$100.00 a SF to build?

[anthonyk]

that's a bit high for the Houston area.

Also, it sounds like a broad guestimate.
What you should do is pay to have a specific home plan created, not something drawn by hand on a napkin.
Then you can present it to various builders for specific quotes.
Once they have a concrete set of plans, it's much easier to give you a more accurate quote. Right now, it sounds like they're just high balling it to cover their butts.

anthony

 

[dubba]

I heard an advertisement for a shed company on the radio today Something about the price didn't sound right so I pulled out the calculator real quick...

$25.75 per square foot for a dirt floored 12x20 "shed"

 

[IllMarty1]

Papabear,

I think $100 a sq.ft is pretty good estimate. I just did this in Wisconsin 2 years ago, so my numbers are fairly recent. We built 2650 sq.ft lodge home and we spent roughly $100/ sq. ft. by time we blew through fixture allowances, made as built changes, and hauled in dirt and stone for final grade and driveway. PM me if you want any info

 

[thatguy]

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

here is a link to our house and the building process, we moved in last October...

http://s49.photobucket.com/albums/f292/Tracy_Brian_House/

Brian

 

[3RRL]

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.

I'm with you Cotton.
lol ... Out here I couldn't get my yard mowed for a hundred bucks a square foot. We haven't seen that price for homes since the 80's where I live.
I'm looking at about $300 a sq/ft to build the Log Cabin style home and that was a lot less than the previous contractor wanted. A LOT less.
Septic extra
Permits and fees extra
Architect Design and engineering extra
Land extra (of course)
My barn alone is about $35 sq/ft but it includes a bathroom, office and fully insulated.
I would say a hundred bucks a square foot is a great deal as a general estimate, of course.

 

[rtimgray]

We have recently moved into our house that we have been self-building for the last (almost) 4 years. It has a partial basement, 1st floor and 2nd floor under roof with 4 dormers. It is essentially a rectangle. Total square footage of the house is 2,100 sq. ft. My wife and I, with the occassional help from family or friend, have done all of the work short of the septic system (too much permitting and my backhoe would not dig deep enough). We have invested a total of $45,000 to this point (we formed and poured our own basement walls, framed the house, roofed, finished the inside, etc.) We have ceramic and marble tile in the bathrooms and utility rooms and I am still building custom kitchen cabinets. This number equates to about $22 per square foot, but this would be strictly materials cost. We used mid-grade or better materials and built a sturdy, well-insulated house - it just took a long time.

 

[EddieWalker]

... This number equates to about $22 per square foot, but this would be strictly materials cost. We used mid-grade or better materials and built a sturdy, well-insulated house - it just took a long time.

Very IMPRESSIVE!!!!!

I know that you can build a house on your own for allot less them most peole suspect possible, but I never imagined anybody could do it for that amount. I really thought $30 a foot was about the lowest possible for a decent home, but I bet you came up with some money saving ideas that I've never considered. Making your own cabinets is one that I wouldn't do, but can see where you'd save quite a bit on doing so.

If you can, please post some pictures. I'd love to see what your home looks like.

Eddie

 

[rtimgray]

Hi Eddie-

The main way we kept cost down was do everything possible ourselves and waste as little material as possible (i.e. the 3/4" plywood for the concrete basement forms was re-used as subflooring), 2 x 4 for the forms re-used for framing/blocking, concrete first floor was stained, laminate flooring in lieu of hardwood (that can always be upgraded years from now) etc.

I'll try a few posts attaching some pictures (never done that before).

Here we go.

