No survey publishes one price for a whole-home renovation, because the scope varies too much. For scale: the median U.S. renovating household spent $20,000 across all its 2025 projects and the top 10% spent $150,000 or more, according to the 2026 U.S. Houzz & Home Study.
Build the number room by room
A whole-home project is a set of room projects plus the systems that tie them together. The Middle Atlantic figures from the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report give a starting point for the biggest rooms: a midrange major kitchen remodel costs about $89,679, a midrange bathroom remodel about $30,158, and a basement remodel about $60,644, according to the Remodeling 2025 Cost vs. Value Report (www.costvsvalue.com).
A house that needs a kitchen, two baths and a finished basement adds up quickly. Then come the parts no single room owns:
- Electrical service. An older panel may not carry a new kitchen and added circuits.
- Heating and cooling. Moving walls often means moving ducts.
- Plumbing. Old supply and drain lines are usually replaced while the walls are open.
- Structure. Removing a bearing wall needs a beam, and usually an engineer.
- Flooring, drywall and paint across the whole house.
When renovating costs more than building
At the far end, a gut renovation can approach the cost of new construction. For comparison, builders reported an average construction cost of about $162 per square foot for a new single-family home in 2024, not counting the lot, according to the NAHB's Cost of Constructing a Home survey. A renovation keeps the lot, the foundation and often the frame, which is why it usually still comes in lower.
Older houses carry more unknowns
Most houses near Hamilton were built before 1980 (Census ACS 2024 5-year):
| Town | Median year built | Built before 1980 |
|---|---|---|
| Hamilton township, Mercer County | 1964 | 75% |
| Ewing township | 1964 | 72% |
| Princeton | 1965 | 64% |
| Lawrence township (includes Lawrenceville) | 1979 | 51% |
| Hopewell township, Mercer County | 1977 | 53% |
| East Windsor township | 1976 | 60% |
| Plainsboro township | 1986 | 26% |
| West Windsor township | 1990 | 23% |
| Robbinsville township | 1992 | 19% |
A whole-home job in an older house opens every wall, so plan a contingency for what is behind them. A whole-house renovation also needs construction permits for the structural, electrical and plumbing work (N.J.A.C. 5:23-2.14).
How MHG scopes a whole-home project
MHG Contracting is a family-owned contractor at 2145 Nottingham Way in Hamilton, with a crew of 7 plus subcontractors. A whole-home estimate is free and runs the same way as any other job:
- A short phone call to hear what you want and set up a visit.
- A first meeting at your house to walk the space.
- A written preconstruction estimate.
- A second pass through the estimate together to settle scope and finishes.
- A deposit, then the final plan, budget and schedule before work starts.
- Week-by-week progress updates while the work is underway.
- A final walkthrough with you before the last payment.
More on full home renovations with MHG and the whole-home timeline.
