How Much Does it Cost to Build a Duplex

A Duplex house is very common in suburban areas. Usually, it is one big house divided into two apartments with separate entrances for each house. There are other duplexes that also has side-by-side apartments built on a single lot that shares a common wall. These type of living space is highly popular in areas where space is limited and competes with apartments in most locations. The cost to build a duplex will differ depending on the area you are living as well as the number of floors, room and the size of the lot.

Cost Of Building A Duplex House

Many duplex projects are built on a pre-existing structure but there are others who intentionally built a duplex for renting purpose. A duplex can appear in a free-standing structure with two doors or dwellings but their walls are separated and they only touch on the floors or the ceiling. The duplex building costs have various aspect that needs to be considered.

Building a duplex is cheaper compared to building a complete house. The cost of the lot is cheaper because it does not occupy too much space and people are interested in buying this type of housing because they can get the best location but at a lower cost.

Say you live in the Arizona area and plans to build a 2 story duplex house on a 1400 square foot house. The exterior is made up of a stone veneer finish with no basement, the estimated cost of the duplex will be $84,726.32 but this does not include the 25% contractor fee, 7% design fee and a contingency plan of 5%. If so, the total cost of the whole duplex with the additional fees will cost $116,075.06 or $82.91 per square foot.

Let us say that you have the same setup, size, and location but you plan to include a basement to your duplex house. If this is your design concept then the total cost of building will be $145,093.82 or 103.64 per square feet. This already includes the contractor fee worth $26,476.97 and the design and lay outing of the house which cost $7,413.55 as well as the other contingency cost of $5,295.39.

But take note the price of a duplex house will differ depending on the location that you are building it. As a comparison, let us take a look at how much will it cost to build a duplex with the same features but building it in a highly develop area such as New York.

If you are building a 1400 square feet 2 story house right at the heart of New York City, you will have to shell a larger amount compared to the first location, and the duplex still has the exterior made up of a stone veneer finish with no basement. The estimated cost of the project will be $129,993.58 plus the additional contractor, design, and contingency, it will total to $ 178,091.20 or 127.21 per square feet. As you can see, there is a difference of around $62,000 just because they are built on different locations. The state or area that you build the duplex will really matter.

Let us say that the same house is built with a finished basement, how much would it cost? The duplex building costs built in New York with the same feature will cost $ 222,614.00. This already includes the contractor fee, design, and contingency fee. The total cost is estimated at $159.01 per square feet. There is a difference of around $100,000 of the cost and this usually factors on the zoning fee, permits, cost of materials and other factors that affect the total cost of the building.

But who would have known that building a duplex house in Jackson, Tennessee can be cheaper compared to the one built in Arizona? If you build a 2 story duplex house on a 1400 square foot lot in Jackson with a stone veneer exterior and no basement, the total cost of the project will be $102,623.22 or $ 73.30 per square feet. If you chose to include a basement, the total cost will likely be just around $ 128,279.02 or $ 91.63 per square feet. That cost is really cheap and you can save as much as $20,000 on the cost of building a duplex building.

Cost of Remodeling A Duplex House

If you opt to buy a pre-existing Duplex House and just plans to do some remodeling on the interior and exterior part of the house, it is important that you know the cost of building a duplex from a pre-existing setup.

One of the most common remodeling options is to repaint the exterior of the wall. The cost to paint your exterior will cost you around $1,719.04 to $3,640.77 for the whole project. This already includes the cost of the paint which will be around $392.74 to $539.25, the cost of labor if you plan to hire one will be $999.29 to $2,433.58, the materials and supplies that you need for the job which will be at $98.97 to $112.57 as well as the cleaning of the surface and power wash which will cost you $228.05 to $555.37.

Aside from the painting, you may also need to rewire the house and do the plumbing as well. The cost of rewiring will depend on how many wirings you need to be installed. Let us say you need to do 5 wirings, then the total cost of the project will be $1,241.10 to $1,497.93 this already includes the labor cost which consumes most of your budget at $750.18 to $909.31.

The job takes around 9 hours to finish and you are paying the electrician per hour. It also includes the wires and supplies that you will need worth $86.33 to $98.20. You will also have the option to add an AFCI Circuit Protection to protect your home from circuit breakage and other safety precautions. This protection will cost you $404.59 to $490.41.

You may also want to remodel the floors of your duplex. Say you plan to remodel the first floor of your 850 square feet home, the total cost of the project will be around $73,105 to $94,632. This will already include the materials and fixtures, as well as the labor cost which takes most of the cost at $41,737 to $58,632 as well as the project supplies which totals to $23,031 to $26,241. The estimated amount uses basic builder grade and includes the perimeter foundation as well as framing.

There is an advantage in buying and living a duplex house. One of the advantages is that you get a tax benefit because there are two owners of one house and you can get a tax write-off for it. The mortgage is also cheap compared to buying a complete house. If you buy the whole duplex, it would mean that you have an extra space on the other side which you can rent out and earn as well. You can either rent it for a monthly or contractual fee or you can rent it out to possible tourist via Airbnb. If you are not comfortable with having someone living right next to your wall then you can easily convert the other side into your own personal working space or office. Less commute and more work done.