Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 24, 1993 TAG: 9309280084
SECTION: HOME & LANDSCAPE PAGE: HL-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But how many homeowners know how much value improving these two rooms can add to their homes when the time comes to sell? What other features are buyers looking for, and what will they want in years to come?
"I seem to do a lot of master bedroom/bath combinations and family rooms," said Charlie Coulter of Coulter Construction Inc. "There's no way you won't get your money out of it. You can recoup [the cost of these projects] with a higher selling price."
Most people want a large master bath with an extra bathroom for the children, to eliminate "bottlenecks" when everyone is trying to get to work or to school, he said.
Archie Horton of Bottom Creek Construction said he has worked on several basements recently. In one house, he put a master suite in the basement for the parents, so the children could use the rooms upstairs.
Bob Fezter of Building Specialists, Inc., said he has built bathrooms with Jacuzzis, hot tubs, steam baths and space for exercise equipment.
"It's tough to say" what a remodeled bathroom can cost, Coulter said. It all depends on what a homeowner wants. Simply updating tile and fixtures can cost as little as $8,000. For more extensive work, you might pay as much as $60,000, if the plans call for bidets, separate showers or double vanities.
An average faucet, for instance, costs $65 to $70, he said, while a brass faucet might cost $600 to $700.
Luxurious bathrooms are becoming more and more common, Coulter said, because of the proliferation of homes magazines, from which many people get their ideas.
Recently, Horton said, he built a bathroom that was 12-by-30 feet.
In kitchens, people are turning away from factory-made cabinets, Horton said. They want them custom made, and often choose laminated surfaces over solid wood.
Like bathrooms, it is hard to put an exact price on remodeling a kitchen. When there is no construction involved, a new kitchen might cost $12,000 to $15,000, Horton said. But prices can go up to $50,000 to $60,000.
"You can put some money into it," he said.
Fetzer said he once did a kitchen in which the countertop alone cost $10,000.
Construction costs are rising, Fetzer said, because of the cost of materials and the expense of complying with new regulations. Then there are building permits, inspections, insurance and safety factors, which all add to the cost of the building. Labor costs, on the other hand, have stayed the same for five years, due to the recession, he said.
Older homes, those built before 1950, also cost more to remodel, Fetzer said. Usually, everything in an older home is out of plumb and out of square. There also may be lead-based paints and asbestos to deal with.
But remodeling is not just for the wealthy, Horton said. Homeowners who know something about construction often can do some of the work themselves to bring the costs down, and banks always are willing to lend money for home improvement projects.
Horton says he believes that "kitchens and bathrooms sell homes," and other improvements are unlikely to raise the value of a house. But other builders disagree.
Family rooms are very important to many buyers, Coulter said. Most older homes don't have them, and the formal living rooms usually are very small.
Fetzer said some of his clients are asking for rooms for their big-screen televisions with surround sound and entertainment centers; "like being at the movies," he said. Many of them also are looking for hardwood floors and fireplaces, especially ones with gas logs.
A sunroom "is a great thing to add to a house," he said, especially if it involves simply enclosing a back porch. Breakfast nooks also are a good idea, he said.
Horton said that in his experience, sunrooms are a luxury that generally appeal to older homeowners.
"They want a place for themselves where they can go and relax," he said.
Decks also add a lot of interest to the exterior of a home, Coulter said, but they don't bring the resale value some other projects might.
Studies show that in this part of the country, a homeowner can expect to recover about 117 percent of the cost of a remodeled kitchen, 102 percent of a remodeled bathroom and 106 percent of a new family room. A deck, on the other hand, will recover 60 percent of its cost, Coulter said.
But Fetzer said "if somebody wants it and has it, they should enjoy it."
During the design phase of the project, it is important to choose features that will harmonize with the rest of the house, and, if it is an exterior job, with other homes in the neighborhood.
"It needs to blend with the old structure in size and style," Coulter said. In fact, he said, some of his clients ask him to look at a house before they buy it, to see if they will be able to renovate it as they would like.
These days, he said, "it's tough to do quality custom work." To provide it, he often special-orders solid wood doors or has a lumber yard dig up an old saw blade to reproduce a particular molding.
"Our goal is to be sure everything matches the existing house," he said. "I turn down a lot of projects if they aren't right."
As far as fitting in goes, Horton said, "You don't ever want to own the most expensive home in the neighborhood," because it will never sell for much more than the houses around it, regardless of how much money an owner puts into it.
When remodeling, it's important to work with professionals, Fetzer said. They can tell a homeowner whether an attic, for instance, can take enough of a load to be refinished.
"People need to plan and work out a project," he said, rather than just looking for the cheapest way to do it. "People feel remodeling is the last great outpost of bartering."
For a large addition, he said, homeowners should use the services of an architect.
There doesn't seem to be a consensus on whether there is one particular trend toward what home buyers will want in the future.
Horton, who does 40 percent of his work in new construction, said many people want larger rooms. He is putting "huge rooms" in custom homes, he said. They also want lots of windows, fewer hallways and a spare room to use as a study.
But Fetzer said the trend is more toward small rooms. The living room, especially, is being downsized. There will be more family rooms, more sunrooms, more decks and more outdoor space, he said.
"We need to completely rethink our homes and the way we use them," he said.
Of course, a little farther in the future, he said, there will be a demand for "smart houses" with built-in computers which control climate and security, and are wired with fiber optics for a variety of communications needs.
Fetzer thinks there will be separate companies set up to retro-fit older homes with this equipment, but it will be some time before they start up in this area.
"Roanoke always lags behind the trends," he said.
But whatever changes there are to come in the future, "there will always be a demand for kitchens and bathrooms," Coulter said. "There always will be a constant need for upgrading technology and esthetics" in these areas.
by CNB