A mid-range whole house remodel on a 2,000 sq ft Puyallup home adds up to about $107,500 to $217,500 for the kitchen, two bathrooms, and new floors. A refresh starts near $56,500, and layout changes can run past $360,000. This whole house remodel cost guide shows you the math and the costs those totals leave out.
I’m a third-generation carpenter with 20+ years in the trades, and I’ve finished more than 500 projects since starting Pacific Remodeling in Puyallup in 2018. Yes, I do whole-house remodels, and I’d rather show you honest numbers today than surprise you after demo.
“From the beginning to end Brad made the whole process easy. I was very pleased on the work that was done. I feel like I have a brand new kitchen and living and dining room.” (Thomas R., Google review)
Whole House Remodel Cost Guide: What a 2,000 Sq Ft Puyallup Home Adds Up To
I built this table from my own room prices. It assumes one kitchen, a master bath, a second full bath, and 1,500 sq ft of new flooring outside those rooms. It’s a planning tool, not a quote.
| Budget line | Refresh | Mid-range | High-end with layout changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen | $14,000 to $35,000 | $35,000 to $88,000 | $100,000 to $160,000+ |
| Master bath | $13,000 to $32,000 | $43,000 to $72,000 | $72,000 to $135,000+ |
| Second full bath | $13,000 to $32,000 | $13,000 to $32,000 | $13,000 to $32,000 |
| Flooring, 1,500 sq ft | $16,500 to $25,500 (LVP) | $16,500 to $25,500 (LVP) | $15,000 to $33,000 (hardwood) |
| Total for these four lines | $56,500 to $124,500 | $107,500 to $217,500 | $200,000 to $360,000+ |
Treat each total as a starting point. None of them cover paint, trim, doors, panel work, windows, insulation, heating, permits, or a place to stay during the work, and I cover those further down.
The budget number to hold: Add 15 to 20% for surprises, because there will be surprises. On the mid-range column, that means $16,125 to $43,500 extra, which moves your working budget to about $123,625 to $261,000 before the add-ons below.
How My Totals Compare to Outside Numbers
- National: One national guide puts mid-range work on a 2,000 sq ft home at about $100,000 to $200,000. That sits close to my mid-range column.
- Seattle: Most full home remodels there run $250 to $450 per sq ft, or $500,000 to $900,000 on the same house. Treat that as a ceiling. Don’t use it to plan a Puyallup budget.
What Does a Whole House Remodel Cost Per Square Foot?
Any whole house remodel cost guide that hands you one per-square-foot number is skipping the hard part. Online sources span about $15 to over $500 per sq ft. Scope explains most of that gap.
- Cosmetic updates, national: about $15 to $60 per sq ft
- Structural overhauls, national: about $100 to $250+ per sq ft
- My mid-range math above: about $54 to $109 per sq ft, for the four budget lines only
Square footage also fools people. A 3,000 sq ft house and a 2,000 sq ft house often share the same size kitchen and the same number of baths, and those rooms carry most of the money because they pack cabinets, tile, plumbing, and wiring into a small footprint.
The extra 1,000 sq ft mostly adds floors, paint, and trim. So start your budget with the rooms, not the size of the house.
What Each Room Costs in Pierce County
Kitchen: Your Biggest Single Line
A full kitchen remodel in Puyallup runs $35,000 to $88,000 at mid-range. Kitchens are my #1 service, and I’ve done more than 20 of them. Your cabinet choice moves that number as much as anything you’ll pick.
- Thermofoil cabinets: $8,000 to $22,000
- Plywood box with wood doors: $13,000 to $35,000
- Solid wood cabinets: $20,000 to $56,000
- Quartz countertops, 40 sq ft: $6,600 to $9,200
- Load-bearing wall removal: $4,000 to $13,000 extra
I go line by line in my guide to what a kitchen remodel costs in Puyallup.
Bathrooms: Small Rooms, Big Numbers
Bathroom remodeling costs a lot per foot because plumbing, tile, waterproofing, and fixtures all land in a small space. I’ve done more than 50 bathroom remodels, and the number of baths in your house moves a whole-house budget fast.
