EZ Sell Homebuyers
Free Dayton Rehab Tool

What Will It Actually Cost to Repair Your Dayton House?

Pick a tier for each major system — roof, HVAC, kitchen, foundation — and see a low-to-high cost range based on real 2024–2026 Dayton contractor pricing. Then see exactly what a local cash buyer's offer would be using the standard 70% rule.

Built by Mike Wall, licensed Ohio REALTOR® (#2001023573) — calibrated against rehab invoices from 300+ Dayton-area purchases since 2016.

Property & Scope

About the house

What the house would sell for fully renovated. Pull a recent sold comp from the same neighborhood, or ask any agent for a free CMA.

Major systems

Most common Dayton flip job, ~1,800 sf home

Recommended if either unit is over 20 years old

Old knob-and-tube, fuses, or aluminum wiring will fail inspection.

Galvanized supply lines or cast-iron drains fail at 60-80 years.

Hairline cracks are normal; horizontal cracks or active settlement are not.

Interior renovation

Stock cabinets + granite + new appliance suite

Usually 70–85% of total sq ft (excludes kitchen/baths if tiled separately).

Multiplied against your house sq ft above.

Property prep & soft costs

Roll-off dumpster + 2-day crew

First impression — every dollar shows up in offer price.

Building, electrical, plumbing, HVAC permits + dumpsters + small surprises. $1,000–$3,000 is typical.

Adjustments

Default 1.00 = Dayton metro median. Bump to 1.10–1.15 for Oakwood / Centerville / Springboro. Drop to 0.90 for Trotwood / parts of Springfield.

15% is the standard rehab buffer. Bump to 20–25% for pre-1950 homes or unfamiliar contractors.

Estimates are planning-grade only. Every house has surprises behind the walls. Always get 2–3 contractor bids before committing.

Estimated Total Repair Budget
$125,925

Range: $107,036 (best case) to $151,110 (with surprises)

That's $69.96/sq ft on a 1,800 sf home · 50% of ARV

Cash offer vs. retail listing — what you'd actually pocket

Cash offer (sell as-is)
$49,075
ARV $250,000 × 70% − repairs $125,925
Close in 7–21 days. No repairs out-of-pocket. No showings. No financing contingencies.
Retail listing (after repairs)
$98,075
ARV − repairs − $20,000 (8% closing/comm) − $6,000 (5 mo holding)
You front $125,925, then list. 4–6 month timeline.
The real question: On these inputs, listing pencils to $49,000 more — but only if you have $125,925 in cash to front the work and 4–6 months to wait. Worth running through the numbers carefully before deciding.

Illustrative comparison only. Not a formal cash offer or net-sheet. Actual investor offers, listing nets, and timelines vary by property, market conditions, and lender. Get an in-person walkthrough for a binding number.

Where the money goes — ranked

Kitchen(Mid-range remodel (cabinets, granite, appliances))
$28,000
Bathrooms (2)(Mid-range remodel (tile, vanity, plumbing))
$24,000
Roof(Full tear-off + 30-yr architectural)
$11,500
HVAC(Full replacement — furnace + AC + coil)
$11,000
Flooring (1,500 sf)(Luxury vinyl plank (LVP) @ $5.50/sf)
$8,250
Windows (12)(Standard vinyl double-hung @ $650/ea)
$7,800
Paint(Interior + exterior @ $4.25/sf)
$7,650
Electrical(Panel upgrade (100A → 200A))
$3,200
Landscape / Curb Appeal(New shrubs, trim trees, mulch beds)
$2,200
Cleanout / Junk Removal(Moderate cleanout (whole house))
$1,800
Permits, dump fees, soft costs(User-entered lump sum (not scaled by local cost factor))
$1,500
Plumbing(Replace fixtures only (faucets, toilets))
$1,400
Foundation(Minor crack injection (3–4 cracks))
$1,200
Subtotal of all line items$109,500
Contingency buffer (15%)+ $16,425
Mid-estimate$125,925

Want a real number, not an estimate?

Mike Wall walks every house personally. He'll give you a same-day cash offer based on what he actually sees, and you'll walk away with a free professional repair scope either way.

