On Aug 22, 7:36 am, OldRoads wrote:
On Aug 21, 8:20 pm, Richard Thoms richard[at]topservicepros[dot]com
wrote:

I think it would be way less than that. Maybe around $10k (of course it depends on where you live). Think of it in terms of sq ft. Around here houses go for ~$100/ft2 (fully finished and including the lot)

I guess an average (two-car) garage is about 400-500 ft2. So fully built from scratch, that much square feet finished out would be $40-50k. But you already have the land, the excavation, the slab, the roof, windows etc. All you need is to convert the garage door into wall/windows and of course the interior work. So I'm estimating (really dangerous) about only 25% work remains so about 25% the cost of the full build so about $25/ft2 - say about $10k

So take the average price per foot in your area and try about 1/4 of that.

Of course all of this is just a wild guess. Best to find a neighbor who has had similar work done and of course find a home improvement contractor who can give you a getting started estimate.

--
Richard Thoms
President - Top Service Pros, Inc.
Connecting Homeowners and Local Service Professionalshttp://www.TopServicePros.com

Yep, 3/4 bath, you're right.
We're looking to create a place for us to stay a couple times a
month. We have other rentals in this town, but live 75 miles away.

The space is 450 sq ft. How do I find out the cost per sq ft of new
contruction in this town?
If I take the cost of the property, and divide it by the sq ft of the
house, the price comes to $222/sq ft.
Is that any indication of the cost of a conversion?
Using 1/4 of that puts the cost at $25k to do the job.

Vin - Menotomy Vintage Bicycleshttp://OldRoads.com

There are so many variables here that it's very difficult to get any
realistic estimate without getting actual quotes. Using the avg cost
of new construction isn't much use either. A whole house has lots of
space that is lower cost, eg bedrooms, family room, and some that are
high cost, eg kitchen, bathroom. In your case, you're going to have a
lot of kitchen/bath for the total space which is small. During new
construction, routing plumbing is easy. Whith a garage with a
concrete floor, it's a lot different. Any one of these things can
vary 2X. For example, what size service and panel do you have? If
the service is too small, now you need to upgrade that, as opposed to
just adding on which is less expensive.

Having said all that, my guess is that it's going to be a lot more
than $10K, and the $25K number seems more likely.