Recent experiences and recommendations for an addition
We are exploring adding on to our 1250 sf home and wondering what recent experiences people have had with projects like this. We have a century-old California Craftsman and want to add on a 12' x 20' garage with a bedroom above (no bath) that would connect to the existing floor plan, which is at that height. We are hoping to get a sense of how much a project like this might cost today per sf.
Would also love recommendations for any architects or contractors you've worked with for similar projects. While we have a good idea of what we want to build—the lot is very constrained and we would be connecting the new room to the existing home, so there aren't too many iterations to consider—we need someone to help us think through some of the more challenging aspects like how to tie the roof for the addition into the roofline of the existing home in a way that will look appropriate, and how best to reconfigure the adjacent space in the existing home. (We will need to relocate a bathroom, reconfigure one of the existing closets, etc.) Do you have any tips or guidance based on recent (post-pandemic) projects like this? Thanks!
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We worked with Cari Designs (cari-designs.com) for architectural plans for an addition to our 1920 bungalow (design phase started August 2023 and project was completed July 2024). Our process with Cari was great — she kept things simple (exactly what we wanted) and her knowledge re: city permitting processes helped move things along.
TODAY'S SAD NEWS IS: Just now, with chaos -- utter confusions -- about tariffs, even respected experienced professionals have no way of making estimates that they can turn into contracts! Everything about stick-building is not predictable, just now!
We added a bathroom and bedroom to our existing house in Richmond and used Troy Construction for the build. It was quite an undertaking, but Bulent, the contractor, was absolutely wonderful! He is personable, kind, honest, doesn’t upsell, and tells it like it is. His crew is fantastic, and Bulent stays involved. He checks in with us frequently and is on site all the time.
He also helped us find a great architect, Kevin (can’t remember his last name!), who had worked with Bulent personally on a home project of his own. Kevin did a wonderful job bringing our dream vision to life and made the process much smoother.
We were so impressed that we hired Bulent again to remodel our kitchen and expand our deck. I was really nervous about adding onto our house. I worried we would regret it, ruin the layout, or waste a ton of money. But it turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve made.
We’ve recommended Bulent to a friend who did a basement remodel and to a neighbor who had extensive work done. Both were very happy with the results. I'd be happy to pass along their contact info if you'd like.
We definitely recommend calling Bulent. Feel free to email me if you want more details: debg325 [at] yahoo.com (debg325[at]yahoo[dot]com)
https://www.troy-construction.com/