- Half bath or powder room: $6,500 to $16,000
- Guest or hall bath: $13,000 to $32,000
- Mid-range master bath: $43,000 to $72,000
- High-end master with a layout change: $72,000 to $135,000+
- Standard tub-to-shower conversion: $8,000 to $22,000
Add-ons stack up. Heated floors run $36 to $51 per sq ft, and a frameless glass enclosure runs $1,500 to $3,500. My Puyallup bathroom remodel cost guide goes deeper on each scope.
Flooring: The Line That Scales With Your House
| Material | Installed, per sq ft | 1,500 sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Laminate | $11 to $15 | $16,500 to $22,500 |
| LVP | $11 to $17 | $16,500 to $25,500 |
| Hardwood | $10 to $22 | $15,000 to $33,000 |
| Tile | $32 to $51 | $48,000 to $76,500 |
My flooring prices include tearing out and hauling off the old floor, plus subfloor inspection and repair. A full home takes 3 to 5 days. If you’re torn between the two most common picks, read my comparison of LVP vs. hardwood flooring.
The Costs Most Whole House Budgets Leave Out
This is the part of a whole house remodel cost guide that homeowners tend to skim. Don’t. I won’t put a flat number on these items without seeing your house, because they swing too much from one home to the next.
Make every contractor show them as separate lines. That way you can see what you’re paying for, and you can compare bids fairly.
Windows and the Energy Code
Washington’s energy code caps the area-weighted U-factor on replacement windows. Area-weighted means one window can miss the target as long as the average hits it.
Before you order windows: Washington documents list both 0.30 and 0.28 as the target. Confirm the current number with your plan reviewer first. Then get the rating in writing, whether you pick Milgard, Andersen, or Marvin.
Electrical, Heating, and Insulation
When you touch one system in an older Pacific Northwest home, you often have to bring others up to current code. Ask for a panel upgrade and a heat pump as separate line items, so neither one hides inside a lump sum.
The 2021 code also tightened the ceiling U-factor from 0.026 to 0.024. Ask your plan reviewer whether your scope triggers insulation upgrades before you finalize the budget.
Permits
- Valuation: Fees scale with project value. Ask Puyallup Development & Permitting Services how it values your scope.
- Baseline: A bathroom permit alone typically runs $250 to $1,500. Expect a bigger scope to cost more.
- Resubmittals: City of Puyallup records show a $180 fee for each one. Clean plans save you money and time.
- Your address: Homes inside Puyallup, Sumner, or Edgewood go through those cities. South Hill and Graham sit in unincorporated Pierce County, so those permits go through the county.
I cover the triggers in my post on remodeling permits in Puyallup.
Living Costs, Design, and Overhead
- Temporary housing and storage: Budget for both if your kitchen and baths will be out of service at the same time. Price a real rental near your home, not a guess.
- Design: Most contractors are builders, not designers. If you hire a designer, give that fee its own line.
- Overhead and profit: National guides put this at 10 to 20% of the project. Homeowners ask why a contractor costs $100+ an hour when they make $30. That rate pays for insurance, the truck, tools, the license, warranty work, employees, and liability.
What Hides Behind the Walls in Older Pierce County Homes
Hidden work will get you. I’ve underbid jobs where the scope blew up once the walls came open, and those jobs taught me why every budget needs contingency.
I’ve worked in Alaska cold and Guam humidity, and Pierce County rain still finds its way behind siding, under sinks, and around old window frames in ways that can change a budget the day demo starts.
A whole-house job opens more walls, so you’ll run into more of these:
- Rot: Moisture is the #1 enemy here. Check behind tubs, under sinks, and around windows.
- Old wiring: It often needs to come up to current code once the work starts.
- Outdated plumbing: Older lines may not meet code, and you won’t know until you see them.
- Structural problems: Nobody knows about these until the drywall comes off.
Age matters. A 1960s rambler in Lakewood or Tacoma usually carries more of this risk than a newer house in Bonney Lake.
