Free tool — rehab cost estimator

rehab cost estimator.
a range, never one number.

Enter square footage, pick a scope level, tick the big-ticket items, and this estimator returns a low-to-high renovation budget with the implied cost per square foot and a contingency line. Every dollar figure here is an illustrative national range. Rehab cost varies enormously by market, by the age and construction of the house, and by what crews are charging locally this month — so the honest output is a band, not a number that looks precise and is not.

the property

square footage

scope level

Cosmetic work plus cabinets, counters, tile and appliances. Systems stay where they are and mostly stay as they are.

big-ticket items

roof replacement$8,000 – $20,000HVAC system$6,000 – $14,000electrical panel or rewire$3,000 – $12,000plumbing repipe$4,000 – $15,000foundation repair$5,000 – $30,000windows, whole house$6,000 – $18,000kitchen, full replacement$12,000 – $35,000full bathrooms$6,000 – $18,000 each

Every figure on this page is an illustrative national range. Real cost swings enormously with market, age of the house, permit rules and what local labor is charging this month.

estimated rehab, all in

$56,500 – $116,500

$40–$83 per sq ft, contingency included · illustrative range only

where the money goes

standard scope · $25–$45/sq ft$35,000 – $63,000

roof replacement$8,000 – $20,000

HVAC system$6,000 – $14,000

subtotal before contingency$49,000 – $97,000

contingency (15–20%)$7,500 – $19,500

implied $/sq ft

$40 – $83

scope band

$25 – $45

big-ticket add-ons

$14,000 – $34,000

spread, low to high

107%

The only number that is not illustrative is a licensed contractor's written bid on this specific property, with a scope of work attached. Use this range to decide whether a listing is worth a walkthrough — never to decide what to pay for it.

Rehab costs · 101

Four scopes.
One honest range.

Where the per-square-foot bands come from, which line items quietly blow the budget, and why the contingency line is the one you never delete.

The formula.

Square footage × the cost-per-square-foot band for your scope, plus the big-ticket items that sit outside that band, plus 15–20% contingency. That is the entire calculation. Feed the result and an ARV you estimated properly into the 70% rule calculator and you have a maximum offer instead of a guess.

basesq ft × $/sq ft

then addbig-ticket items

then add15–20% contingency

How the scopes differ.

Cosmetic is paint, flooring and fixtures. Standard adds a kitchen and bath refresh. Heavy moves walls and replaces systems. Gut takes the house back to the studs and starts again. The brackets below are illustrative national figures and move a long way in either direction by market and by house age.

cosmetic$10–25 / sq ft

standard$25–45 / sq ft

heavy$45–75 / sq ft

gut$75–130 / sq ft

The mistake that ruins it.

Budgeting only the work you can see. The items that end flips are the ones a walkthrough hides — a collapsed main sewer line, old wiring behind intact plaster, a foundation that has been moving for thirty years, water damage under a bath floor. Contingency is what pays for those, and skipping it is a recurring theme in the deals that go wrong.

hiddensewer + structural

hiddenwiring + water damage

reserve15–20% minimum

FAQ

Before you budget.

Straight answers on what a rehab estimate can tell you — and where it stops.

— The headline number —

How much does it cost to rehab a house?

As an illustrative national range, most single-family rehabs land somewhere between about $10 and $130 per square foot depending on scope — roughly $15,000 for a cosmetic refresh on a small house, and well past $150,000 for a full gut on a large one. The band is that wide because market, house age, permit rules and local labor each move it hard.

— Per square foot —

What is a typical rehab cost per square foot?

Illustrative national brackets: about $10–$25 per square foot for cosmetic, $25–$45 for standard, $45–$75 for heavy, and $75–$130 for a full gut. Use them to sanity-check a bid, never as a quote — the same scope of work prices very differently city to city.

— Contingency —

How much contingency should I add?

Fifteen to twenty percent on top of the full scope, and more on anything built before 1960 or anything you have not had inspected. Contingency is not padding — it is the line that pays for whatever the walls were hiding.

— Contractor bids —

Do I still need a contractor bid?

Yes. An estimator like this one is for screening: deciding whether a listing is worth a walkthrough and roughly where the numbers could land. Before you commit money, get a licensed contractor’s written bid with a scope of work attached, and confirm permit and inspection requirements with your local building department.

Live · all 50 states

Screen the deal,
not just the rehab.

Verleon AI underwrites active listings nationwide — comps and ARV, a deal score, and the 70% rule on every property — so the rehab range you just built lands inside a deal that already pencils out.

Try Verleon AI →Run the flip numbers

rehab cost estimator.a range, never one number.

Four scopes.One honest range.