Taking up a garage conversion project is a great way to take advantage of your home’s extra space and add value to your property. Transforming your garage into a functional living space is quite simple, but it doesn’t always come cheap. According to HomeAdvisor, you can expect to spend anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 to convert a basic two-car garage into a habitable area — but it could be cheaper or more expensive depending on your needs and preferences. Below is a cost breakdown of what you can expect to pay out-of-pocket on your garage conversion.
Building Permit
You’ll need to secure a building permit to allow you to go through with your project. The cost of this permit may be anywhere from $400 to $1,500 depending on where you live and what documents you need to acquire before you apply for one.
Insulation: Insulating your garage helps you save on energy costs. There are different materials and methods used to insulate a room, like fiberglass and spray foam, and they all come with varying price tags ranging from $500 to $3,000.
Doors, Walls, and Windows
If you’re turning your garage into a shed or personal gym, it might be more cost-effective to add a garage door or keep your existing one. More personal living spaces will otherwise need to have a wall built and add windows. Garage door installation and removal can cost upwards of about $800 to $1,500, while adding walls and windows in could set you back $600 to $1,500.
Flooring: Tiles can cost anywhere from $5 to $25 per square foot, depending on the style and material you’re buying. Labor costs for installing tiles range from $5 to $35 per square foot. Meanwhile, wall-to-wall carpeting ranges in price from between $2 and $8 per square foot, and the cost to install it is about $3 to $12 per square foot.
If you only want to level out the existing concrete flooring of your garage, then having a slab of concrete laid out or leveled can cost you about $1,000 to $1,500.
Heating & Cooling
Installing an HVAC system is another way to make your garage more habitable living space. The price range for installing ducts and vents is between $400 and $2,000 depending on the size of your home and garage space.
Plumbing: If you’re thinking of converting your garage into an extra bathroom or a kitchen, then you’ll have to install a plumbing system that will cost you between $300 and $2,000. You’ll also need to buy appliances, hardware, and furniture for this space too, which may set you back around $200 to $1,000.
Electricity: You probably already have a working electrical system in your garage, and you only need to install some extra lighting fixtures, outlets, and wiring to make it more accommodating as a living space. Labor and materials for these cost between $75 and $1000.
There are plenty of different factors that alter these expenditures, such as the size of your space, the kind of room you want to turn it into, the quality of materials, and the professionals you want to hire to help you out. This is just a general cost breakdown to give you a rough idea of how much you should expect to set aside for this kind of project.
