Complete Home Renovations FAQs

As a South Jersey remodeler, we can tell you that adding a powder room to your first floor is one of the smartest investments you can make in your home. Here’s why:

• Guest Convenience: Provides visitors a bathroom option without accessing your private spaces upstairs
• Everyday Functionality: Reduces trips up and down stairs for family members
• Entertaining Value: Essential for hosting gatherings and holidays (particularly important in our region’s family-oriented communities)
• Aging-in-Place: Creates ground-floor accessibility for older family members or those with mobility challenges

One cohesive flooring throughout the first floor is often requested, but there are times where it is not necessary or not recommended. The look of one floor is great, but defining spaces with carpet in a den, living room, great room, or home office can offer a touch of warmth and sound deadening which is great. The cost of carrying the same flooring type throughout is expensive and often disturbed the base trim and casing, which can be a cost driver.

That said, for South Jersey’s climate and lifestyle, engineered hardwood or high-quality luxury vinyl plank (LVP) flooring typically offers the best balance of aesthetics, durability, and value. Engineered hardwood provides the beauty of real wood with better dimensional stability for our humidity fluctuations. Modern LVP products offer excellent water resistance and durability while mimicking natural materials.

For entryways, consider porcelain tile transitions. Avoid solid hardwood in below-grade installations or homes with radiant heat systems.

To create a more inviting South Jersey entryway:

1. Start with a front door: Here at Ayars, we custom order and install ProVia entry doors to perfectly suit the look of your upgraded space.
2. Continue with the main foyer: Here a staircase, mudspace, closet, light fixture or other focal point often becomes a topic of conversation. If you have kids, wall hooks and shoe bins are a great way to reduce clutter.

   If there is a staircase in view of the foyer (as is often the case), upgrading handrails, balusters, and risers can really elevate the space.

Before creating an open floor plan, you need:

• Structural engineering assessment to identify load-bearing walls
• Potential additions of support beams (LVLs or steel)
• HVAC modifications to ensure proper airflow in the larger space
• Electrical plan updates for lighting and outlets
• Flooring strategy to create visual continuity
• Sound management solutions since noise travels easily in open spaces
• Proper permits from your municipality

For a comprehensive first floor remodel in South Jersey:

• Allocate 35-40% for kitchen renovations
• 20-25% for main living spaces
• 15-20% for entryway/foyer improvements
• 10-15% for powder room updates
• Always include a 15-20% contingency fund (and don’t forget about window treatments and furnishings!)

A typical 1,200-1,800 sq. ft. first floor remodel ranges from $120,000-250,000, depending on finishes and complexity. Consider phasing the project if budget constraints exist.

In South Jersey, interior remodeling costs typically range from $100-250 per square foot, depending on the quality of materials and complexity. A kitchen remodel averages $30,000-80,000, while bathrooms typically run $15,000-40,000. Living spaces are generally less expensive at $50-150 per square foot. Remember that older homes (particularly pre-1980s construction) often require updating electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems, which can add 15-25% to your budget.

Here at Ayars, our customers often go all-in on remodeling their entire first floor, which almost always involves some reconfiguration of the floor plan (wall removal, etc.) Altogether, a full ground floor remodeling project usually runs north of six figures.

There’s no getting around the fact that the renovation process can be disruptive, but Ayars Complete Home Improvements takes the utmost care to minimize any mess we leave behind — through floor protection, zip-walls with plastic barriers, a HEPA air filtration system, and the introduction of a “negative draft” to keep debris contained within the work area.