Bondurant and Ankeny sit next to each other on the northeast side of the Des Moines metro in Polk County, and homeowners in one often wonder whether a kitchen remodel would cost the same in the other. The short answer is that the two are close, but not identical, and the differences come from housing age and permitting rather than from any premium on the town name. This guide compares the two directly so you can plan with realistic numbers.
Busy Builders Team, Registered Iowa Contractor #C140184.
Published: September 20, 2026 | Last Updated: September 20, 2026
TLDR: Kitchen remodels in Bondurant and Ankeny land in the same broad range, $26,000 to $80,000, with Busy Builders kitchen work starting at $250 per square foot in both. The real cost difference is not the city, it is the age of your specific house. Both cities run their own permitting. Cabinets and labor dominate the budget in either town, so the comparison that matters is your home, not your zip code.
Why Compare Two Neighboring Cities at All
Bondurant and Ankeny share a metro, a county, and a labor market. A crew working in one is working in the other the same week, at the same rates, buying materials from the same suppliers.
So the honest starting point is that the base cost of a kitchen remodel is essentially the same in both. What varies is not the town, it is the housing stock inside it and the permitting process at city hall. Those are the two variables worth actually comparing.
Pro Tip 1: Do not assume one city is cheaper than a neighbor for construction. In a shared metro labor market, the price difference between adjacent towns is far smaller than the difference between an old house and a new one.
The Base Numbers Are the Same
| Tier | Bondurant range | Ankeny range | Scope |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cosmetic refresh | $14,000 to $26,000 | $14,000 to $26,000 | Refacing or paint, counters, backsplash |
| Standard remodel | $26,000 to $50,000 | $26,000 to $50,000 | New semi-custom cabinets, counters, appliances |
| Upgraded remodel | $50,000 to $80,000 | $50,000 to $80,000 | Custom cabinets, stone, some layout change |
| Full reconfiguration | $80,000 to $135,000+ | $80,000 to $135,000+ | Walls moved, plumbing and electrical relocated |
The ranges are the same because the inputs are the same. Kitchen work starts at $250 per square foot in both cities, and cabinets and labor make up half to two thirds of the budget in either town.
Pro Tip 2: Use these tiers to place your project by scope first. Which tier you land in is decided by your cabinet grade and whether you move walls, not by which city you live in.
Where the Cities Actually Differ: Housing Age
This is the real variable, and it cuts across both cities rather than separating them.
Much of Bondurant’s housing stock is newer, reflecting its rapid growth over the last two decades. Ankeny has grown enormously too, but it has a broader spread, with established neighborhoods from earlier decades alongside newer subdivisions. So a “typical” Ankeny home is harder to pin down than a “typical” Bondurant one.
Why it matters: a newer home generally has PEX or copper supply lines, grounded circuits, and modern electrical capacity, which means fewer surprises at demolition. An older home may have galvanized supply lines, dated wiring, and an at-capacity panel, which raises the odds of behind-the-wall cost.
| Home age | Likely condition | Contingency |
|---|---|---|
| Built 2000 or later | PEX/copper, grounded, modern panel | About 10% |
| Built 1980 to 2000 | Usually modern systems, some dated | 10% to 12% |
| Built before 1980 | Possible galvanized, dated wiring, settled framing | 12% |
The practical takeaway: an older Ankeny home and an older Bondurant home carry the same elevated risk, and a newer home in either city carries the same lower risk. The city is not the variable. The build year is.
Pro Tip 3: Find your home’s build year before comparing anything. It predicts your hidden-condition risk far better than your address, in either city.
Pro Tip 4: In any home built before 1990 in either city, have the electrical panel evaluated. Modern kitchens need more dedicated circuits than older panels were built to carry.
Where the Cities Differ: Permitting
Both Bondurant and Ankeny handle their own building permits and zoning, but they are separate offices with separate processes, fee schedules, and review timelines.
Ankeny is a larger city with a correspondingly larger building department and its own established process. Bondurant, while growing fast, is smaller. Neither is harder in a way that changes your budget meaningfully, but the process details differ, and a contractor familiar with the specific city’s system moves through it faster.
Iowa’s statewide residential floor moved to the 2024 International Residential Code effective September 10, 2025 under Iowa Administrative Code 481, chapter 301. Cities adopt building and fire code editions on their own schedules, so confirm each city’s current adopted codes directly rather than assuming they match.
Iowa requires general contractors earning $2,000 or more annually to register with the Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing. Registration is not licensing. Electricians, plumbers, and HVAC technicians hold separate state licenses.
Pro Tip 5: Confirm the permit process with your specific city, since Bondurant and Ankeny run separate offices. A cosmetic refresh may not need a permit; anything touching plumbing, electrical, or structure will.
Pro Tip 6: Ask whether your contractor regularly works in your city. Familiarity with a specific building department’s process quietly saves days on either side of the line.
What Drives Cost in Either City
These apply equally in Bondurant and Ankeny, because they are about the house and the project, not the town.
| Driver | Typical added cost |
|---|---|
| Removing a load-bearing wall | $3,500 to $12,000 |
| Relocating sink or range plumbing | $1,500 to $5,000 |
| Adding dedicated appliance circuits | $800 to $2,500 |
| Electrical panel upgrade | $2,000 to $5,000 |
| Waterfall island or upgraded stone | $1,500 to $6,000 |
| Walk-in pantry addition | $2,500 to $8,000 |
Opening a wall to the living area is the most requested change in both cities’ newer homes, and the cost turns entirely on whether the wall carries load.
Pro Tip 7: Price a wall opening early in either city. A non-bearing wall is modest; a bearing wall needs a properly sized beam and a verified load path, which is engineering work.