Lead and Asbestos
Pre-1978 homes trigger lead-safe rules. Washington Commerce certifies the firms, and each firm must employ a Certified Renovator. The rules apply when work disturbs more than 6 sq ft of interior paint or 20 sq ft of exterior paint, and a whole-house remodel clears that fast.
Ask about asbestos testing before demo on any older home. Test first, then demo.
Colossians 3:23 sets my standard: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.” The inspector sees only part of what goes behind your drywall. I build it right anyway.
A Two-Room Swap That Shows What Moving Walls Involves
This bathroom and laundry room conversion in Pierce County covered two rooms, not a whole house. It still shows you what a layout change takes.
- I swapped the bathroom and laundry room locations.
- I took out a wall, moved another, cut out a window, and installed a beam to open up the new layout.
- The bathroom got a walk-in shower with a marble-look tile surround and rain showerhead, a new toilet, and a pedestal sink with matte black fixtures.
- The laundry room got a quartz countertop, a new sink and faucet, and cabinetry.
- New drywall, doors, and paint went in throughout.
Count the work on that list: tile, plumbing, countertops, carpentry, and drywall. Now multiply that coordination by every room in your house, and you can see why layout decisions move a whole-house budget more than any finish you pick from a showroom.
Should You Remodel All at Once or Room by Room?
Do it all at once if you can afford it and you have somewhere to go when the kitchen and baths overlap. Phase it if you can’t. I can’t point you to a published savings percentage, because I haven’t found one I trust, but the logic is simple.
What You Gain Doing It All at Once
- One mobilization instead of several
- One round of demo and dust
- Trades working in order, with floors going in after the messy work
What You Gain by Phasing
- You spread the cost over time
- You keep a working kitchen or bath while another room gets the work
- You get time to live with one phase before you choose the next
The tradeoff is repeat demo, repeat dust, and repeat setup. You can still get this right, even if your budget won’t cover every room this year.
If this was my mom’s house, I’d fund the work in this order:
- Water and rot. Stop the leak first. New finishes over wet framing waste your money.
- Structure and layout. Move walls and add beams before you buy finishes.
- Wiring and plumbing. Fix what lives behind the drywall while the walls sit open.
- Kitchen and baths. These carry the biggest costs and the most daily use.
- Floors, paint, and trim. Save these for last, so the messy work doesn’t wreck them.
Separate projects on one home can work out fine:
“We have used Pacific Remodeling LLC for 2 projects on our home now and have never been happier with the finished work.” (Traci H., Google review)
Good, fast, or cheap. Pick two. I say that all the time, and a whole-house job only raises the stakes.
If your real problem is space rather than finishes, compare your options first. A garage conversion runs $78,000 to $190,000 and a basement conversion runs $65,000 to $160,000, so read my post on choosing between a remodel, an ADU, or an addition. If cash flow is the limit, my guide to kitchen remodel financing options raises the same questions you’ll face on a bigger job.
How Long Does a Whole House Remodel Take?
Add my room timelines end to end and you get about 13 to 21 weeks of build time. That’s 6 to 10 weeks for a full kitchen, 3 to 5 weeks for each bath, and 3 to 5 days for floors. Overlapping trades can shorten that, but these items push it the other way:
- Design and selections: You make these decisions before anyone swings a hammer. Every “actually, can we change that?” later adds time and cost.
- Permits and inspections: Inspectors come out multiple times during a project. That adds weeks, and it’s not optional.
- Material lead times: Custom cabinets, specialty tile, and certain fixtures can take 4 to 8 weeks. Order late and the project stalls.
- Sequencing: Your fabricator can’t template countertops until the cabinets go in, so cabinet lead time sets your counter date.
HGTV compresses a 3-month job into a 30-minute episode and skips the permits, the surprises behind the walls, the wait on materials, and the inspections, which is why so many homeowners feel sticker shock at their first consultation.
Jobs always take longer than you expect. The last 5% takes longer than anyone thinks, and rushing it is how good projects turn mediocre.
