From these calculations, it is an easy matter to take the outside dimensions of a house you are considering remodeling and compute its cubical content.  Then you can ask your architect whether it can be remodeled as you wish for a price competitive with building a new house of like design and equal size.  In order for this to mean anything, you should determine what proportion of the price paid for the property represents land value and what reflects the existence of the structure itself.  As a simple example, we will concede that land in the neighborhood is held at $500 an acre and you can buy a five-acre tract with a house on it for $3,750.  Here $2,500 represents land value, and $1,250 house value.  The question resolves itself into comparing remodeling costs plus house value with those for a new house of like size and kind.

If so much must be replaced or rearranged that the figures for house and remodeling are in excess of those for a new structure, the wise course would be to abandon the idea and build instead.  But the old house may have certain details that make you willing to bear the added expense.  If so, you at least know the comparative costs and have definite standards by which to shape your course.

From personal observation, we believe that there are many instances where the total cost of house and rejuvenation is considerably below that of a new structure.  Since confession stories are just as fascinating in home building as in the lurid fiction of the woodpulp magazines, we cite the experience of a family that bought a home nearly two years ago within the New York commuting zone.  They were a larger family than the average and the house, of desired size, had once been a stagecoach halfway tavern.  It contained twenty-two rooms and was in better than average condition.  The exterior had been given two coats of white paint less than six months before.

The price for this old place, including twenty-two acres of land and a barn usable for garage and chicken house, was $8,200.  According to actual record, only $2,798 was spent on remodeling.  There were almost no structural changes required.  Two minor partitions were removed and five new windows cut.  Otherwise, this expenditure was largely devoted to the introduction of plumbing, heating, and lighting.  By type of work, the costs for this remodeling were as follows: 

    Two bathrooms, each complete with shower;
    a kitchen sink and laundry tub $590.00

    Heating system, including steam boiler, piping
    and 25 radiators, totaling 630 feet of radiation 889.00

    Water system, cleaning well, installing pump
    and 500 gallon storage tank 218.00

    Electric wiring entirely of armored cable and
    lighting fixtures 306.00

    Sewage system complete with septic tank and
    disposal fields 230.00