Calculating the Best Size for a Home Addition
Do you adore your home but feel a little cramped with limited square footage? A home addition is a popular method for expanding a home’s livable space, adding equity to the property, and improving the home ownership experience. However, the project is a big one and getting all the details sorted before you start knocking down walls is essential.
Whether you’re looking to add a new living room where the family can spread out and enjoy a big screen television or you’re interested in creating a new master suite, there are several tools and averages you can use to figure out how many square feet would be best to add to your home.
Estimating the Cost of a Home Addition
Depending on where you live, the cost of your home addition will vary based upon the local cost of construction materials, the size of your addition, and the type of addition you’re looking to add. In the Midwest in areas like Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota, the average cost for an attic bedroom hovers around $49,438 while the average cost for a family room addition is a little steeper at $80,765.
If you’re looking for the full banana and would like to add an entire 2-story addition onto your home, your average cost might increase to $155,365. Adding a back porch to the addition (very common when an addition is built off the back of the home) will add an average of $15,437. Further impacting these averages are the decisions you’ll make regarding accoutrements, furnishings, and things like appliances, furniture, and various decorative details.
Depending on your assets and funding sources, you may choose to work with a contractor to get the “bare bones” essentials handled while finishing things like furnishings and interior decor later. However, if you’re going to be applying for a home equity loan or applying for a home equity line of credit, it’s often best to consider getting the entire project finished in a short timeframe.
Homes Are Getting Bigger
Over the years, homes have increased substantially in average size, and the only nation that currently beats Americans on average home size for new construction is Australia.
According to the United States Census, the average size of a new home in 1973 was 1,660 square feet. In 2010, that average rose to a healthy 2,392 square feet. Some of the reasons for these size increases are the extra rooms enjoyed by homeowners today.
From steam rooms to music rooms, large spiral staircases, and wine cellars, today’s homeowners have much more than a kitchen, some bedrooms, and a family room in which to spend time.
According to a story on NPR, the average size of a home in the United States has actually doubled in the last 60 years:
Whether it’s a McMansion in a wealthy neighborhood, or a bigger, cheaper house in the exurbs, the move toward ever large homes has been accelerating for years.
Basing Size Upon Average Room Distribution
If your 1950s home is a tidy 1,500 square feet (generous for a 60-year-old home), you might end up adding a larger-than-average sized room to that residence. If you’re living in a home that’s just a decade old, your addition might not seem so large compared to the present square footage.
A recent publication from the National Association of Home Builders reveals that the average size of a master bedroom when compared to the total size of the home is 12% while the family room averages 11.5%. This means that if your home is 2,000 square feet, your current master bedroom is likely around 240 square feet.
You can choose to use this average as an appropriate jumping-off point for construction and design decisions, or you may choose to inch upward somewhat with an addition of around 275 square feet. Things like cost and the allowable footprint of your home will probably further influence the size of your new addition.
Interested in Putting an Addition on Your Home?
Have a project in mind? Share your ideas with us in a Free Consultation. We’ll listen, go over your project, provide our input and give you an idea of how much it would cost. Best of all, there are no costs, risks, or obligations in this initial consultation.