Investment guide
What your remodel will really cost.
A planning calculator built on current San Francisco, East Bay, Marin and North Bay construction costs — followed by the studio's magazine-style guide to getting a kitchen or bathroom right before the first wall comes down.
Remodel investment calculator
Estimated investment
$160,000 — $271,000
$801–$1,357 per sq ft · 200 sq ft · Elevated
- Construction & trades
- $44,000 – $68,000
- Cabinetry & millwork
- $34,000 – $52,000
- Surfaces & tile
- $18,000 – $28,000
- Appliances & plumbing fixtures
- $21,000 – $32,000
- Lighting & electrical
- $13,000 – $20,000
- Design & project management
- $15,500 – $36,000
- Recommended contingency
- $14,500 – $35,500
A kitchen project of this size and finish level generally lands near $215,500 in the Bay Area. The range is wide on purpose: the same room can be built two ways, and the difference is almost always in cabinetry, stone and the fixtures you touch every day. Hold the contingency. On a well-run Bay Area build it is not a sign of poor planning — it is what lets us say yes to the right decision when the walls come open.
These are planning ranges for San Francisco, the East Bay, Marin and the North Bay based on 2026 regional construction costs — not a bid. Every home carries its own conditions; a firm number follows a site visit and contractor pricing.
Inside the guide
Twenty years of Bay Area building, written down.
The booklet is prepared in the studio's editorial style — your estimate, the ten decisions to settle before demolition, and full chapters on kitchens, bathrooms, where money shows and how Bay Area permitting actually runs.
Before you begin
- Decide how long you intend to stay
- Set a number you can actually live with
- Understand what triggers a permit
- Walk the house for its problems, not its style
- Photograph and measure before demolition
Designing a kitchen
- Plan the working triangle, then the traffic
- Cabinetry is the budget, and the difference
- Choose stone with your eyes open
- Specify appliances before drawings are finished
- Light the kitchen in three layers
Designing a bathroom
- Waterproofing before beauty
- Moving drains is where the money goes
- Ventilate honestly
- Scale the tile to the room
- Glass, hardware and the things you touch
A note from Liraz Baleli
The homes that come in well are not the ones with the largest budgets.
“They are the ones where the decisions were made early, in the right order, with someone accountable for both the drawing and the schedule. Building here is its own discipline — older housing stock, steep sites, long permit calendars, trades booked months out. A kitchen here is not a kitchen in Phoenix.”
Liraz Baleli · 20 years · CA Contractor License
Next step
Turn the range into a plan for your house
Ninety minutes in your home, at no cost, to walk the rooms and talk honestly about scope, sequence and investment.