$100.00 a SF to build?

[papabear]

We are thinking we would like to have a home built here in Wisconsin.It is a very basic home measuring 28'x44' with a two and a half car garage.(28'x68')It would be a little over 1,200 sf,three bedroom,one and a half bath,with all vinyl siding.Basicly it will be a rectangle shape using middle grade materials.Also,it would have a full,poured foundation.
I was given a $100.00 sf figure by the builder without them seeing an actual plan.The question is does $100.00 a sf sound about right taking in all the veriables such as material choices,location,etc.Ofcourse that figure is without the cost of the lot
If anyone that can give me any input I would truly be thankful.Just trying to decide if this is something we should persue before having plans drawn,bothering builders,etc. Thank you

 

[Cottonhawk]

The cost of building depends great deal upon the workmanship, grade of material, complexity of the electrical and plumbing systems, etc. Over here where we live, $100 psf is very reasonable price for middle grade material. One way you can look at it is to compare the price to the houses on the market.

 

[dubba]

Quite a few of the city folk that built some new houses down at the end of my street were apparently happy with 125-130 per square foot

 

[BillyP]

A nice nothing fancy brick house on a concrete slab will run you around $70.00 per sq ft in this area.

 

[sawdust_maker]

$100 a foot is quite reasonable, especially with a full basement. I'd even say its low. A recent basic (modular) home that I saw a price on was closer to $130 a foot. Building materials have gone up quite a bit the last few years. Remember that a lot of the cost of a home is in things like the kitchen and bath. Its easy to go over budget. On the other hand, cheaper components in the kitchen and bath may need replacement sooner.

John

 

[EddieWalker]

An article that I read in one of the trade magazines that I recieve said that the biggest price on building a home was labor. The goal of all the biggest home builders in the country is to cut down on what the spend on labor to improve profits. Their goals were all to get labor expenses to 60% of the house, but none of them are there yet.

Homes here are on slab foundations,( no basements) with brick siding. I can build a mid level home for $60 a foot with some nice features pretty easily. The rectangular shape will help allot at keeping costs down, but then your big expenses will be on finish. Lights, floors, cabinets and all the little stuff will really run up the finish price. Labor here is pretty low. I can get day unskilled labor for $8 to $10 an hour. Skilled trades are in the $15 to $20 an hour range. Remember, Texas doesn't have any state income tax and low property taxes, so we can live better on less per hour then people in other states with higher taxes.

As a comparison, I was involved in a few homes in California about five years ago that were over $300 a ft to build. They were very plane compared to a house that sells for $80 a foot down here.

A $100 a ft house here will put you on a lake, a golf course or a very fancy, high end home with granite counters, real wood floors and crown moldings throughout.

My personal home is only 1,000 sq feet. It's a very small 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom that I built two years ago for $35 a ft. That price will rise this winter when we put in laminate wood flooring. We tried to cut a corner and stain the concrete slab ourselves. That failed pretty bad, so now we're going spend a grand on the wood.

Shop around for your builder. Most will know ways to save you money on your building, or at least point out things on a plan that are costing you extra money. Dormer windows are real nice looking, but when you figure labor, material and finish, they add $2,000 each to a house.

Eddie

 

[Willl]

in this area.

And where might that be ?

 

[BillyP]

And where might that be ?

To be exact, Eagletown OK but I figured my signature would give a hint to the state?

 

[gotrocks]

My thinking on SF pricing is that it is just a "guesstimate" way of doing business.

Say you want to build a compact 3 bedroom with 2 baths and a builder prices it at $100 / SF for 1500 SF = $15,000

Then you decide to change the floor plan and end up with 1650 SF, nothing changes except the room dimensions.
If he charges $100 SF for the additional 150 SF their will be more profit in that job.
Why? Because the most expensive items have not changed.
Number of doors, windows, plumbing fixtures etc.
Another thing that use to bug me is why design a bedroom to be say 10x11 feet. When sheetrocking the walls & ceiling,
most of the time 1 foot will go to the scrap pile, when the carpet is installed a foot is cut off and wasted.
Well that's just my idea that may be open for discussion.
Good luck with your new home. Don't pay in advance.

 

[Kenrik]

My thinking on SF pricing is that it is just a "guesstimate" way of doing business.