For more detail, see my week-by-week kitchen remodel timeline and my post on how far out Pierce County remodelers book.
How to Compare Whole House Bids So the Cheapest One Doesn’t Cost You Most
The biggest homeowner mistake I see is choosing on price alone. Some contractors underbid on purpose to win the job, then hit you with change orders after demo starts, when you can’t easily switch contractors with your kitchen in a dumpster.
By then, you’re stuck. The cheap bid ends up costing more than the honest one would have.
Use this whole house remodel cost guide as your yardstick. If a bid lands far below the ranges above, ask what it leaves out.
“We interviewed 5 companies for our bathroom remodel. Brad wasn’t the highest or the lowest bid, but we are so grateful we chose Brad.” (Jerda B., Google review)
Washington requires every construction contractor to register with L&I, and working unregistered is a gross misdemeanor. I spent 5 years as a B-52 crew chief in the Air Force. You don’t skip steps on a bomber, so run your bids through this checklist the same way:
- Check registration, insurance, and bond status with L&I’s Verify tool or ProtectMyHome.net
- Get about three written bids that cover the same scope
- Compare the bids line by line, not total to total
- Confirm each bid lists paint, trim, doors, electrical, plumbing, and windows, or states that it excludes them
- Ask who pulls the permits and whether the price includes permit fees and sales tax
- Get the allowance amounts for cabinets, tile, fixtures, and flooring
- Ask how the contractor handles change orders and hidden conditions like rot
- Confirm lead-safe certification if your home dates from before 1978
- Call references, look at past projects, and ask about the warranty policy
- Get a written contract covering price, payment terms, sales tax, permit fees, scope, materials, and warranties
Know what you want before you call anyone. My guide on choosing the right materials for your remodel helps with that. Then read what to expect from a free remodeling estimate and how to avoid common remodeling mistakes.
Whole House Remodel Cost FAQ
How much does a whole house remodel cost in Puyallup?
Using my own room prices, a kitchen, two baths, and 1,500 sq ft of flooring add up to $56,500 to $124,500 at the refresh level. Mid-range work adds up to $107,500 to $217,500. High-end work with layout changes adds up to $200,000 to $360,000+. Your extras and contingency go on top of those totals.
Can I live in my house during a whole house remodel?
It depends on what’s out of service at the same time. On a kitchen job you can stay home, and I set up dust barriers. On a bath job you don’t need to move out if you have a second bathroom. A whole-house schedule can take out both, so ask any contractor for a room-by-room schedule before you sign.
Do I need a permit for a whole house remodel?
Plan on it. Wall moves, plumbing relocation, and electrical work all need permits, and a whole-house scope almost always includes at least one of them. Check with the City of Puyallup or Pierce County, depending on your address.
How much should I set aside for surprises?
Hold 15 to 20% on top of your total, and lean to the top of that range or past it on a pre-1978 home. On a $150,000 budget, that means setting aside $22,500 to $30,000. Rot, old wiring, and outdated plumbing are the usual reasons you’ll spend it.
Does a whole house remodel pay for itself at resale?
I won’t give you one percentage for a whole house, because I don’t have a reliable number and the Cost vs. Value report doesn’t cover whole-house jobs. Room by room, mid-range kitchens return 60 to 80% at resale, minor kitchen refreshes return 75 to 85%, and mid-range baths return 60 to 70%. My post on whether a kitchen remodel is worth it goes further.
Also Serving Homeowners Across Pierce County
I work out of Puyallup and serve homeowners in South Hill, Sumner, Bonney Lake, Edgewood, Tacoma, Lakewood, and Graham.
Get Your Free Whole House Estimate
A whole house remodel cost guide gets you to a budget range. It can’t see your house.
Even if all you have right now is a rough budget and a list of rooms, I’ll walk your home, point out what concerns me, and give you a written scope at no charge. If this was my mom’s house, I’d want her to see straight numbers before anyone swung a hammer. You get the same.
Get your free estimate or call (253) 392-9266.
Brad Zemke, Owner Pacific Remodeling LLC Puyallup, WA
