Family Room Addition

Cost vs. Value
Family Room Addition

2001 Cost vs. Value home

Project (average cost recouped, national)

Minor kitchen remodel (88%)

Bathroom remodel (85%)

Major kitchen remodel (81%)

Family room addition (80%)

Deck addition (77%)

Master suite (75%)

Attic bedroom (74%)

Siding replacement (73%)

Window replacement (69%)

Home office (55%)

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2002 Cost vs. Value Report

2000 Cost vs. Value Report

We’re a society with all these toys—computers, Play Stations,” says Milwaukee real estate practitioner Nancy Carpenter. “You’d like your living room not to be cluttered. You need a room to put these things in.”

That room is a family room, which, Carpenter says, has broad appeal to the often unpredictable mix of today’s homebuyers. “A young family with kids gets very excited about the family room add-on,” she says.

Putting a room on a small house is especially valuable, North Carolina remodeler David Tyson points out. It’s especially attractive in neighborhoods of older houses, typically below average in square footage. It’s also popular in areas where empty nesters are leaving and married couples with young children are taking their places.

It costs $46,738 to add the family room in our project description, an investment that returns, as a national average, $37,217, or 80 percent of cost.

Design Tips for Consumers

For the same cost, scissored trusses would allow for transom lights over the doors.—Porter
Design window seats, benches with lift-up tops, or pullout drawers for toy storage.—Kurtz
Crown moldings add to this type of addition.—Freysinger

Project Description
In a style and location appropriate to the existing house, add a 16-by-25-foot room on a new crawlspace foundation with wood joist floor framing, wood siding on exterior walls, and fiberglass shingle roof. Include drywall interior with batt insulation, tongue-and-groove hardwood floor, and 180 square feet of glazing (including windows, atrium-style exterior doors, and two operable skylights). Tie into existing heating and cooling.

Region or City	Job Cost	Resale Value	Cost Recouped
East Average	$48,028	$43,620	91%
Albany, N.Y.	43,414	31,725	73
Baltimore	42,862	24,832	58
Boston	54,664	101,333	185
Burlington, Vt.	37,482	28,241	75
Garden City, N.Y.	54,693	77,700	142
Hartford, Conn.	47,910	30,000	63
Lancaster, Pa.	45,908	29,167	64
Nashua, N.H.	41,633	29,500	71
New Haven, Conn.	48,105	58,116	121
Passaic, N.J.	53,958	28,333	53
Philadelphia	52,355	38,883	74
Pittsburgh	49,067	37,500	76
Providence, R.I.	48,549	42,137	87
Westchester, N.Y.	53,801	59,754	111
Wilmington, Del.	46,018	37,086	81
South Average	$41,250	$31,842	77%
Atlanta	43,907	28,750	65
Birmingham, Ala.	42,867	43,400	101
Columbia, S.C.	35,822	27,127	76
Dallas-Ft. Worth	42,176	29,648	70
Houston	43,800	28,500	65
Jacksonville, Fla.	40,720	27,280	67
Knoxville, Tenn.	39,534	27,030	68
Louisville, Ky.	44,358	36,266	82
Miami	41,631	30,750	74
New Orleans	40,787	32,617	80
Raleigh-Durham, N.C.	36,643	23,096	63
Richmond, Va.	39,242	21,770	55
Tampa, Fla.	40,397	25,000	62
Tulsa, Okla.	41,023	36,400	89
Washington, D.C.	45,843	60,000	131
Midwest Average	$47,552	$32,055	67%
Chicago	56,091	39,600	71
Cleveland	52,472	25,250	48
Columbus, Ohio	45,337	33,875	75
Des Moines, Iowa	44,246	24,420	55
Detroit	48,912	39,000	80
Fargo, N.D.	40,625	28,175	69
Grand Rapids, Mich.	44,393	30,400	68
Indianapolis	45,788	25,750	56
Kansas City, Mo.	47,535	31,250	66
Madison, Wis.	49,339	29,600	60
Milwaukee	53,349	42,000	79
Minneapolis	55,463	37,325	67
St. Louis	51,874	42,500	82
Sioux Falls, S.D.	37,828	26,000	69
Wichita, Kan.	40,026	25,686	64
West Average	$50,124	$41,350	82%
Albuquerque, N.M.	42,653	28,225	66
Boise, Idaho	43,672	33,071	76
Colorado Springs, Colo.	44,215	18,840	43
Denver	44,367	31,241	70
Honolulu	61,762	58,333	94
Las Vegas	48,780	35,250	72
Los Angeles	57,259	48,750	85
Phoenix	45,318	28,900	64
Portland, Ore.	49,361	37,857	77
Sacramento, Calif.	54,367	31,400	58
Salt Lake City	43,259	27,763	64
San Diego	54,000	73,800	137
San Francisco	61,210	92,000	150
Seattle	53,205	55,000	103
Spokane, Wash.	48,431	19,821	41
National Average	$46,738	$37,217	80%

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