How Much Will it Cost to Build You Home Addition?
Understanding cost and budgeting factors for your kitchen remodel
Custom Home Addition Costs
The cost of your home addition depends on what you want to achieve with it. More complicated home addition projects that involve a lot of complex changes to the existing home tend to be cost more. Most home additions fall into one of three types of projects. Read their descriptions to see which one best fits your expectations for your addition.
Simple Addition
- Basic Living Space -
You need more living space, but it doesn't need to be fancy. This could include an extra bedroom or living room. No bathrooms or plumbing work.
- Basic Rectangle Shape
- Single-Story Design
- Simple Tie-In to Main Structure
Standard Addition
- Functional Living Space -
Your ideal addition is more than four walls and a roof. You might want an extra bathroom, or even build a second story on top of your current home.
- Kitchen or Bathroom Features
- Second-Story or Steep Lots
- More Complex Structural Design
Complex Addition
- Custom Living Space -
The addition you need may present several design challenges. It's structurally complex and includes a lot of custom construction.
- Extensive Custom Featues
- Multi-Level & Historic Home
- Structurally Challenging Design
Simple Addition
- Basic Living Space -
You need more living space, but it doesn't need to be fancy. This could include an extra bedroom or living room. No bathrooms or plumbing work.
- Basic Rectangle Shape
- Single-Story Design
- Simple Tie-In to Main Structure
Small Addition
— 100 - 300 sq. ft. —
$150,000 - $200,000
Medium Addition
— 300 - 600 sq. ft. —
$200,000 - $300,000
Large Addition
— 600 - 1000+ sq. ft. —
$300,000 - $650,000
Exterior (Construction)
Interior (Completed)
As the lowest cost option, a simple addition will also have the most limited scope. An addition in this category would involve adding only living space to the home, such as a bedroom, office, or family room. Essentially, it’s an addition with four walls and a roof that is easy to design and construct.
Simple additions can be thought of as “best-case scenario” projects with no major challenges or issues. The land lot must be level and require minimal excavation. To avoid excessive engineering and design costs, the shape of the addition must be rectangular and follow standard structural principles.
A single-level bedroom addition built on the side of the home with a crawl space foundation is a good example of this type of project.
- Single level on the ground floor
- Slab or crawl space foundation
- Bedroom, living room, or office
- No major excavation
- Minimal plumbing & electrical
- Basic structural design
- Single level on the ground floor
- Slab or crawl space foundation
- Bedroom, living room, or office
- No major excavation
- Minimal plumbing & electrical
- Basic structural design
Standard Addition
- Functional Living Space -
Your ideal addition is more than four walls and a roof. You might want an extra bathroom, or even build a second story on top of your current home.
- Kitchen or Bathroom Features
- Second-Story or Steep Lots
- More Complex Structural Design
Small Addition
— 100 - 300 sq. ft. —
$200,000 - $300,000
Medium Addition
— 300 - 600 sq. ft. —
$300,000 - $650,000
Large Addition
— 600 - 1000+ sq. ft. —
$650,000 - $1,200,000
Exterior (Construction)
Interior (Completed)
These types of addition projects are still relatively simple in scope but may involve a few features and challenges that make it more difficult to design or construct. A standard addition may add extra living space or utility space, such as a bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room.
Standard additions often require more engineering and involve a more complicated construction process. For example, a kitchen addition, which adds square footage to the home in the form of a new kitchen, must go through an extensive design process to design the cabinetry layout and appliance arrangement. Challenges that require extra steps in the design and construction processes add to the cost of the project.
Additions with custom bathrooms or kitchens would fall into the category of standard additions.
- Basic shape with some variation
- Slab or crawl space foundation
- Bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room
- Requires some excavation
- Lighting fixtures
- New flooring
- Basic shape with some variation
- Slab or crawl space foundation
- Bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room
- Requires some excavation
- Some plumbing & electrical
- Standard structural design
Complex Addition
- Custom Living Space -
The addition you need may present several design challenges. It's structurally complex and includes a lot of custom construction.
- Extensive Custom Featues
- Multi-Level & Historic Home
- Structurally Challenging Design
Small Addition
— 100 - 300 sq. ft. —
$250,000 - $400,000
Medium Addition
— 300 - 600 sq. ft. —
$400,000 - $800,000
Large Addition
— 600 - 1000+ sq. ft. —
$800,000 - $1,500,000+
Exterior (Construction)
Interior
In the case that your addition requires extensive engineering or specialized construction throughout the design, that would qualify as a complex addition. This category of additions is reserved for projects that are exceptionally complicated in scope and design features.
An addition may fall into this category for several reasons. It may be because the planned addition drastically changes the structure of the existing home. Or maybe it’s because the addition is exceptionally large or complicated, requiring new plumbing, electrical, and HVAC systems throughout. It may also be that the project falls into a niche architectural or interior design style that involves specialized construction work to complete.
Additions on historic homes, multi-level additions, and additions that function as accessory dwelling units (ADUs) may fit into this category.
- 2nd story, basement, or multi-level
- Complex, custom shape
- Multiple rooms & functions
- New flooring
- Updated backsplash
- New lighting fixtures
- Custom features
- 2nd story, basement, or multi-level
- Complex, custom shape
- Multiple rooms & functions
- May involve major excavation
- Complex plumbing & electrical
- Extensive structural engineering
What Affects the Cost of Your Home Addition?
There are several factors that may influence the cost of your home addition. Here are the 3 most important ones to consider when planning your project.
1. Level of Customization
The more customized your home addition designs, the more the project will cost. Custom work requires more labor and higher-quality products, so be prepared to pay more for custom features.
2. Labor & Construction Administration
Some homeowners prefer to have a more involved role in organizing or constructing their home addition. Others simply want to hire a contractor who will handle the entire process. The more involved your contractor is in managing and constructing the project, the more expensive it will be.
3. Product & Material Quality
Nobody wants to build their home addition just to watch it fall apart a year later. However, high-quality materials and craftsmanship for your addition often come at a higher cost.
1. Level of Customization
The more customized your home addition designs, the more the project will cost. Custom work requires more labor and higher-quality products, so be prepared to pay more for custom features.
2. Labor & Construction Administration
Some homeowners prefer to be more involved in organizing or constructing their home addition. Others simply want to hire a contractor who will handle the entire process. The more involved you contractor is in managing and constructing the project, the more expensive it will be.
3. Product, Material, & Labor Quality
Nobody wants to build their home addition just to watch it fall apart a year later. However, high-quality materials and craftsmanship for your home addition often come at a higher cost.