The porch, 6 feet deep by 15 feet wide, adds about $2,000 to the overall cost. Louis said his firm’s porches run from $2,000 to $3,500, depending on size and materials utilized.

A front entry can go wrong when, among other missteps, “the doors aren’t set out proportionately to the rest of the elevation so you don’t have a sense of arrival,” Ritcey says.