Build your log home for less then the cost of a kitchen remodel

A lot of people remodel their stick frame home at some point.  Often it’s either because they aren’t satisfied with some aspect of their home, or they want to try and build equity in their home.  The sad fact is most lose money when they remodel.  In fact, remodeling a home is usually so expensive, that many of our members build their entire log home from scratch for less than the cost of remodeling just one room in an existing stick frame home.  Let’s look at some numbers* and real life examples:

The average cost of a mid-range kitchen remodel  is $43,862*.  If you go to sell your home after the remodel, you usually recoup 91% of your ‘investment’ (or $39,920).  That means you actually lose money on the typical kitchen remodel when you go to sell your home.

Compare that price to what one of our student’s entire construction budget for his large log home.  Total cost: $40,000.  That’s right, it cost less for Larry to build a log home, than it does for the average kitchen remodel.  He also managed to do it without any mortgage.  And the good news is that he made approximately $390,000 profit when he sold the home.

Adding a bathroom is a popular remodel project.  The average cost of a bathroom addition is $22,977.  Statistically, you recoup 86.4% of that cost when you sell the home.  Again you end up losing money on the remodel.

Wow, so you spend over $22k on a new bathroom, and lose about $3k when you’re done.  Compare that to what our former students Sheri and Debbie spent building their log home.  Total construction costs: $20,000.  The current estimated value of that home is around $400,000.  Needless to say, Sheri and Debbie didn’t need a mortgage for their log home.

Many people with an unfinished basement end up deciding to make it into finished living space for their family to enjoy.  The average cost of that transformation is $51,051,  When selling the home you recoup 90.1% of the remodeling expense.  That’s a lot better than the bathroom addition, but you’re still losing money when you sell.

If you want to turn that $51k into profit, you could build a stunning log home like our student Jim did.  He spent a total of $55,000 for everything (including appliances and furnishing).  He doesn’t owe the bank a dime for building this home.  He’s currently having a great time living in his new log home, and has no plans for selling it.  He does have plans to build another one real soon, and we can’t wait to see his next project.

For more information about building a low cost – high quality log home check out the following articles:

• How to save 50% on building your log home
• Why you shouldn’t buy a log home kit
• What students say about our log home class
• View our class schedule

*All remodeling prices are from Remodeling Magazine’s 2005 report on national average costs of remodeling homes.  All prices are for a mid-range remodels, nothing too shabby, and nothing too fancy.  Here is the 2009-2010 data on remodel costs, prices are up.