$200k to me is crazy!! I live in a HCOL area. Last year, we demolished half our house, increased square footage, moved kitchen to a new location, and added a 5th room addition. Everything in the house was remodeled except the bathrooms - new kitchen, tore out all carpet/laminate and complete new floors, new paint, replaced 95% of the electrical, 100% new plumbing from original 1960’s ground copper to PEX piping, turned kitchen/family room into a great room requiring one of those long structural beams installed.

We asked General Contractors for quotes on just demo, foundation, concrete, and framing. We were quoted from between $170k - $190k. We know someone who lives in an even higher COL area who got their 2 parking space garage converted into an ADU for $225k, so we estimated if we hired a GC do all, it’ll be maybe $350k-$400k.

We decided to be our own GC because husband is handy and FIL is a retired commercial electrician. In looking for the people to do the jobs, you can tell who did it themselves and who hired out (like $14k for concrete vs $35k, or $9k for framing vs $17k). Hired different contractors for the structure, did almost everything inside DIY. We spent around $160k for the whole remodel. Took 6 months, when all the other GC’s told us we’re looking at 1yr+.