A scrape is considered new construction, as opposed to a remodel. New construciton brings with it additional fees and costs.

Also, important is the tax basis, depending on how long you’ve owned the property. If you remodel or add on to an existing property you essentially keep the Tax basis for the property, with an adjustment for the added remodel.

For example, we put over 1000 square feet onto an existing 8000 sf house in the early 2000’s. We also impacted nearly all of the existing 800 sf. Our original tax basis was under 300K. When the remodel was complete the county tacked on the remodel upgrades as only another 115 K in value.

With new construction, the county will determine the value for the entire property and the clock starts anew for Prop 13.