If you plan on adding an addition to your home in Chicago, a two-story addition makes the most sense financially. According to a 2013 cost vs. value report released by Remodeling magazine, two-story home additions in Chicago gave homeowners a 71.7% return on their investment when they sold their house—that’s 5% higher than a family room addition and a whopping 20% higher than a bathroom addition. Still, at an average cost of $150,674, two-story additions can be a big investment. Here are some ways to cut costs:.
Keep It Simple
Two-story home additions in Chicago with clean, simple lines and basic geometric shapes are the most cost-effective. Complex angles will end up raising your remodeling costs significantly, so try to avoid fussy designs like turret-shaped rooms or wrap-around additions. You’ll need to spend more on additional building materials, and your contractor will charge you more for the extra time and effort it takes to figure out complex angles.
Buy Your Own Materials
Sure, you’ll need the expertise of a contractor to build your addition, but you can save big by purchasing building materials on your own. Buying your own materials will eliminate the extra expense of a contractor’s markup, which can be 20% or more added to the actual cost of materials. Where should you shop? Lumberyards often offer discounts for large orders of lumber, and you can get unbelievable deals on windows, doors, and fixtures that have been returned simply because the original buyer changed their mind.
Be Environmentally Friendly
There are hefty tax refunds available for homeowners who opt to build home additions in Chicago with the environment in mind. According to The Nest magazine, you can get back up to 30% of your investment in tax credits if you include energy-efficient materials in your project. Solar panels, geothermal heat pumps, and energy-efficient storm windows are just a few of the things that are eligible for tax cuts from local, state, and federal programs. One of the most popular is the government’s Energy Star program. Ask your contractor how you can take advantage of these savings.
Adding an addition to your home can be an expensive undertaking, but it will add significant resale value to your property. For more information on two-story additions in Chicago, contact the experts at MK Construction & Builders, Inc. today.
