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How to Get Home Addition Estimates
Obtaining Home Addition Estimates starts with
a Solid Home Addition Plan
By: Mark J. Donovan
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A home addition is an excellent way
to expand your home’s living space. The key secret on how to get home addition
estimates that are both accurate and within your budget is to first develop your
own set of home addition plans and requirements.
Develop a Set of Home Addition
Plans
To obtain accurate home addition
estimates start by specifying the size of your home addition, and the location
of it relative to your existing home. As part of this process, you may need to
contact your local town zoning board or building inspector to fully understand
what size of a home addition you can build and where you can locate it relative
to your existing home and property. |
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Use a few stakes and string to
mark the corner boundary points of your home addition. This exercise can be
a useful for judging the size of your home addition and for helping get home
addition estimates. Contractors that meet with you at your home can quickly
obtain a better feel of the size and location of the home addition by seeing
it staked out.
With the size and location of
your home addition identified, continue to add detail and dimensional
information to your home addition plans. Make sure to include information on
interior walls, door and window sizes and locations, and roof lines. |
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Another important home addition
planning task is to develop a separate list of key features and materials you
want to have in the home addition.
By developing a thorough set of home
addition plans, along with a list of key features and materials, you will be
able to get home addition price quotes that are more accurate for your home
addition project. |
How to Get Home Addition Estimates from Contractors
The first step in getting home
addition estimates is to find a few local contractors to bid on your home
addition project. You can check the yellow pages, call friends and neighbors who
have recently had home remodeling work done on their home, or use a national
home addition contractor referral company.
Home addition
contractor referral companies are excellent resources for finding
qualified, and pre-screened, home addition contractors. Contractors in their
database have been thoroughly vetted out to determine if they are reputable.
There is no cost to the homeowner for using one of these home addition
contractor referral companies. You simply fill out an online form for your
unique home addition needs and they will pass on your information to 3 or 4
local contractors in your area. The home addition contractors will then contact
you to set up a time to meet with you and go over your specific home addition
plans.
When interviewing potential home
addition contractors make sure you check their references. Typically the longer
the reference list that a contractor provides to you the more likelihood that he
has a solid reputation. A long reference list usually means that he is proud of
his work and has a longer history in the business. However, don’t go by just the
length of the list, call 3 to 4 of the references. Contact a couple references
that were associated with projects done recently and then another couple that
were completed 2-5 years ago. You may also want to check with your local Better
Business Bureau and confirm that the contractor is licensed in your state.
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To help obtain home addition
estimates that are accurate and within your budget, see my
Home
Addition Bid Sheets. My Home Addition Bid Sheets include
checklist forms that you can provide to prospective building contractors. These
home addition checklist forms allow you to get consistent quotes so that you can
do apple to apple comparisons. The Home Addition Bid Sheets also include
comprehensive
home addition cost breakdown tables, in
Microsoft Excel format, that allow contractors to specify projected home
addition estimates for every stage of the project. |
Photo by Mark Donovan |
After receiving home addition
estimates from your prospective building contractors it is important to study
them and confirm their cost estimates for the various building materials. You
may also want to visit your local home improvement center to compare material
costs with their home addition estimates.
By studying and comparing the
multiple contractor home addition estimates and bids, you can determine which
one is the most suitable home addition contractor for your project.
So to conclude, the secret on how to
get a home addition estimate begins with a solid set of home addition plans and
finding qualified home addition contractors.
For more help on building a home addition, see HomeAdditionPlus.com's
Home
Addition Bid Sheets.
Our
Home
Addition Bid Sheets
provide you with the knowledge and information on how to plan a home addition project,
and what to look for when hiring contractors. They
also include detailed cost breakdown tables and spreadsheets for estimating
your own new home addition building costs.
How to Finance your Home Remodeling Project -
can help provide funds for your new home improvement project if financing is
required.
Related Building Home Addition Articles
Additional Home Addition Resources from Amazon.com
Get
Home Addition Estimates for Free with No Obligation!
Fill out our 3-5 minute quick and easy form, and receive a free Home Addition
Price Quote from one of our prescreened and licensed home addition contractors.
This process is free and there is no obligation to continue once you receive
your home addition estimate.
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