How Much Does Family Room Addition Cost

A growing family means a growing house – well, not literally speaking. It means when your house is built for a five-member family, but other family members, either your grandparents, in-laws or both, want to live with you, you begin to think of expanding your house by building additional rooms. But of course, that’s not always the case. Some homeowners want to add more rooms because they have been planning to make their houses bigger and more accommodating.

Whatever reasons you have, you should be aware that family room additions are significant investments in your time, and more importantly, in your money. If the additional rooms are built properly, they enhance the overall features of your house, increasing its value on the market – in the event when you plan to sell it.

Cost of a Family Room Addition

As you plan the details of a room addition, remember to set a budget for the project so you won’t tend to overspend your money. With that said, how much does family room addition cost these days?

On average, the estimated room addition cost is $40,900, with $7,000 as the lowest cost and $100,000 as the highest cost, depending on what type of room is built, its size, and features. However, most homeowners spend around $21,500 to $63,100 for their room addition project.

Most Common Room Additions

There are several types of room additions that you can build. You can add rooms at the ground level, construct a second floor, or detach a room from your house and convert it into a playroom, a guest room, an entertainment, a study room, or anything that your family wants to have. Each type of addition has its own estimated price, as well as benefits and drawbacks that come along with building the extra room. For this discussion, here are the most common room additions being constructed.

1. Additional Room Inside the House

This is basically just an extra room, which homeowners construct to provide a room for visiting family and other guests. An additional room is either build out or build up.

Build Out

When you are building out, you are typically adding another room in your ground-level house. It increases your house’s footprint by extending the perimeter outwards. But you should be careful since building out may require you to get a zoning variance based on the regulations in your locality. You will also be spending on a new foundation, and you may lose property space.

Build Up

Meanwhile, if you are building up, it typically involves constructing a second story, either a room a whole floor. This option gives you more living space without extending your house’s footprint. Although there is no need to form a new foundation, building a second-story room or floor requires the strengthening of the existing foundation of your house to support the additional weight.

However, you have to check with your local government on the policies regarding the standard height of a house. Aside from that, you need to build a staircase going to the room, which means you’re going to sacrifice 80 to 120 square feet of your living space.

Costs

When it comes to the costs, you are looking at an average of $80 to $200 per square foot. And whether you are building out or building up, you should consider consulting an architect to help you with the design; hiring an engineer to assure the safety of the construction; or hiring a general contractor if you can’t do the construction yourself. There are some homeowners who opt to build the additions on their own, which is not that costly.

2. Detached Rooms

Detached rooms come in different styles and price ranges. If you want to have a simple, shed-like family room without the installation of electricity or a pre-assembled room, you will spend around $15,000. The price goes higher if you want to install electricity and add other features. You can also detach your garage from your house and convert it into a guesthouse or any type of room you want for an average cost of $24,660.

If for instance, you want to build the extra room with the resources you have, you may need to hire a contractor to work on the detached room for you. For the electrical wirings, get the services of an electrician. Painters are optional. You may not hire them if you can paint the walls on your own. Remember, you are paying for these people. You can save a substantial amount if you can do the other jobs on your own.

3. Sunrooms

Another family room addition is a sunroom, which is more cost-effective than a conventional extra house room. On average, a standard sunroom costs around $16,320. It goes up to $70,000 or higher for a 200-square-foot sunroom with a slab foundation and footings. But the overall cost usually depends on the area of the room addition, its location, and additional features, like the installation of electrical wirings and/or a heater. Other considerations are the following:

Hiring carpenters will charge you with $70 per hour.

Electricians charge $50 to $100 per hour.

The services of painters cost $20 to $35 per hour. But if you can do the painting yourself, there is no need to hire painters to do the job.

Cost of a DIY Room Addition

Looking at the figures above tells you how expensive a room addition. But you can save yourself from the high costs if you build the addition by yourself. A do-it-yourself extra room ranges from $25 to $50 per square foot, depending on the project’s complexity and the materials you use. A 400-square-foot room can run from $10,000 to $20,000.

If you are going to pursue a DIY room addition, you should have impeccable handyman skills. You can’t finish such project if you don’t know anything at all. You might as well just hire an architect and/or contractor to get the job done accordingly.