The property
Sizes here pre-fill the project quantities below. Change any quantity — the estimate follows your numbers, not the defaults.
sq ft
Above-grade living area of the house you're pricing.
baths
windows
sq ft
Only used if you select basement finishing below.
%
For what you find behind the walls. 10–15% on a cosmetic scope, 15–20% on older Twin Cities housing stock.
% of work
City permits, disposal, and inspections. A Minneapolis furnace permit alone is a flat $216.60; basement permits typically run $100–$1,000 by scope.
Build your scope
Check each project you're planning. Rates shown are the Standard / mid-grade Twin Cities range, installed, labor and materials — the finish-level buttons above adjust them (Investor grade ≈ 22% under standard; Premium ≈ 45% over). Every line shows its own low–high as you work.
Don't stack the whole-house gut line on top of paint, floors, kitchen, and bath lines for the same rooms — that's pricing the same work twice. Use the gut line instead of the room-by-room lines when the house is coming down to the studs.
How this estimate is calculated — and what it assumes
- Each project line = quantity × the Twin Cities installed rate range for that trade (labor + materials, contractor-performed — not DIY and not handyman pricing).
- Finish level scales every rate: Investor grade × 0.78 (durable, budget materials — stock cabinets, LVP, fiberglass tub/shower), Standard × 1.00 (mid-grade), Premium × 1.45 (designer finishes, custom work).
- Low / Likely / High: Likely is the midpoint of the adjusted range. Real bids land inside the low–high band when the scope matches; they land outside it when the scope doesn't — hidden damage, layout changes, and structural work are the usual reasons.
- Contingency is added on the Likely subtotal at the percentage you set. Permits, dumpsters & fees are added as a percentage of the work subtotal. The headline planning budget = Likely + contingency + permits/fees.
- Timeline is a planning range: trade durations added together, then compressed because crews overlap — it assumes permits are pulled and materials are ordered before demo day. Minneapolis–St. Paul permit review commonly adds 2–3 weeks before work starts on permitted scopes.
- What is not in here: purchase and financing costs, holding costs, architect/engineer fees, asbestos or lead abatement, sewer/water line replacement, foundation repair, and structural reframing. If a walkthrough flags any of those, get that trade's bid separately — they swing too widely to average honestly. Price the deal itself in Allison's Investment Property Analyzer, then bring the rehab number from this tool.
Twin Cities specifics that move the number
The local realities baked into these rates — and the surprises that aren't.
- Older housing stock. Much of Minneapolis and St. Paul was built before 1940: plaster walls, knob-and-tube wiring, cast-iron drains, and old boilers. Budget the contingency at the high end on pre-war houses, and expect an electrician to require panel and wiring work before new loads are approved.
- Basement bedrooms need egress. A basement room only counts as a legal bedroom with a code-compliant egress window and well — $4,500–$6,500 installed locally. It's a separate line below because it changes both the cost and the appraisal.
- Radon is a Minnesota line item. Much of the metro sits in a high-radon zone; a mitigation system runs roughly $1,800–$2,400 and buyers routinely ask for it. It's in the list below the mechanicals.
- Winter is a schedule, not a footnote. Exterior paint, concrete, and roofing windows narrow from November to March, and a vacant house still needs heat all winter so pipes don't freeze. A fall start usually carries longer — and costs more to hold.
- Permits are real in both core cities. Minneapolis and St. Paul require permits for basement finishing, electrical, plumbing, and mechanical work, and Minneapolis requires a Truth in Housing evaluation at sale. Unpermitted finished basements get discounted by appraisers and flagged by inspectors.
- Pre-1978 means lead. Lead-safe work practices are legally required on pre-1978 housing and add cost to window, paint, and demo work. If a bid on an older house never mentions it, ask why.
Where these rates come from
Checked against published Twin Cities pricing at the October 2026 review. Rates are reviewed and updated every year — see the version note below.
- Bathroom remodel, Minneapolis: average $10,980, normal range $6,742–$16,267, high end $25,000; $70–$250 per sq ft by scope — Angi, Minneapolis bathroom remodel cost
- Furnace replacement, Minneapolis: mid-efficiency $4,000–$5,600 and high-efficiency $5,000–$6,800 installed, plus the city's flat $216.60 furnace permit — Angi, Minneapolis furnace cost
- Roof replacement, Minnesota: asphalt shingle ≈ $6.07 per sq ft installed ($607 per square), labor 55–65% of the job — Instant Roofer, Minnesota roof replacement costs
- Kitchen remodel, Minneapolis: $100–$250 per sq ft for contractor remodels, 4–8 weeks typical — HomeGuide, Minneapolis kitchen remodeling. Note: Twin Cities luxury design-build kitchens run $85,000–$175,000+ — above this tool's Premium tier, which is a contractor remodel, not a design-build showpiece.
- Basement finishing, Twin Cities: typically $32–$100 per sq ft for standard scopes, with full metro projects commonly $50,000–$125,000 depending on size, bathrooms, and finish level — Minneapolis basement remodeling cost guide and Twin Cities remodeling services overview
- Windows: vinyl replacements commonly $425–$1,225 per window installed nationally with a ~$750 per-window project average; wood and custom sizes run well above vinyl — reflected in the per-window band below.
- Remaining trades (paint, flooring, siding, deck, concrete, electrical, plumbing fixtures) are set from current Twin Cities contractor rate ranges for labor + materials at each finish level, cross-checked at the same review. They are planning ranges, not quotes from any single contractor.
Planning budget — most likely
$0
Select at least one project to build your estimate.
Low end
$0
Everything bids at the bottom of the range
Likely
$0
Midpoint of each range, before contingency
High end
$0
Top of range — older homes land here
Estimate breakdown
Your selected projects, at the finish level you chose.
Nothing selected yet.
Check a project on the left — or start from Rental turn, Cosmetic flip, or Full rehab above — and your itemized estimate builds here.
Check a project on the left — or start from Rental turn, Cosmetic flip, or Full rehab above — and your itemized estimate builds here.
| Cost per sq ft of living area | — |
| Estimated timeline | — |
| Projects selected | 0 |
Use the Likely budget in your deal analysis, underwrite the purchase against the High end, and treat any bid far below the Low end as a scope question — something is missing from it.
Want a contractor's eye on it before you offer?
Send Allison the address. She'll walk the scope with you, flag the Twin Cities surprises this estimator can't see — knob-and-tube, cast iron, egress, radon — and pressure-test the rehab number against what the finished house will actually appraise and sell for. “I help regular people build wealth through real estate.”