What five common home improvement projects actually return at resale — in dollars, not just percentages.
Exterior, curb-appeal-driven projects with a small cost basis — a new entry door (216.4% cost recouped) and fiber-cement siding (113.7%) — return the most at resale per the 2025 Cost vs. Value Report. These figures are estimates tied to one specific project scope and cost; a higher-spec version of the same project won’t return the same percentage, and every figure below assumes the home sells within about a year.
Average job cost $2,435, average resale value added $5,270 — a real gain of about $2,835. Project scope: Entry Door Replacement, Steel. Full Door Replacement Cost & ROI Guide →
Average job cost $21,485, average resale value added $24,420 — a real gain of about $2,935. Project scope: Siding Replacement, Fiber-Cement. Full Siding Replacement Cost & ROI Guide →
Average job cost $26,138, average resale value added $20,915 — about $5,223 less recovered than spent. Project scope: Bath Remodel, Midrange. Full Bathroom Remodeling Cost & ROI Guide →
Average job cost $22,073, average resale value added $16,657 — about $5,416 less recovered than spent. Project scope: Window Replacement, Vinyl. Full Window Replacement Cost & ROI Guide →
Average job cost $31,871, average resale value added $21,501 — about $10,370 less recovered than spent. Project scope: Roofing Replacement, Asphalt Shingles. Full Roof Replacement Cost & ROI Guide →
Got a quote in hand? Put in what the work costs and what you think it adds to your home’s value — an agent, an appraiser or recent sales on your street are all reasonable places to get that second number. We do the maths on your figures, not ours.
The sum is just resale value added ÷ project cost. That makes your answer only as good as the value you entered — and the value side is the one people guess at. If you are estimating it, treat the result as a sanity check rather than a forecast.
These returns come from the 2025 Cost vs. Value Report, which sets what a project costs against the resale value real-estate professionals reckon it adds. Three things worth knowing before you lean on them. They are professional estimates rather than measured sale prices. Each one describes a single, specific version of a project — spend more on a higher-spec version and you will not get the same percentage back. And they assume you sell within about a year, because the value a project contributes fades the longer you stay. Returns also vary a lot by region. Read them as a guide to which projects tend to hold their value, not as a prediction about your house.
©2025 Zonda Media, a Delaware corporation. Complete data from the 2025 Cost vs. Value Report can be downloaded free at www.costvsvalue.com.
You may see other ROI figures elsewhere for the same project types — that’s expected, not a contradiction. The National Association of Realtors’ Remodeling Impact Report, for example, surveys member real-estate agents and also asks contractors to report their own project costs, which tend to run higher than the standardized specifications Zonda’s Cost vs. Value Report uses for the same project category. Higher reported cost with a similar reported resale value produces a lower recovery percentage — a methodology difference, not necessarily a different real-world outcome. Neither approach is “wrong”; they’re measuring comparable but not identical things, which is why it matters to know which report a number came from before comparing it to another.
Energy savings (windows & doors). Replacing single-pane windows with ENERGY STAR Most Efficient certified models can save homeowners an estimated $101–$583 per year, varying by climate, home size, and energy cost; ENERGY STAR-qualified models generally cut 7–15% off annual household energy bills (ENERGY STAR / U.S. Department of Energy).
Insurance savings (windows & doors, storm states). Florida Statute 627.0629 requires insurers to offer wind-mitigation discounts, and the opening-protection credit — documented on form OIR-B1-1802 by a certified wind-mitigation inspector — is the largest line on that form. It requires all openings protected, which is exactly why exterior doors matter to this credit, not just windows. We can’t cite a specific savings percentage without a primary or state-agency source, so ask your insurer for your state’s exact figures.
Gutters follow a different pattern entirely: the value is damage prevention, not resale percentage. Foundation repair from water damage typically runs $2,200–$8,400, averaging around $5,000, with severe cases reaching roughly $30,000 — the kind of cost well-functioning gutters are meant to help you avoid. The same non-resale logic can apply to any project where the real payoff is avoided damage rather than a line-item on an appraisal.
Cost-recouped percentages describe one project in isolation. A separate, complementary way to look at value is transaction-level: how does a home’s overall condition affect its final sale price? Zillow’s March 2026 transaction research found that recently remodeled homes sold for about 2.2% more than comparable un-remodeled homes, move-in-ready (“turnkey”) homes sold for about 2.9% more, and homes needing significant work (“fixer-uppers”) sold for about 14% less. This is listing and sale-price analysis, not a project-by-project cost-recovery study — it doesn’t tell you which specific project to do, but it does show that overall home condition has a real, measurable effect on what buyers are willing to pay.
These are the questions homeowners ask most often before starting this project - what it costs, how long it takes, what a fair quote looks like and which details change the price. Each answer below is written to stand on its own, so you can read just the one you need.
