The Cost vs Value series on Hanley Wood Remodeling is a good resource at figuring out the potential return on investment on various popular home remodeling products. Their 2015 data gives homeowners the resale value of remodeling projects figured into the sale price at the time a house is sold. Here is the 2015 data for the Columbus, OH market. Today, we’ll be looking at the return-on-investment (ROI) of bathroom additions and remodels.
There are two categories of projects, those in midrange homes and upscale homes. In midrange homes, for both bathroom additions and bathroom remodels, homeowners found a 60% return on investment when they sold their homes. With upscale homes, both projects only recouped about 51 to 52 percent ROI.
The typical bathroom addition in the Columbus, Ohio metro cost about $40,000 and increased the average home’s resale value by about $24,000. On average, this addition involved building a full 6 x 8 foot bathroom over a crawlspace with poured concrete walls. Many of these bathrooms included cultured-marble vanity top with molded sink and standard chrome faucets. They featured 30 x 60 inch white fiberglass tub & shower with ceramic tile surround. Other features include white low-profile toilets, general & spot lighting, mirrored medicine cabinet, linen storage, painted trim and vinyl wallpaper. It also included electrical work bringing the home to code.
A typical bathroom remodel in Columbus, Ohio cost between $16,000 to $17,000 and recouped about $10,000 at resale. On average, this remodel was for an existing 5 x 7 foot bathroom. It includes replacing all fixtures with new tub and a tile surround. This average bathroom also gets a new standard white toilet, a solid-surface vanity counter with integrated sink, recessed medicine cabinet with light, a ceramic tile floor, and vinyl wallpaper. While your bathroom remodel doesn’t need to have these exact options, it shows what the typical remodeled Columbus, OH bathroom included. It also shows that the remodeled bathrooms do not include the same high-end features as many bathroom additions.
In upscale homes, bathroom additions cost about $75,000 to $76,000 and recouped about $40,000 at resale. Typically, they were 100 square foot master bathrooms attached to an existing master bedroom, usually over a crawlspace. These master baths would include larger shower stalls, customized whirlpool tubs, commode area, custom cabinets, and heated floors. Upscale bathroom remodels cost about $54,000 and recouped about $27,500 in resale value. They involved expanding an average 35 square foot into one about 100 square feet within the home’s existing footprint with similar features to the master bath additions.
What can we learn from this information? It shows what options are popular for bathroom additions and remodels in the Columbus market. The data also shows that your typical bathroom remodels all have essentially the same percentage of ROI, but less so in an upscale home. Basically, it’s a fairly good investment to add or remodel a bathroom. Truthfully, any home remodel should be done for the functional and emotional value to you and your family. Any costs you can recoup in your home’s eventual resale value are just an added bonus.