Say you want to build a compact 3 bedroom with 2 baths and a builder prices it at $100 / SF for 1500 SF = $15,000

Then you decide to change the floor plan and end up with 1650 SF, nothing changes except the room dimensions.
If he charges $100 SF for the additional 150 SF their will be more profit in that job.
Why? Because the most expensive items have not changed.
Number of doors, windows, plumbing fixtures etc.
Another thing that use to bug me is why design a bedroom to be say 10x11 feet. When sheetrocking the walls & ceiling,
most of the time 1 foot will go to the scrap pile, when the carpet is installed a foot is cut off and wasted.
Well that's just my idea that may be open for discussion.
Good luck with your new home. Don't pay in advance.

I think you should re-check your math... $ 100.00 P/SF. for 1500 SF
is $150,000.00 not $15,000.00.
Depending on where you are located ... compared to the northeast $100.00 P/SF. is a very fair price

 

[MarkV]

A $100 per foot would be low in the urban areas around here. You might do a little better in the rural areas but not as good as Eddie’s area. I have always noticed that prices were higher where my folks are in N. Illinois so your pricing sounds close to what I would expect.

If you have the skills you can save a lot by doing some or all of the finish work yourself. Even just doing the interior painting can save thousands. It can be a time problem if you are trying to get out of a building loan and into a mortgage though.

MarkV

 

[LC '92]

The residential construction company I'm with here in Aggieland (Whoop!) builds bunches of houses every year. From first time home buyer products to upscale 3000 sf products. Based on my 11 years of doing residential construction estimating I'll offer the following:

1.) All construction costs are regional, yours may differ from mine.

2.) What does his $100.00 per sf include? You need a scope of work. For all I know the price may include a $20,000.00 septic system and Pella windows. You need a well defined "scope of work" so you know just what your getting.

3.) Are all permits and permitting fees included?

4.) When he is talking price per square foot, you need to establish which sf number he is using. Is it heated sf, slab sf, or another combination of the two.

With these points established I will offer the following opinion.

We have a cost that we call "sticks & bricks". This is a cost that is established as if you were building the structure in space. It would not include lot costs, tap or permit fees, overhead, profits, insurance, or anything other than the material and labor to build the house. This assumption would include a poured in place concrete slab, grades 2 & 3 pine lumber, Hardi-Plank siding, 20 year composition roof, 1/2" sheetrock, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, insulation, cabinets, carpet, etc for a finished ready to occupy house all built to Southern Building Code.

In our area, I would use the dollar amount of about $50.00 for this. Your "sticks & bricks" costs here for a 1200 heated sf house with 2 car attached garage would be around $60,000.00. We use this number for a seat of the pants guesstimate of costs so one can quickly decide if a project is grossly over or underpriced. Real cost varies to either side of this number but is good benchmark for quick costs analysts.

You would then start adding to this number, fee costs, profits, overhead, lot cost, upgrades, etc to get your final project cost.

I hope this is a helpful tool for answering your question.

With best regards.

 

[NewToy]

We built our 2100 sq ft house here in S.E. Ohio for $65.00 a square. That includes a geo-thermal system and top of the line Amish custom kitchen cabinets.We saved a ton of money by investing alot of sweat. I was fortunate enough to be able to work on the house full time. My FIL is a contractor and he also saved us a bunch by calling in a few favors from other tradesmen. Poured 9' basement walls, HVAC, insulation and interior trim were subbed out. The rest we did with the help of the family. We always shopped the lumber, trusses and other materials with all the builders supply places around and saved quite a bit doing that. All the doors and windows are top grade (Pella) and I have an inch of ridgid foam insulation all around with an R38 ceiling. I was after an energy efficient house and it paid off. Our highest electric bill so far has been $104.00. The house is all electric with the exception of a propane fireplace in the event of an extended power outage. I can't see how I could have built it any cheaper than we did unless we resorted to cheaper components. As stated before the labor is a big factor, anything you can do yourself will save you lots.
John

 

[thatguy]

It is very regional cost - in the NE you probably work steadily until you die if you would build for the $100..

With our house (Virginia) we figured the main floor (2040 sf) at about $110/sf - The detached garage (24x36) was in the $50 - 60/sf range and the walk up attic (unfinished, but ready to finish - about 1050 sf) was probably in the $30 - 35/sf range...

