Market Research: Remodel for Love and Value

Your space is your sanctuary—a reflection of you and your layers—and yet, every now and then, you may need to refresh your sense of place. Cue the remodel. A remodel reconnects you to your home, but it can also draw in others: According to the 30th-anniversary edition of the Cost vs. Value report—an annual publication of www.remodeling.hw.net —selling your home within a year of a remodel often allows you to recoup your investment.

The nationwide report adopted griege as its color for 2017: the grey-beige mix, beyond being a hot hue right now, speaks to the subtle tone of the report itself. Instead of big and bright, the report suggests incremental improvements. Collecting data from 29 popular remodeling projects conducted in 99 markets nationwide, the average resale payback for a remodel project hovers around 64 cents on the dollar.

Several upscale projects—including bathroom remodels, master suites, two-story additions, grand entrances, and family rooms—reported the most significant year-over-year percentage increases in value, rising between 5.6 and 7.4%, although the costs of such projects outpaced the gains, which speaks to the continued recovery of the real estate market (the National Association of Realtors, the median price of an existing home rose 5.6% in September from the same time last year).

“In general, the hotter the market, the bigger the payback,” the report declares—great news for Teton County.

In our region—dubbed West North Central by the report and inclusive of Montana and Minnesota—top bang-for-buck upscale projects included replacing the front door (a 73.2% cost recoup) and doing a major kitchen remodel (57.2%). Master suite additions also fared well (55.2%) as did replacing windows (approx. 67% depending on the material). 

Above all, the report underscores the importance of making smart decisions in terms of materials as you make your way through a remodel, an attunement our sister design firm Snake River Interiors takes to heart. We want you to not only love the work being done to your space today but also enjoy the process knowing how your good decisions affect tomorrow's returns. Let us help you make wise choices.

View Snake River Interior's project portfolio.