Home Renovation Cost Calculator

Renovating your home can be costly and stressful—but also exciting. No matter whether you’re planning a small cosmetic refresh or a major remodel, one big question always comes to mind: "How much will it cost?".

That’s where our Home Renovation Cost Calculator comes in. Instead of guessing, the calculator estimates your cost using real factors like home area, finish quality, project scope (cosmetic refresh or full gut), systems upgrades, and region.

In this guide, we cover:

• What is the Home Renovation Cost Calculator?
• How is home renovation cost calculated?
• A real-world example

Let’s walk through it step by step with logic, formulas, and an example.

What Is Home Renovation Cost Calculator?

Using paper and pencil to estimate home renovation cost can be stressful and time-consuming. To make things easier, we built the Home Renovation Cost Calculator for homeowners and contractors to accurately estimate how much a renovation might cost.

The calculator uses up-to-date market pricing and real-world factors to provide an accurate estimate based on the inputs you provide. It uses:

• Home area (square feet)
• Finish level: Basic, Midrange or Upscale
• Project scope: Cosmetic refresh, Partial remodel or Full gut
• Systems upgrade level: None, Some updates or Extensive upgrades
• Region

How Is Home Renovation Cost Calculated?

The calculator uses per-square-foot formulas and real-world factors to estimate the total renovation cost. Let’s walk through a real-world example:

Imagine you want to renovate a 1,500 ft² home with midrange finishes and a partial remodel.

Here is the step-by-step calculation:

1. Materials:
   • 1,500 × $110 (midrange) = $165,000
   • Fixtures & lighting = 1,500 × $8 = $12,000
   • Subtotal = $177,000
2. Labor:
   • 1,500 × $60 × 1.0 (partial remodel) × 1.0 (midrange) = $90,000
3. Region factor (West +11%):
   • Materials + labor = $267,000 × 1.11 ≈ $296,370
4. Permits (2%): ≈ $5,927
5. Contingency (10%): ≈ $30,229

Finally, we get:

• Total Renovation Cost = $332,526
• Cost per ft² = ~$222

We estimate that renovating a 1,500 ft² home at a midrange level will cost about $360,549, with a unit cost ≈ $240/ft².