How much to add a master bedroom to my 2 bedroom rancher?

I am moving in with my finance, but the problem is we both own 2 bedroom houses. I plan on renting my house out (who really wants to buy a 2 bedroom), and moving into his house, but his house is even smaller than mine. Instead of buying a new house, we've decided to add on to his ranch style house. We only need to add a master bedroom, but we are not sure how much it will cost us. We're looking for a ball park figure.

 

Prices vary from state to state in my area here in Indiana the price would be 85.00 to 100.00 a square foot depending on material used.

Steven Wilson
Cornerstone Contracting

 

I don't understand why the costs vary so much from state to state. The materials should cost about the same in most states. Is labor cost the only reason for the difference?

 

They vary for the same reason housing prices vary so much from one area to another. Supply and demand.

For example: Housing in Los Angeles runs $500 a square foot and up. In, say, rural Illinois, housing runs more like $100 a square foot.

Home improvement is the same. In a hot area, where construction is booming, any sort of construction is going to cost more per square foot than in a slow market.

The only way to gauge your area is to actually call up a few contractors and ask for estimates for what you want. Keep in mind, the more specific you are on what you want, the more accurate the estimate will be.

 

Are you willing to do some of the work yourself? You could have contractors do everything up to the finish work, then do that part yourself. You could probably save a lot that way. Things I don't recommend DIY (unless you really know what you are doing) are the rough framing, electrical, and plumbing, and probably drywall. But, floors, painting, adding trim & cabinets, installing fixtures, are good DIY possibilities.

 

pianolady brings up some good points here.

I would probably add drywall to the list of things that you want a professional to do as mudding is incredibly messy and usually the results aren't that good unless they're handled professionally.

 

Even in the same area, the price will vary greatly depending on who you are going to hire.

We just finished a sunroom addition last year. We did everything except for the foundation, eletrical and plumbing. The final cost is 50% less than the cost if we hire a general contractor.

We've got many estimations for the founration work. The quote is from $4,500 to $17,000. The average is about $8,000. Do you see the big difference? We are very satisfied with the contrator who gave us the lowest quote and we end up with a bigger contract including the entire driveway, side walk, and foundation for a frontside porch.