What a $50,000 Renovation Gets You Across the Country
This kitchen was designed by Kelsey McGregor of Kelsey Leigh Design Co. for our 2024 Whole Home in North Carolina.
So you want to makeover your dated kitchen, add a walk-in pantry, remodel your basement, or expand your cramped primary bathroom. With interest rates—and home costs—remaining high, more and more homeowners are deciding to embark on these kinds of renovation projects instead of moving. According to a recent National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) survey, bathroom remodels are the most common type of investment, followed closely by kitchen renovations.
But making your existing home more functional and beautiful can cost a pretty penny. To find out how far a $50K renovation budget can stretch in different parts of the country, we asked contractors, builders, and designers for the going rates. Of course, costs in major cities and affluent suburbs tend to be higher than in more rural locations, but these estimates should give you a sense of what’s possible in your neck of the woods.
Pacific Northwest
Tryone Woodland, founder and CEO of Woodland Construction Group in Portland, Oregon, says in the Portland area, the best bang for your buck is renovating your primary bathroom. “For $50K, you could remove and replace an outdated vanity, update your shower, swap your old tub for a soaking tub, replace your toilet, and add new tile, fixtures, and flooring.” He just cautions that once you start completely redesigning the room or relocating a toilet or tub, the price will go up fast.
The South
Kitchens tend to be big-ticket rooms, but in the Southeast, you can renovate your kitchen as long as you aren’t married to the idea of Calacatta marble countertops or a La Cornue range. “While a kitchen renovation is feasible within this budget, it would likely require opting for stock cabinetry and lower end finishes. A custom kitchen would typically cost significantly more—about two to five times more,” says Vadim Kozlyuk founder of Parksdale Building Co in Stallings, North Carolina.
East Coast
The East Coast has some of the highest real estate and renovation costs in the country, but according to Robert Lupinski, owner of Robert Lupinski Painting & Remodeling LLC, who renovates homes in Connecticut and Westchester County, New York, it all boils down to size. “If you go with semi-custom cabinets, quartz countertops, and midrange appliances, you can renovate a 150- to 200 square-foot kitchen for about $50K.” Lupkinksy says basement renovations are another popular renovation project in the New York suburbs, and while finishing a large basement can be pricey—“I just did a 3,000-square-foot basement in New Canaan, Connecticut, that had a gym, laundry room, and bathroom for $150K—your basic 600- to 700-square-foot basement can be turned into a playroom or home office for $50K.” He notes that adding a bathroom to your spiffy new basement space will run you another $20K.
Midwest
Renovation dollars tend to go a little farther in the midwest. “$50K is a reasonable budget for a lot of different projects,” says Nick Mitchell of Jacobson Premier Remodeling Services in Minneapolis, Minnesota. You could renovate a primary bathroom, as long as you don’t get fancy with the fixtures, or you could also do “a great outdoor entertaining space with a deck, pergola, and some cafe lights, or a large mudroom or laundry room to help you stay organized,” says Mitchell.
Southwest
“For this budget, a small, surface-level primary bathroom renovation is possible, which might include new cabinets, tile, plumbing, and countertops,” says Rachel Chester, a senior project designer at Ownby Design, in Scottsdale, Arizona. But you may have to make some concessions to keep the renovation under $50K. “Opting for a prefabricated vanity base could help save money, allowing for the inclusion of large-format tiles, which often come with higher installation labor costs.” In smaller rooms that don’t involve a lot of plumbing or structural changes, you may even have money left over for luxe decorative touches. “A mudroom is absolutely possible for this budget. Depending on the size of the mudroom you may even be able to include a new fun tile or wood floor, along with paint and/or wallpaper,” says Chester.
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Lesley is a freelance writer who has been covering home, fashion, and beauty for more than 20 years. She was the executive editor of Women’s Health, deputy editor at Cosmopolitan, and articles editor at Allure. In addition to House Beautiful, her work has appeared in In Style, Frederic, Allure, Delish, Self, Forbes, and many other national magazines. When Lesley is not writing about beautiful spaces, she’s creating them. She has a side interior design and gardening business; she serves as president of her town’s gardening club; and she renovated her circa 1846 Connecticut farmhouse, where she lives with her husband and three sons. Career highlight: interviewing Taylor Swift for the cover of In Style.
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