Our 2500 sq foot 40 year old home was damaged by a six hour fire. The insurance company offered 189,000 to repair the home. It need 5 new rooms plus a new roof and the entire interior is havily heat smoke damaged.

Homes can be bought here for 189,000. My question is what questions should I ask to decide to rebuild using 60 percent of the existing frame or tear it down to the basement and start over having a "new house"

it's all a question of how much structure was damaged.

do you need new roof trusses.

are beams or walls that carry the weight of the house burned/heat damaged to a point that they can be broken easily.

does all the plumbing and electrical need to be redone (guessing on a 40 year old home that the wiring needs to be upgraded anyways).

will the smoke damage eventually seep out the smell of smoke through new drywall.

and the final thing to ask is the list of gotta haves, to the list of don't need to spend the money on extra's in a newly framed house.(tiles,hardwood,extra large windows).

but 189,000 dollars may not be enough to build new, but do you want old damage ,as oposed to everything new. see if you can get a rough 'price per square foot quote' from a reputable contractor for a basic full rebuild using the existing foundation.

what does your local inspection/permit departments say about repairs to the fire damaged house?? oft-times if there is that much damage, they will condemn the building and require replacing with all new construction above the foundation.


JMHO

Carl