How this calculator works

The math is straightforward but the inputs are where it lives or dies. Each line item is computed independently:

  • Tier-based items (roof, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, foundation, kitchen, cleanout, landscape) use a fixed cost per tier drawn from real Dayton-metro contractor invoices on 300+ purchases between 2016 and 2026.
  • Per-unit items (bathrooms, flooring, paint, windows) multiply a per-bath / per-sq-ft / per-window rate against a count or area you provide.
  • Subtotal = sum of all line items.
  • Adjusted subtotal = subtotal × your local cost factor (default 1.00 for the Dayton metro median; bump higher for premium suburbs, lower for value markets).
  • Contingency = adjusted subtotal × your contingency percentage (default 15%, the standard rehab industry buffer for surprises behind the walls). The Remodeling Industry Council recommends 10–20% depending on home age.
  • Mid-estimate = adjusted subtotal + contingency. This is the planning number to use.
  • Low estimate = mid × 0.85. High estimate = mid × 1.20.

For the cash-offer comparison:

  • Investor Maximum Allowable Offer (MAO) = (ARV × 70%) − mid repairs. The 70% rule is the industry-standard heuristic used by real-estate investors to ensure their flip can absorb hard-money interest, holding costs, agent commissions on the resale, title fees on both ends of the deal, and a 10–15% net profit margin. Some investors use 75% in hot markets or 65% in slow markets — 70% is the consensus default.
  • Retail-listing net = ARV − mid repairs − 8% selling costs (≈6% commission + ≈2% closing) − 5 months of holding at $1,200/mo (insurance + taxes + utilities + mortgage interest, scaled for a typical Dayton mid-priced home).

Important: This is a planning tool, not a contractor bid. Costs vary widely based on contractor availability, time of year, materials volatility (lumber, copper, asphalt shingles all move with commodity prices), and what's hidden behind the walls. Always solicit 2–3 written bids before committing to a scope.

Cost data sources

  • HomeAdvisor / Angi 2025 regional cost guides (Dayton, OH ZIP codes 45402–45459)
  • Remodeling Magazine 2024 Cost vs Value report — East-North-Central region
  • U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Producer Price Index for Residential Construction (NAICS 2361)
  • Greater Dayton Apartment Association — Annual Maintenance Cost Survey
  • Mike Wall's actual rehab invoices on 300+ Montgomery / Greene / Warren / Miami county purchases (2016–2026)
  • National Association of Home Builders — Cost of Constructing a Home
  • Montgomery County Building Regulations — current permit fee schedule
  • City of Dayton Division of Building Services — residential permit fees

