Northern California Home Renovation Cost Trends in 2024

Across our recent portfolio of projects between the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe region, we’re starting to see some general cost trends emerge for common home improvement line items like flooring, wall resurfacing, kitchen and bathroom renovations.

If you’re thinking about bringing a 90’s style space into the 2020’s, these data points might help inform your planning process. No gatekeeping here!

Flooring:

Engineered wood plank flooring seems to be the go-to choice for most homeowners. Mid-toned oaks (think light brown sugar or caramel) are on the rise after a few years of gray hues. Whitewashed tones are over, maple is winding down and we’re seeing a strong aversion to anything overly orange-toned. Our clients are paying anywhere between $7-9 per square foot for engineered wood plank, though it is often available at big box stores for less. Installation costs are running between around $4-8, location dependent, per square foot.

Wall Resurfacing:

High-end clients hope to achieve a Level 5 finish wall texture. Removing the “popcorn” spray that was ubiquitous several decades ago is a laborious process. The process by which even subtle imperfections on existing wall surfaces can be fixed (assuming the space isn’t being taken down to the studs or structurally altered) is with a skim coat of joint compound, commonly referred to as drywall mud. Once applied, the surface is sanded, then typically re-coated (and re-sanded) and eventually primed, then touched up again…

This work is highly detailed and requires weeks to complete. Expect spaces of around 1,000 feet to cost upwards $10,000 to $12,000 to level and smooth. Paint costs (labor and materials) will likely end up being similar, especially for higher-end interior paint.

Kitchen Renovations:

Replacing cabinets are one of the largest cost-drivers of any kitchen project. For a small kitchen, high-end European made luxury brand cabinets will often exceed $75,000. To save money, we often encourage clients to consider repainting cabinets (generally at a cost of around $3,000 to $5,000) and replacing the hardware with new pieces between $4-15 per piece. A typical small kitchen might have around 30 pieces of hardware. On occasion, we consider replacing the cabinet doors and drawer fronts to significantly modify the look.

Mid-high end appliances (Bosch, Miele, Fisher Paykel) will often add $20,000 (or more) to your tab.

Stone slabs (porcelain, quartz, marble) are averaging $2,000 to $4,000 a slab for basic designs. Most kitchens with islands will need 3 slabs. Fabrication costs to cut and deliver stone vary wildly. In San Francisco, costs can approach or exceed $10,000 for a small kitchen. The Lake Tahoe region seems to have better pricing in our recent observation. Do be advised that fabricating with porcelain slabs will add a 20-30% cost premium as this material is more delicate and takes longer to cut.

Bathroom Renovations:

What we’re seeing with small bathroom projects (by small we mean those under 100 square feet) is that whatever your materials expenses are, the contractor costs are likely to come in at 2-2.5x. Typical capital outlay for bathroom projects includes the purchase of a new vanity, mirror, lighting, tile (flooring, wall, and shower), tub, toilet (and possibly bidet system), hardware (such as hooks, towel bars and towel rings, toilet paper holders, etc), shelving, shower glass, and possibly things like replacement doors, windows, and fans. In general, these materials costs rarely exceed $15,000 and are usually closer to $10,000 unless there is a lot of custom stone slab work (ie: shower walls, sinks, heated floors).

The devil is in the details with bathrooms. These small projects require demo, plumbing, electrical, carpentry, waterproofing, painting, stone, tile, and glass installation. There is better economy of scale when you can keep these small trades busy with concurrent tasks, so per-unit pricing power favors the client when you are undertaking concurrent bathroom remodels. Even then, there seems to be an upper limit on potential savings of around 15-20%.

Summary:

As a full-service design firm, we can help you build a project budget and better understand the full picture of expenses you may encounter when undertaking a home design project. Working with a designer will help you achieve best prices and efficiently access trusted in-market labor. To learn more, email lindsay@sleeksf.com.