Often the price of a home improvement project goes hand-in-hand with how important the repairs are. As stressful as that can be, you still need to make sure repairs such as these get fixed as soon as possible, and before serious damage happens. If an issue presents itself, and you can’t pay out of pocket, there’s always home renovation financing options to help you get the most expensive home improvement projects when you need them.
Are you a first-time homeowner looking to learn before something becomes a problem? Or are you a long-term owner who’s been lucky but is unsure what some of these projects might look like in the future? Either way, here’s a few important examples of the most expensive home improvement projects to look out for and attend to before it’s too late.
Roofing
Topping the list of one of the most expensive home improvement projects, is replacing a roof. The importance of taking care of your home’s roof cannot be understated. Letting a leaky roof go unattended for years can cause major issues throughout your entire home if water starts to leak from the roof. Depending on the state of the roof and what kind of damage it has, if any, repairing it can cost anywhere from a few thousand to upwards of $40K.
On average, a full roof replacement can be expected to cost between $20K – $30K for shingles and around $10K – $15K more for a mental roof. If you aren’t sure of the differences, in short, a metal roof does cost more upfront but typically lasts longer than it’s asphalt counterpart and requires less maintenance throughout the duration of its life.
HVAC
For those unaware, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) covers everything that involves heating, cooling, and filtering the air within your home. A full HVAC replacement is one of the most expensive home improvement projects costing between $5K – $10K. While it might seem like a luxury for those living in a comfortable climate, it could very well be a necessity for those living in areas where it’s either very hot or very cold throughout the parts of the year.
What your climate is like will determine the exact system you’ll want to get and therefore the costs associated with it. Thankfully, the price mentioned earlier is for a full install and typically maintenance will not run the same price tag. Depending on what repairs might be needed, the cost will typically run in the hundreds of dollars or less range, and only something absolutely major will be more costly than that.
Kitchen
Another of the most expensive home improvement projects is a kitchen renovation. The average cost to keep in mind for a kitchen renovation is around $125 per square foot but thankfully the amount you spend is slightly more up to you than the other projects mentioned here. While it’s quite easy to spend upwards of $50K making your current kitchen into the kitchen of your dreams, if that’s not in the budget, you can still make it a happier place to be in while not spending as much.
You can break a project like this into the things you need and what you want. For example, if the oven goes on you, you’ve got to replace it. But if you simply want to replace those laminate countertops because you don’t like the way they look, that is something that is more of a want. Likewise, if the money you have for the project goes more quickly than you expected, you can always decide to keep the cabinets you have and just throw a new coat of paint on them so the kitchen can still feel fresh.