Before a contractor walks the house, you still need a repair number honest enough to offer on. This estimator uses the same per-square-foot tiers printed on our Rehab Cost Cheat Sheet — the tiers we estimate our own deals with — and returns a range, not a fantasy point estimate.
Walk order matters more than tier math: roof first, then HVAC, foundation, electrical and plumbing — the systems hiding in the walls — and kitchens, baths, and cosmetics last. A standard-tier house with a dead roof is not a standard-tier house.
Step 1. Enter the Home Size in square feet.
Step 2. Pick the Rehab Tier that honestly matches the scope: Light (paint, floors, fixtures), Standard (kitchen/bath updates), Major (full remodels, system upgrades), or Full Gut (strip to studs).
Step 3. Open Advanced to set a contingency buffer — 10% is our floor; older houses earn more.
Step 4. Use the range when you talk to sellers and the planning number with contingency when you run the 70% rule or flip math.
Low = Square Feet × Tier Low. Planning = Square Feet × Tier Standard Rate. High = Square Feet × Tier High. With Contingency = Planning × (1 + Contingency%).
The tiers are Wise Revival's own estimating tiers, from our Rehab Cost Cheat Sheet: Light $5–10/sq ft (standard rate $7.50), Standard $15–25 (standard rate $20), Major $30–50 (standard rate $40), Full Gut $60–80 (standard rate $70). Your market and your contractor will move these — the ranges keep you honest at offer time, before anyone walks the property.
Walking a house in the order the money hides.
Where the rehab sits in the full flip sequence.
The rehab number, carried through a whole deal.
Because one number before a walkthrough is a guess wearing a suit. The range is the honest output of a per-square-foot method; it narrows when a contractor walks the house.
Usually Standard if the systems work — kitchen and bath updates, flooring, paint. If the roof, HVAC, or foundation is gone, you are in Major territory no matter how the kitchen looks.
No. They price the work only. Holding costs live in the Flip Profit Calculator and the 70% rule's 30%.
That is how budgets die. Offer on the high end of the range; if the job lands lower, the deal gets better — that is the only direction a surprise should run.