This was based on talking to other ppl/builders and backing into the total price.. We also did high-end kitchen cabinets, silestone countertops, hickory floors, and a custom tile shower - so that obviously added to the cost..

BUT if you add up all the square feet and divide it by total cost - it comes out at right under $80/ft.. - SO someone could easily finagle the numbers to be much lower than reality...

Brian

 

[gotrocks]

Oops,
Thanks Kenrik,
That decimal just doesn't know how to say in its place.

 

[EddieWalker]

New Toy reminds me of a good point. Allot of builders just use who they like for materials, regardless of price. We have several to choose from here. McCoys is cheapest with really good contrator support. I and allot of others use them all the time.

The other end of the spectrum is the company that is the most expensive. There are very, very good at getting your materials to you quickly, and they will bend over backwards to get what you need. I have an account with them and have used them on a few homes I've worked on and built. The problem is they are so expensive. If the builder wants that service then the homeowner is gonna pay for it.

Eddie

 

[Cottonhawk]

It amazes me that how inexpensive cost you folks to build in your area. Around here, even an old home (say 40 yrs old) in run down shape on a small lot would sell for ove 200k. A nice home would cost over 250 psf. My brother is building a new home which cost him over $400 psf not including the lot.

 

[NewToy]

It is very regional cost - in the NE you probably work steadily until you die if you would build for the $100..

With our house (Virginia) we figured the main floor (2040 sf) at about $110/sf - The detached garage (24x36) was in the $50 - 60/sf range and the walk up attic (unfinished, but ready to finish - about 1050 sf) was probably in the $30 - 35/sf range...

This was based on talking to other ppl/builders and backing into the total price.. We also did high-end kitchen cabinets, silestone countertops, hickory floors, and a custom tile shower - so that obviously added to the cost..

BUT if you add up all the square feet and divide it by total cost - it comes out at right under $80/ft.. - SO someone could easily finagle the numbers to be much lower than reality...

Brian

I cheaped out on the kitchen countertops, I was shocked at the price at some of the top of the line stuff. I went with formica to stay on track with the budget. We laid the ceramic tiles for the kitchen floor ourselves and let me tell you that is hard work. I respect the guy that can do that day in day out for a living. I was nearly hobbled after a week of it. Also, we went to Dalton, GA and bought our carpet for $5.90 a sq yd. I saved over 5k from what the carpet places around here wanted. Lot's of ways to save money, most involve sweat equity.
Good luck with your project and take lots of pictures. It's fun to look back at them.

John

 

[alchemysa]

We are thinking we would like to have a home built here in Wisconsin.It is a very basic home

Papabear. If the house is as simple as you say it is then its an ideal project for you to be an 'owner builder' and have a 'pay by the hour' arrangement. Our home is almost finished. I had two guys working on it who, between them, had all the trades covered except electrical. (Although we contracted out the gyprock and bathroom tiling anyway.)

Some aspects of our house were quite complicated so a lot of money was probably wasted on 'standing around and thinking', or working on details that weren't worth the effort in the end, but, even so, I'm sure it was much cheaper to do it 'by the hour' than if we'd had a 'by the foot' price.

Two very important points though if you go the 'pay by the hour' route...
(1) Make sure you have honest, reliable tradesman. Preferably local guys who have a trusted reputation. And preferably guys who will get the major material bills charged directly to you. Shop around to get a fair hourly rate but don't be stingy. Good tradesman who put in a good days work are worth keeping happy.

(2) Arrange for one labourer (perhaps yourself or an unemployed or retired neighbour) to ALWAYS be available whenever the tradesman is on the site. The tradesman will get through twice as much work if they dont have to do their own 'carting and cleaning'. And, of course you'll save plenty because you are not paying trade rates for the someone to do the crappy labouring jobs.

(Don't simply trust the tradesman to bring in his own labourers when required. They mean well but often find that on the day they need help they can't get it, or the labourers they regularly use cost almost as much as the tradesman themselves).

Good luck with it. We've enjoyed the process. We are thinking of doing another one now purely to make some money to help pay for the first one!

 

[ByronBob]

1320 S.F upstairs finished raised ranch and 1200 s.f unfinished basement with no garage turn key cost for my home was about $100,000. If you consider the house only an upstairs cost then I'm at about $85 a s.f to build back in 2003.

Your cost really isn't too far out of reality.