Homeowners in Alexandria, Manassas, and Woodbridge get the biggest return on their home remodeling investments when they add a screened-in porch addition, a recent analysis of remodeling projects finds.
The ROI of Your Home Remodel study released in January by Today’s Homeowner, a home improvement firm that has a syndicated TV show, analyzed 70,000 homes in nearly 1,300 cities across 34 projects.
While nationally none of the projects showed a return on investment above 100 percent, that was not the case in Northern Virginia.
The report found that Alexandria, Manassas, and Woodbridge homeowners who added a screened-in porch that was 16 feet long, 20 feet wide, and 14 feet high to an existing deck or patio recouped more than 100 percent of their investment. A porch addition ranked as the No. 1 suggested improvement, based on return on investment.
In Alexandria, homeowners recovered 140 percent of the cost of a $16,810 porch, while in Woodbridge the ROI was 123 percent on a $17,060 porch. In Manassas, the recovery was 110 percent for an $18,893 porch. A screened-in porch addition ranked No. 2 in Fairfax and Fredericksburg, with 101 percent and 114 percent of the cost recovered, respectively.
The remodeling project that returned the most in Fairfax turned out to be garage door replacement, where homeowners recovered 105 percent of the cost of a $2,523 door.
In Fredericksburg, the biggest bang for the buck came from replacing fiber-cement siding. That returned 114 percent of what homeowners spent.
Across the nation, garage door replacements ranked the highest in return on investment at 100 percent, but overall, remodeling projects recouped 69 percent of their costs. Rounding out the top five remodeling projects with the best returns nationally are wood window replacements, screened-in porch additions, fiber-cement siding replacements, and vinyl siding replacements.
Some of the key findings from the report:
- The average cost recovered for exterior projects is 23 percent higher than interior ones.
- Kitchen appliances and counters may help home values the most.
- Half of the luxury upgrade projects the analysis reviewed had an ROI of 50 percent or lower.
- Projects that added square footage showed diminishing returns.
Here are the top three projects across these Northern Virginia cities, according to the report.
- No. 1: Screened-in porch — 140 percent of cost recovered
- No. 2: Fiber-cement siding replacement — 136 percent of cost recovered
- No. 3: Vinyl siding replacement — 127 percent of cost recovered
Fairfax
- No. 1: Garage door replacement — 105 percent of cost recovered
- No. 2: Screened-in porch addition — 101 percent of cost recovered
- No. 3: Fiber-cement siding replacement — 100 percent of cost recovered
Fredericksburg
- No. 1: Fiber-cement siding replacement — 114 percent of cost recovered
- No. 2: Screened-in porch addition — 114 percent of cost recovered
- No. 3: Garage door replacement — 108 percent of cost recovered
Manassas
- No. 1: Screened-in porch addition — 110 percent of cost recovered
- No. 2: Fiber-cement siding replacement — 109 percent of cost recovered
- No. 3: Garage door replacement — 105 percent of cost recovered
Woodbridge
- No. 1: Screened-in porch addition — 123 percent of cost recovered
- No. 2: Fiber-cement siding replacement — 118 percent of cost recovered
- No. 3: Vinyl siding replacement — 109 percent of cost recovered
Feature image courtesy VIS Fine Arts/stock.adobe.com
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