Helpful Dayton-area resources

Dayton repair-cost questions, answered

How accurate is this Dayton repair cost calculator?
The baseline figures are drawn from real 2024–2026 contractor invoices on 300+ Dayton-area purchases by Mike Wall, cross-checked against HomeAdvisor / Angi regional data, the Remodeling Magazine East-North-Central Cost-vs-Value report, and BLS Producer Price Index numbers for residential construction. That said, every house is different — once a contractor opens a wall, you almost always find one or two surprises. That's why the calculator applies a 15% contingency by default and presents low/mid/high ranges instead of a single number. Use the mid number as your planning figure and the high number as your worst-case budget.
What's the 70% rule and why does it determine my cash offer?
Real-estate investors who buy houses to flip live and die by the 70% Maximum Allowable Offer (MAO) formula: MAO = (After-Repair Value × 0.70) − Estimated Repairs. The 30% they keep covers their hard-money loan interest (typically 10–14% APR), holding costs (insurance, utilities, taxes for 4–6 months), title and closing on both ends of the deal, agent commissions when they resell, and their target profit (10–15% net). It's not a markup or a haggle — it's the math that lets a Dayton flipper stay in business. So if your house has a $250,000 ARV after repairs and needs $40,000 of work, a fair cash offer is roughly $250K × 0.70 − $40K = $135,000. The calculator shows you this number side-by-side with a retail-listing scenario so you can pick the path that puts more money in your pocket given your specific situation, timeline, and tolerance for risk.
Why is After-Repair Value (ARV) so important — and how do I figure mine?
ARV is what your house would sell for in retail-ready condition — fully repaired, painted, with updated fixtures, and on the open market via an MLS listing. Every cash offer in Dayton is anchored to it. Three ways to estimate yours: (1) Pull recent sold comps within a half-mile radius that have been fully renovated in the last 6 months (look at Zillow's 'Recently Sold' filter and exclude obvious as-is sales). (2) Ask any local agent for a free CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) — most will do it without obligation. (3) For a paid third-party number, order an appraisal ($450–$650). Investors will run their own ARV using the same comp methodology — if our number and yours are within 5%, we're aligned. If they're off by 15%+, one side has a comp problem.
Can I really get away with selling as-is and skipping all these repairs?
Yes — that is exactly what a cash buyer is for. We buy houses needing zero repairs from the seller. We absorb the cost of every category in this calculator: the roof, the HVAC, the kitchen, the cleanout. You walk away with a check. The trade-off is that the cash offer reflects those repair costs (the seller pays for them indirectly through a lower offer), plus the investor's holding/financing costs and target profit. For sellers who don't have the cash to front $40K–$80K of repairs, who don't want the 4–6 month timeline of a retail listing, who are out-of-state, who inherited the property, who are fleeing foreclosure, or who simply want to be done — a cash sale frequently nets more than fronting repairs and waiting six months, particularly once you account for repair-financing costs and market risk. The right answer depends on your specific numbers, timeline, and risk tolerance — the calculator above is meant to help you see both scenarios side-by-side rather than to recommend one over the other.
How do I know which repairs are required vs nice-to-have for selling?
Required for most retail mortgages: a functional roof with no active leaks, working HVAC, no exposed or unsafe electrical, working plumbing with no major leaks, no active foundation movement, working smoke and CO detectors, and a working water heater. FHA, VA, and USDA loans add stricter Minimum Property Standards — they typically require chipping or peeling paint be addressed on pre-1978 homes (lead-paint risk), GFCI protection in wet areas, no wood-to-soil contact on exterior, no broken windows or trip hazards, and that any electrical panel be safe and properly sized for the home's load (most modern homes need at least 100 amps; larger or all-electric homes commonly need 200 amps). Always confirm specifics with your lender or appraiser. Nice-to-have but high ROI: kitchen mid-range remodel, bathroom refresh, fresh interior paint, LVP flooring, curb appeal. Skip-able for most price points: high-end finishes, additions, finished basements, premium windows. The calculator lets you toggle each line so you can run an 'absolute minimum' scenario versus a 'list at top of comps' scenario.
Do permit fees, dump fees, and architect fees add a lot?
For a typical Dayton single-family rehab in the $40K–$80K total range, soft costs add roughly 3–6% on top of hard repair costs. Building permits in Montgomery County run $150–$500 for most pulls; electrical and plumbing permits add $100–$250 each; HVAC permits $150. Roll-off dumpsters are $400–$600 each (one for cleanout, one for tear-off if the roof is being replaced). Architect or structural-engineer fees only kick in if you're moving load-bearing walls or doing an addition — typically $1,500–$5,000. The calculator's 15% contingency line is sized to absorb these soft costs plus the 1–2 inevitable surprises behind the walls.
Why do some houses end up costing way more than estimates suggest?
Three reasons, in order of frequency. First: when you open a wall to do one thing, you find another (water damage behind tile, knob-and-tube above the kitchen ceiling, rotted sill plate behind siding). This is the #1 reason rehabs go over budget. Second: scope creep — once the kitchen is half done, you decide to also do the floors, then the trim, then the bathroom while you're at it. Third: sourcing delays — appliances, custom cabinets, and specialty windows often take 6–12 weeks, and every week of holding adds $300–$600 in interest, taxes, insurance, and utilities. The 15% contingency in this calculator addresses #1; only discipline addresses #2 and #3.
Can EZ Sell Homebuyers give me a more accurate number than this calculator?
Yes — and we do it for free, in person, with no obligation. Mike Wall personally walks through most of the houses we're considering buying. He brings 25+ years of Dayton-area construction and real-estate experience to the visit, and he'll give you a same-day cash offer based on what he sees, not a generic dollar-per-square-foot guess. If our offer is too low for what you need, you walk away with a free professional repair scope and a clear ARV reference — useful information either way. Call (937) 598-CASH or fill out the form on this site; we aim to follow up within 15 minutes during business hours and return all other inquiries the same day.
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