affordable prices right now.

Sherry French Back again. I am fairly sure we are going to stay here and remodel. We have reworked the plan and come up with some new ideas. Still not satisfied completely but we are getting close. If we stay here we get everything we want along with the quality we desire.

Once I figure out how to post photos I will put them here for more feedback. You people are the best:).