How to read this. Planning-grade 2026 estimates at Morris County labor — not bids.
Unlike a finishes-only project, this is a build: a full second story over the family-room
wing (the new primary suite), the attic finished as a half-story under a new, steeper roof, a whole-house
re-clad in the style's envelope, and the interiors brought to the vision. Everything visible in the
renderings is here except movable furniture; contractor overhead is embedded in the line
pricing (they're priced as contractor-quoted jobs), with design, permits and contingency stacked separately.
The lot's zoning math is done: the whole program is as-of-right — no variances
(§165-14; ≈2,850 countable sf of 3,764 allowed).
The $800K governor. The owner's Phase-1 budget is $800K all-in, then pause and
save. The tables below price the FULL Phase-1 vision honestly — the low band is a well-bid project,
the high band is bids running hot. To govern to $800K: both visions already defer the garage, window
treatments, basement and the rear-yard restyle to Phase 2 (tabled below); the next lever is the
attic finish — the new roof and dormers get built regardless (the addition demands them), but the
studio's interior fit-out can wait a season (−$35–50k all-in) since the walk-up stair already
exists. Realistically: Vision I's low band clears the target outright, and at mid-band the attic-fit-out
deferral lands it on $800K. Vision II is the bigger dream — deferring the turret, true slate and
the attic fit-out brings its low band to ≈$810–830K: call that the $800K program, with the
first pause-and-save checks written to the turret.
I · Shingle Style
Weathered cedar · white trim · fieldstone · forever-summer
II · French Normandy
Stucco · brick & limestone · slate · the turret
Soft costs — the stack on top of construction
Phase 2 — the pause-and-save list (not in the totals above)
Wing roof off, new second-story plate and roof, attic roof rebuild with dormers (turret if built now), chimney extension, weather-in. Family moves out for this stretch.
Walk, beds, lamp post; the rear-yard restyle is Phase 2 by design.
Front landscape
2–4 weeks
3–5 weeks
Realistic calendar, overlapped
8–11 months
10–14 months
Where each vision lands. The house is bought at $1.2M with ~1,900 sf; the program delivers
~2,900 sf above grade (plus the finished basement ≈ 3,530 sf of living space), 4 bedrooms + attic studio,
3½ baths and a primary suite. Renovated 3,000+ sf colonials within walking distance of Chatham's
Midtown Direct station have been trading around $550–$650/sf — call it $1.75–2.1M
for the finished article. Basis after Phase 1: $1.2M + (Shingle) or
(Normandy). The Shingle path is an inside-the-band play with room to spare; the
Normandy path — turret and slate included — is the love-letter version that prices like the storybook house
it creates. Both keep the 2021 kitchen, the 2019 porch and the 2020 outdoor room doing exactly what they
were built to do.