Your Questions About How Much Does It Cost To Brick A House

Richard asks…

How can I estimate the value of my home’s contents?

I am trying to get a value of my net worth. I inherited a large brick Victorian house filled with all the stuff my mom collected over the years (artwork, Depression & other glass, china and numerous knickknacks. Some might be valuable, a lot is probably junk. Home appraisers charge so much to do estimates, it has put me off – it would probably cost as much to hire this service as the value of the estate. Any advice on how to proceed?

Mr. Thin Brick answers:

First of all you will have to go thru all those things and record them in a book as to who you got it from and when and any notations as to the painters name or any other identifying marks (plus the kind of frame they’re in) and then take pictures of those things. Some people choose to do a video. You might want to do both (pictures so you don’t need electronics to see them). Make two sets of the pictures and keep one in your safety deposit box. Then because these are things you will be insuring you’d need proof from an appraiser (not a home appraiser) so call a museum in your area and ask about who to get and the cost. Then before those items get stolen before you get them insured you need to act quickly to get them appraised and then insured pronto. That’s the only way. It’s the way people who have valuables to it. Otherwise see if the museum will pay for those that are worth something. Maybe you could rent them to the museum (so it would be insured by them and in their possession) but it might be for a period of time and then they’d be returned to you and you’d be back at space one in asking what to do, but in the process of renting to the museum you could ask them for figures on paper as to how much they insured them for (and that will give your insurance company a clue as to how much you want to insure them for).

I wanted a pink depression plate and one place on ebay saw it for $25 and another place that same year saw a dozen of them for $25. The group of them did not look like knockoffs. So see, the price varies. So talk with the museum.

Mark asks…

How much would this home construction cost?

My family and I are looking into purchasing a new home. One of the homes that we have seen with our realtor is in the neighborhood that we want to be in. The home is 5000 square feet, and is 2 story. This home is a foreclosure, and is about a 3rd of the cost of the other homes in this area. The problem with this is that in the 5 years that it has been bank owned (with little or no care) and poor construction has led to some MAJOR problems. First of all this homes construction is EIFS (dryvit) and we have been told that it would have to be removed, and most likely replaced with brick. The roof has also had some holes in it, and there is some water damage on the second floor ceiling in one room, which has actually caused a portion the floor to collapse into the bottom floor in this specific room. Another thing we noticed walking through the second floor of this house is that it is “dipping down” in some ares, it looks as though it is sinking into the bottom floor in a few rooms upstairs. It would also need paint, new flooring, appliances, and fixtures, but I know these are more low cost repairs. So my question is, what would the cost be to do the following: remove the EIFS siding and replace with brick, new roof, water damage repair including the collapsed floor (in one room), and the “sinking floor” in some rooms upstairs.

Also here is a picture of the house (don’t know if this helps). http://www.flickr.com/photos/69503953@N06/6317160182/

Mr. Thin Brick answers:

Contact a contractor in your area for a good quote.

Where I am, new construction/remodel is $100/ sq ft.

Sandra asks…

painting outside of my house help!?

Ok the outside of my house needs to be painted really badly my family knows a professional painter that is willing to do it I just have to buy the stuff. My house is mostly brick the only things that need to be painted are about 5 sets of shutters,the columns (about 4 sets of those), and the front and back porch. Anybody have any idea how many gallons that I need to buy? How much this will cost me? Thanx in advance!

Mr. Thin Brick answers:

Any painter will be able to take the necessary measurements and give you an estimate on the square footage, and the square footage tells you how much paint you need.

Get more than one estimate. Tell each contractor that you are taking bids – when they know they’re competing for the job, they’ll give the best bid they can. Each bid will be fair. Get four, toss out the highest and the lowest and choose one of the middle two.

And there’s always the question: why are you hiring this done? Painting is easy. Since it’s a bunch of features on your house and not the entire house, it’s even easier: you can take on just what you can complete in a weekend.

Michael asks…

How much does it cost (ballpark) to build a guest house in North Florida if I already have the land?

There is some land nearby I’m thinking of buying. They say when you build, you can have one home and one mother-in-law/guest cottage connected to the main house by a covered walkway.

But, I cannot afford to build a house right now — and I can’t afford to invest in something I cannot live in. Yet I really want to do this if I can think of a way.

I was thinking maybe I could save money by building the mother-in-law suite, living in that for a few years (2 people – no kids), and THEN building the house when I had the money!

Or, selling the property with just the guest cottage on site (if I move).

If I buy the land (in subdivision/underground utilities, city water, paved roads, etc.), I want to know:

1) Would it really save me money to go this route and have the guest cottage built and not the main house?

2) Could such a cottage be built decently (pref brick/wood floors/ 1 bedroom/ 1.5 bath w. loft & deck) for less than $100K?

I live in North Florida. Thanks

Mr. Thin Brick answers:

There are several things to consider. First see if the land has any restrictions on it. Such as the minimum size house that can be built. Where I live the Min for a one level is 1200sq ft. Second, see if there is a time limit on when you have to begin and/or finish construction.

One option to consider is to see if a small trailer can be placed there as a temp home and see again if there are time limits.
The $100K you are looking at, you didn’t give any size of the unit. Construction costs depending on the exact area may be between $125 and up per sq ft. Another option if it can be done is to build a shell. You finish the inside, cabinets, plumbing as much as you can. Your labor is cheap when compared to a contractors.

Hope this helped.

Thomas asks…

How much does it cost to make this beach dream house in Peru?

The house is i want to make is 160 m2 in length & width on the ground, it has 2 floors with garage, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and on the roof an extra service room & bathroom. What material should I use and which is cheapest: Concrete, bricks, dry-wall, wood? Or something else? I like concrete the best but I don’t know the prices. That seems to be the material most used for houses in Peru. I already have the land to build on. I want to know how much things cost seperately; for an architect to do a complete floorplan and whatever else they do, the engineer/contractors/constructors and the material to build the house with. And do you have to pay for the transportation of the material each time or do the builders take care of that for you? And obviously I want one figure of how much it will cost to complete? I have about $10 000 and can maybe put in a little more if I absolutely had to.

Mr. Thin Brick answers:

Cool, you have 10 K, and you think you’ll build a house? Cool !!

I like dreamers like you