So I’m thinking about having the house remodeled a bit, but I have no clue where to even begin. I have a few ideas on what could be done, but I have no idea which ones are feasible and would provide the biggest benefit for the buck. Basically, I’m looking to either expand all the bedrooms (they all share a common outside wall) or to add a second story or to add another room entirely.
Do I start with an architect or a general contractor to come out and tell me what I can/cannot possibly do? How much of an idea do I need to have of what I’d like to have done before I call these people? In other words, do I need to know if I want to add a second floor, or can I just tell them that I’m looking to add more room to the house and then get ideas from them?
I bought one of those “home design” software packages to see what things would look like with different designs, but so far I’m not impressed with how things are represented.
Considering you have no fixed idea of what you want, I’d say the first thing to do is to talk to an architect. This is what they’re trained for, after all. The more information you can give them about what you want, the better, of course, but an architect will be able to go over the pros and cons of all of your options and help you decide which way to go. An architect will cost you between 5% and 15% of the total cost of the remodelling (according to Hometime on PBS), but it will be well worth it.
You also need to check with your municipal government’s planning division to see if any zoning laws prevent what you are planning, and to find out what permits you need to have before construction starts. An architect should help you with all that.
Adding an extention or a second floor to your home is also going to require a professional contractor (and numerous subcontractors) if you’re not very familiar with house construction (which you say you aren’t).
“Do I start with an architect or a general contractor to come out and tell me what I can/cannot possibly do?”
I wouldn’t.
“How much of an idea do I need to have of what I’d like to have done before I call these people?”
You should have a good idea of what you want done or no more than two or three alternatives.
“In other words, do I need to know if I want to add a second floor, or can I just tell them that I’m looking to add more room to the house and then get ideas from them?”
Unless you know an unusually imaginative builder, I wouldn’t ask a builder for suggestions. And a builder will have trouble telling you whether a plan is feasible unless you can describe it reasonably fully. A builder can give you a cost estimate based on a general idea (e.g., a second floor of 1500 sq ft) but unless you describe what you want in some detail it will be a very rough estimate based on the builder’s past jobs and may not be very accurate if you’re tastes are different from those of the builders usual clients (e.g., you’re thinking hand-made tile and she’s thinking linoleum).
I recently added a master bedroom with bath and a solarium to my house. We had a vague idea of what we wanted (e.g., more room including at least one bedroom) and asked an architect for ideas. He had several ideas but when we finally built we used an idea that I came up with much later, rather than any of his ideas. Once I had pretty much figured out where to put the addition and how big it should be, we got an architect to do some drawings and discussed feasibility with him. Everything was feasible. We subsequently got a builder to do it who didn’t really seem to have a lot of use for architects but he gave us a few good suggestions as we went along.
I think when you plan an addition you need to think not only about how much it will cost, but you need to consider equally how much value it will add to your house. For example, if you have a nice looking but small 3 BR 2 bath house in a good neighborhood of 4 BR, 3 bath houses you might be able to add a BR and bath and increase the value of your house by 70% of what you spend on the addition. On the other hand, if you’ve got one of the largest and nicest houses in your neighborhood and you just increase the size of each of 4 bedrooms by 50 sq feet you might not increase the value by much compared with what it will cost.
IMHO, there are a couple of really important things to consider in an addition:
Stairs take an enormous amount of room.
Find out how much room you can add before you need to replace your heating and AC or add a second system.
Think about how the roof of the addition will be tied into the existing roof.
Where will the pipes and wires run?
Does your plan conflict with any local building codes or covenants?