Split levels from the 1960s and 70s share a common curse: a shallow front gable, a stranded entry, and three competing wall planes that fight each other for attention. A thoughtful split level house exterior remodel can erase that dated look for $18,000 to $65,000 depending on how far you go with siding, roofline, and landscaping. The trick is sequencing the work so each dollar pushes the facade toward a single, deliberate style rather than a patchwork.
- Why the Original Facade Looks Dated
- Sequence the Big Moves First
- Siding Choices That Modernize Instantly
- The Entry Is Your Highest-Leverage Dollar
- Windows, Garage, and the Small Stuff
- Roof and Color Coordination
- Landscape and Lighting Finish the Story
- Budgeting and Permits
- Phasing the Work Over Multiple Years
- What to Tell Your Contractor on Day One
Why the Original Facade Looks Dated
Builders in that era loved short eaves, faux shutters, and a brick wainscot that stopped at the bottom of the upper window. Your eye has nowhere to land. Painting the trim a fresh color rarely solves it because the proportions themselves are the problem.
Walk across the street and squint. If the entry disappears, the windows look stranded, or the roof feels too small for the box beneath it, you have three structural moves to consider before you touch a paintbrush.
Sequence the Big Moves First
Order matters. Start with anything that changes the silhouette: extending the roof overhang from 12 inches to 24 or 30 inches, adding a covered entry portico, or replacing the tiny window above the front door with a full transom unit. A framer charging $75 to $110 per hour can knock out a portico in two days with a helper.
Only after the geometry is set should you commit to siding and color. Painting first and reframing later means repainting a $4,200 job.
Siding Choices That Modernize Instantly
Vertical board-and-batten on the upper level paired with horizontal lap below is the cleanest split level fix going. James Hardie HZ5 fiber cement runs $9 to $14 per square foot installed, while LP SmartSide engineered wood lands at $7 to $11. Both come pre-primed and hold paint for 15 years if installed over a rainscreen gap.
If the existing brick wainscot is sound, keep it and limewash it in a soft white or warm gray. A 1,200 sq ft facade absorbs about 6 gallons of Romabio Classico at $80 a gallon and reads as bespoke architectural detail rather than dated builder brick.
The Entry Is Your Highest-Leverage Dollar
Almost every split level hides the front door behind a half-flight of concrete steps and a flimsy metal rail. Replace those steps with broom-finished concrete or bluestone treads, swap the rail for a 36-inch powder-coated aluminum panel system, and install a 42-inch wide fiberglass door from Therma-Tru or Masonite ($1,400 to $2,800 installed).
Adding a 4 ft by 6 ft shed-roof portico with a single tapered column reorients the entire front. Most homeowners spend $3,500 to $7,000 here and recover it directly in curb appeal.
Windows, Garage, and the Small Stuff
Original aluminum sliders bleed energy and look thin. Andersen 100 Series or Pella Lifestyle replacements in black-clad exterior run $700 to $1,100 per opening installed and pull the whole facade into the current decade. If the budget is tight, paint existing trim Sherwin-Williams Iron Ore (SW 7069) or Tricorn Black (SW 6258) for under $400.
The garage door is the biggest single rectangle on a split level facade. A Clopay Canyon Ridge faux-wood door is $2,800 to $4,500 installed and reads as custom millwork from the curb. Skip the decorative hardware kits unless the rest of the house already has a strong farmhouse direction.
Roof and Color Coordination
If the asphalt shingles are over 18 years old, fold the replacement into the remodel. Architectural shingles in CertainTeed Landmark Pro Charcoal Black ($5.50 to $7 per sq ft installed) anchor every other color choice on the house. A standing-seam metal accent over the new portico, in matte black or dark bronze, costs $1,800 to $2,500 for a small section and signals quality.
Pull two paint colors and one trim color from the roof. A warm greige body, a darker accent for the board-and-batten gable, and a crisp off-white trim is hard to mess up.
Landscape and Lighting Finish the Story
A split level house exterior remodel falls flat without grading the entry approach. Widen the walkway from 3 feet to 4.5 or 5 feet using the same bluestone as the porch treads. Layer evergreen shrubs (boxwood, inkberry) against the foundation with one specimen tree, like a Natchez crape myrtle or a serviceberry, 8 to 12 feet off the corner.
For lighting, mount two wall sconces flanking the door at 66 inches to center, downlight the portico with a single 3000K recessed can, and add path lights at 8-foot spacing. Kichler and Hinkley both make low-voltage kits in the $400 to $900 range that look architectural rather than landscape-store generic.
Budgeting and Permits
A modest cosmetic refresh (paint, door, light fixtures, landscaping) runs $8,000 to $15,000 over a long weekend or two. A full structural remodel with new siding, roofline changes, a portico, and windows lands at $45,000 to $75,000 and typically requires a building permit under the IRC plus an electrical permit for any new exterior circuits. Most jurisdictions take two to four weeks to issue. Get three contractor bids, demand line-item pricing, and never pay more than 30 percent up front.
Phasing the Work Over Multiple Years
Few homeowners write a single check for the full remodel, and the smart move is phasing the project into two or three campaigns 18 to 24 months apart. Year one handles the high-impact, hard-to-undo decisions: roofline changes, the portico, and the front door package. Year two takes on siding and color. Year three is reserved for windows, garage door replacement, and landscaping refinement.
Stagger the work this way and a $60,000 remodel feels more like three $20,000 projects. Lock in the design direction up front, even if the install dates spread out, so each phase contributes to the same final facade.
What to Tell Your Contractor on Day One
Bring three things to the first contractor meeting: a labeled photo of the existing facade with notes, a Pinterest or Houzz board of target looks, and a realistic budget range. The contractor cannot value-engineer a vague wish list. When you show a target image, ask specifically which elements drive cost and which are nearly free. Often a paint color change, a new door, and a portico capture 80 percent of the visual transformation at 30 percent of the full remodel budget. Spend a Saturday with that comparison drawn on paper before signing anything.