Pro Tip 8: Never accept a verbal assessment that a wall is non-bearing. Structural changes need evaluation by a qualified professional, in either town.
Illustrative Scenarios
Illustrative scenario: A Bondurant family in a newer home updated a kitchen without changing the layout. Semi-custom cabinets, quartz, tile backsplash, appliances, and LVP flooring came in near $44,000 across six weeks.
Illustrative scenario: An Ankeny couple in an established neighborhood opened a non-bearing wall, added a waterfall island, and installed custom cabinets. Added circuits and minor subfloor leveling brought the project to roughly $69,000 over nine weeks. The number reflected the home’s age, not the city.
Illustrative scenario: Two nearly identical remodels, one in each city, both in homes built around 2015, both keeping the layout, landed within a few thousand dollars of each other. The gap came from cabinet selection, not location.
Pro Tip 9: When comparing quotes across the two cities, confirm they assume the same cabinet grade and the same home condition. Otherwise you are comparing houses, not cities.
Timeline Is the Same in Both
| Phase | Duration |
|---|---|
| Design and cabinet selection | 2 to 4 weeks |
| Permit review | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Demolition | 2 to 4 days |
| Framing and rough trades | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Inspection | 1 to 3 days |
| Drywall and paint | 4 to 7 days |
| Cabinet installation | 3 to 6 days |
| Countertop template and install | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Backsplash, flooring, finish | 5 to 9 days |
Five to seven weeks of construction for a standard remodel in either city, plus design and cabinet lead time up front. Countertops cannot be templated until cabinets are set, in either town, so every kitchen has its plywood-counter stretch.
Pro Tip 10: Order cabinets first in either city; it is the longest lead time in the room and it sets the whole schedule.
Pro Tip 11: Set up a temporary kitchen before demolition regardless of which city you are in. Seven weeks without a kitchen is the same length in Bondurant and Ankeny.
Pro Tip 12: Get every bid on the same written scope. Comparing a Bondurant bid to an Ankeny bid only tells you something if the scope behind each is identical.
Our kitchen remodeling service page covers how we scope these projects in both cities. For local work in one of them, see kitchen remodeling in Bondurant. For statewide ranges, our Iowa kitchen cost guide goes broader.
For primary sources, kitchen layout and clearance guidelines come from the National Kitchen and Bath Association. Energy-efficient appliance guidance is published by the U.S. Department of Energy. For housing data, see the U.S. Census Bureau.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a kitchen remodel cheaper in Bondurant or Ankeny? Neither, meaningfully. Both cities share a metro labor market and supplier base, so base costs are essentially the same, $26,000 to $80,000 for most remodels. The real cost difference comes from your specific home’s age and condition, not from which of the two cities it sits in.
Why would the same kitchen cost different amounts in the two cities? It usually does not, unless the homes differ in age. An older home in either city carries more hidden-condition risk, galvanized pipe, dated wiring, an at-capacity panel, than a newer one. A newer Bondurant home and a newer Ankeny home cost about the same to remodel.
Do Bondurant and Ankeny have different permit requirements? They run separate building departments with separate processes and fee schedules, though the fundamentals are similar. Both require permits for plumbing, electrical, or structural work. Confirm the specifics with your city directly, and note that adopted code editions can differ between neighboring cities.
What is the biggest cost in a kitchen remodel in either city? Cabinets and labor, together roughly half to two thirds of the budget in both towns. Appliances and countertops are smaller shares than most homeowners expect, which is why cutting the appliance package rarely rescues an over-budget project in either city.
How much contingency should I carry? Match it to your home’s build year, not the city. A home built after 2000 in either town warrants about 10%. A home built before 1980 warrants 12% because of the higher chance of galvanized supply lines, dated wiring, and settled framing revealed at demolition.
How long does a kitchen remodel take in Bondurant or Ankeny? The same in both: five to seven weeks of construction for a standard remodel, plus two to four weeks ahead for design and cabinet selection. Cabinet lead times and countertop fabrication drive the schedule in either city more than crew size does.
Key Takeaways
The cities are close – Both run $26,000 to $80,000 for most remodels – Kitchen work starts at $250 per square foot in both – Shared metro labor market means similar base costs
Housing age is the real variable – Newer homes carry lower hidden-condition risk in either city – Older homes carry higher risk in either city – Match contingency to build year, not address
Permitting differs in process, not price – Separate building departments with separate processes – Confirm each city’s adopted codes directly – A contractor familiar with the city moves faster
What actually decides your cost – Cabinet grade and layout scope – Whether you move a load-bearing wall – Your home’s age and condition
Remodeling in Bondurant or Ankeny?
We have completed 1,285+ projects across Central Iowa since 2020, on both sides of the Bondurant and Ankeny line. We will measure your kitchen, account for your home’s actual age and condition, and give you a written scope you can compare honestly.
Free consultation, no pressure, no obligation.
Call: 844-435-9800
Written warranty on workmanship (details provided in your contract).
Disclaimer: This article is for general information and is not project-specific advice. Cost figures are planning estimates that vary by scope, materials, site conditions, and current pricing. Permit requirements and adopted code editions vary by city and change over time; the Bondurant and Ankeny details cited here were verified in 2026 and should be reconfirmed with each city before you rely on them. Structural changes, including removing or modifying load-bearing walls, require evaluation by a qualified professional. Homes built before 1978 may contain lead paint, and federal RRP rules may apply. No specific outcomes are guaranteed. Consult a registered contractor for guidance specific to your project, and note that electrical and plumbing work is performed by licensed trade professionals.
Busy Builders | Full-Service Construction and Remodeling | Serving Central Iowa Since 2020
