Kitchens, Bathrooms, And Basements: How Much Do Smart People Spend on Renovations?

Homes don’t last forever. Eventually, renovations become necessary.

Unfortunately, they are expensive. They cost a lot in terms of labor, furniture, and other items. That’s why smart people approach them so carefully. They know that if they make renovation mistakes, it could ruin them financially. 

In this post, we take a look at how much people actually spend on renovations, and what you should aim for. 

Kitchen

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The kitchen is actually the most expensive part of the house to renovate. That’s because you have to buy both storage and appliances.

Today, we’re used to the idea that our kitchens have a lot of cabinets, preparation areas, furniture, and cooking equipment. But we forget just how full of “stuff” the kitchen is. It doesn’t look like any other room with the possible exception of the garage. 

Smart homeowners spend up to $60,000 on kitchen renovations. However, you can completely do them over for as little as $4,000 if you know what you are doing. Depending on the size of your kitchen, you may be able to spend less than this. However, you want to spend at least $10 to $60 per square foot of your renovation, otherwise, you’ll wind up with shoddy results. 

Basement

As for the basement, the minimum renovation prices are a little higher. That’s because many people need to extend their heating and cooling systems downstairs. If you visit the CJS website, you can see some examples of the type of work required. 

Smart homeowners spend around $11,000 to $30,000 on basement renovations. The lower figure is higher than for the kitchen because of all of the structural and basic work that you need to do. You can’t just “reskin” a basement like you can a kitchen. However, the upper figure is also lower because put simply, there isn’t actually that much to do in the basement once you’ve waterproofed it and gotten rid of the junk. 

Remodeling the basement can add significant square footage to your property. Your budget will depend on your individual project, but shooting for $20,000 is smart. This will add value to your home and make you better off in the long term. 

Bathroom

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Lastly, we have the bathroom; another bugbear for home renovators. Bathroom renovations should cost anywhere from $2,500 to $25,000, depending on the quality of your property. Any more than that and you run the risk of falling into negative returns and not being able to get your money back. 

Bathroom renovations tend to overrun on costs because of materials. If you insist on marble walls and floors, you’ll wind up spending a lot more than just going with regular tiles. You’ll want to consider whether paying the extra money is actually worth it, or whether you’d be better off investing your cash elsewhere. 

Don’t spend more than 10 to 15 percent of your home’s value on a single room. Going higher than this, your property’s value will not scale. You might have a fantastic kitchen, but that won’t matter in the context of the rest of your house.

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