How to read this. Planning-grade 2026 estimates at Morris County / NYC-metro labor —
not bids. This is not a finishes refresh; it is a build that nearly doubles the
house: a new two-storey primary-suite wing on the east side, the gambrel roof rebuilt taller and steeper as a
full third floor, the detached garage joined to the house by a heated link, a whole-house re-clad in each
style's envelope, and every interior brought to the vision. Everything visible in the renderings is here
except movable furniture; general-contractor overhead is embedded in the line pricing, with
design, permits and contingency stacked separately below. All four visions share the identical structural
program — same footprint growth, same new floor area — and diverge only in skin, roof shape and finish level.
Phase it if you like. The tables price the full program honestly — the low
band is a well-bid job, the high band is bids running hot. Nothing here needs a variance: the 0.62-acre lot
leaves ample building-coverage and floor-area headroom under Chatham's residential standards, so the whole
scheme reads as as-of-right (confirm the envelope with your architect and the Borough). If a season's
budget is tighter, the Phase 2 “pause & save” table below lists the natural
deferrals — the third-floor studio fit-out (the new roof gets built regardless; the walk-up stair already
exists), the detached-garage re-clad, the true premium roof upgrade, the rear-yard restyle and a future pool
& pool house the deep lot can hold. Zoning: the 27,238-sf lot is R-2; building coverage
and floor area sit comfortably within the caps (≈2,734 sf coverage, ≈5,468 sf RFA — §165-14),
so the scheme reads as-of-right on coverage and floor area. The one item to confirm with the Borough
is height: the third floor is held as a half-story under the new roof to stay within the
35-ft / 2½-story limit.
Suite + bath fit-out, kitchen gut, living/dining restyle, paint/floors/lighting, third-floor studio, hall baths.
All interior line items
14–18 weeks
13–17 weeks
14–18 weeks
12–16 weeks
4 · Front site
Walk, beds, lamp post, motor court; the rear-yard restyle and pool are Phase 2 by design.
Front landscape & court
3–5 weeks
3–5 weeks
3–6 weeks
3–5 weeks
Realistic calendar, overlapped
11–15 months
11–14 months
12–16 months
10–14 months
Where each vision lands. The house is bought around $1.15M with ~2,900 sf on three levels; the
program delivers ≈4,000 sf above grade (plus the walkout basement), a new primary suite, five
further bedrooms, a third-floor studio and a wholly re-imagined exterior. Renovated 3,500–4,000 sf homes
within walking distance of Chatham's Midtown Direct station trade around
$550–$700/sf — call it $2.2–2.8M for the finished article. Basis after the build:
$1.15M + (Tudor), (Colonial),
(French Colonial) or (Cape Cod). Cape Cod is the
value play — weathered shingle and cedar-look roofing price it lowest despite the same footprint; Tudor and
French Colonial run to the top — the stucco, slate, half-timber, cast-stone and (for III) the full-width
gallery price like the love-letter versions they are; Colonial sits between, its portico-and-cupola drama
carried mostly in trim rather than structure.
Sources & benchmarks (2026, Morris County / northern NJ)
Re-clad: stucco+half-timber (NJ $12–16/sf), clapboard/Hardie ($14–20/sf), cedar shingle ($12–18/sf), smooth stucco+cast stone ($13–18/sf): ZD Stucco NJ, This Old House, cedar
Zoning framework: Borough of Chatham Land Development §165 (residential dimensional standards & floor-area provisions; confirm the parcel's district and the current RFA cap with the Borough).
Everything unlinked: Morris County planning ranges consistent with the benchmarks above (upper-mid to luxury finish, contractor-managed), biased to the top of national ranges per the northern-NJ premium.