Many homeowners dream of remodeling their current Long Beach home to make it exactly how they want it. This may involve changing up the home’s floorplan, adding square footage, or gutting their kitchen and bathrooms to give them better layouts and new fixtures. When done right, a home remodel can actually increase the value of your home above and beyond the price you pay for the remodel. This can make a Long Beach home remodel a great investment.
However, home remodels can come with a lot of fees and costs that you may not anticipate if you’ve never taken on this type of project before. Here are some typical costs associated with home remodels in Long Beach:
Title 24 Requirements for Long Beach Home Remodels
Title 24 is a portion of the California Building Standards Code that covers energy efficiency requirements in the construction of residential and commercial buildings. However, it does not just apply to brand new buildings. Title 24 standards can also kick in for certain residential remodels. If your remodel involves external changes or mechanical upgrades, the remodeled portion will have to comply with the latest energy efficiency standards. However, if your Long Beach home remodel is substantial enough, it may require that your entire home be brought up to Title 24 standards—not just the remodeled portion. This could add tens of thousands—even hundreds of thousands—of dollars in additional work to your remodeling project.
Talk to your Long Beach architect upfront about the cost of the required energy-efficient upgrades for your remodeling project. You may want to rethink or scale back your plans if your desired remodel will require you to upgrade your entire home to today’s energy efficiency standards.
What About Property Taxes?
When you pull a permit for a major remodel, your home will likely get reassessed for property tax purposes. The new assessment will be based on any “new construction” on your home. Here are some examples of home improvement projects that the Board of Equalization considers “new construction”:
- Increasing a home’s square footage
- Converting a garage/basement/attic into a living area
- Renovating an older structure to turn it essentially into a new structure
- Changing a home’s floorplan
- Upgrading a room’s finishes, plumbing, and/or electrical systems
As you can see, just about any home remodel is going to trigger a tax increase. However, only the portion of the property that you renovated should be subject to reassessment—not the property as a whole. So, for example, if you purchased your Long Beach home for $700,000 and the assessed value of the improvements (not necessarily the cost of the improvements) you made are $100,000, your property taxes would be based on a new home value of $800,000.
Other Fees for Long Beach Home Remodels
Remodeling a home in Long Beach can come with a whole host of additional fees—especially if your remodel involves adding square footage. There are impact fees and school fees, and if you live in a Coastal Zone, you should plan on having to pay for an additional permit from the California Coastal Commission. You may also have to pay for a soils report, a structural engineer, a Title 24 consultant, or another type of specialist, depending on the type of project you are taking on.
An experienced Long Beach architect should be able to give you a good idea of what types of fees you’ll be subject to once they have a good idea of the scope of your project.