 

[rtimgray]

5202 is when we were framing
6283 features the chief tile layer/framing nailer/drywall finisher/painter with helpers

 

[rtimgray]

6291 is tiling above the shower (with two shower heads, no less)
6045 is plumbing/framing/electrical downstairs
6046 is plumbing/framing/electrical upstairs

 

[rtimgray]

6411 is the front view
6414 is the side view
6428 is a shot of some of the kitchen cabinets

Building the cabinetry is far and away the most gratifying/fun part of this whole process. We had planned on purchasing cabinets, but we looked at the box store cabinets (expensive junk), local discount outlet assemble yourself cabinets (cheap junk), and even allegedly Amish built custom cabinets from a local shop (that still used particle board shelves, plastic corner braces, $1.89 drawer glides, etc). I was disgusted I decided to build them myself. We purchased rough red oak and maple from a saw mill, stickered it and let it dry, and I got to buy table saw/planer/jointer/drill press/compound miter/molder/lathe/bandsaw/sander/etc. for less than the price of the cabinets from any of the sources. I even learned how to make dovetails for my solid maple drawers and raised panel doors, etc. I still have so much more to do and so much more to learn, though.

Also, a bit of an explanation - this house began life planned as being a garage for a larger house to be built several years from now. That may help to explain it's boxy shape and concrete floor. Years into this process, we have realized that while we may indeed (probably will) build the larger house, we will never convert this house into a garage (way too much emotional ties from building it from the ground up). In retrospect, I would have done many, many things differently that would improve the look of the otherwise boxy house, but I am overall still very happy.

The run up to building this house was that when we first married, we purchased and renovated a 1971 12x56 mobile home and set it on the farm for about $3,000. We have saved our pennies since then, and the house, as it stands now on land that we own, is free and clear (i.e. no mortgage). It is not perfect, but it is ours!

Take care.

 

[EddieWalker]

VERY NICE!!!!!!

Thanks for posting the pictures. You guys have done a fantastic job. Especially for what you have into it. Just amazing how much you can save by doing it all yourself.

Putting backerboard on your walls in your kitchen was a suprise. I've never seen anybody do that before. Same with the green board, but it doesn't hurt anything. Just extra money.

Your framing looks great. I love how big and massive your headers are. No worries there!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[rtimgray]

The backerboard is there for tile work that will be installed after we (build and) hang the upper cabinets. I don't know if we had to, but we (my wife and I) have recently completed a tiling job at a nursing home shower room that just had green drywall beneath the tiles (except in the shower stalls themselves - thank goodness it had backerboard). The tile was falling off the walls where it was just on drywall (in fairness, this tile is probably 12-15 years old, so maybe that is to be expected). Just for the slight increase in material cost (and aggravation of installation), I'd rather go with the backerboard.

Thanks for the kind words.

 

[EddieWalker]

In wet areas, like bathrooms and especially showers, cement based backer boards are the only way to go. Green board is for the surronding areas in high moisture locations like the ceilings in bathrooms due to steam and condensation.

Kitchen walls don't have these issues and backsplashes are considered decorative, not wet areas. What you have is great, it's much, much better then you needed. I just wanted to point out that it's not required and you could have saved some money with regular sheetrock.

Eddie

 

[rtimgray]

Dang - I could have built it for $44,975 instead of $45,000! We did put backerboard on all the floors in the bathrooms and utility rooms and we put it on all of the walls that have/will have tile. We put the green drywall in bathrooms. I'm sure that drywall base for tile work as backsplashes is addequate, but for the few more dollars for backerboard, I'll put up backerboard.

That is probably the combination best and worst thing about doing all of the work myself - I get to do it my way (for better or worse). I've heard horror stories from people who contracted their own home (they were the GC) and things like the electrician knocked a piece of tile off the wall - they have to get the tile guy to come back, deduct money from the electrician, then the tile guy doesn't show up, etc. etc. At least when I messed up something I had already done, I knew who was gonna fix it.

The funniest recent thing was after we moved in, I discovered a small leak in our main plumbing drain line. It was only a little leak going into the basement, and only when the upstairs bathroom was being used. Turned out, I had put a tiny, tiny hole in the main drain pipe when drilling holes for cabling through the studs. Luckily, I only had to remove one piece of unfinished drywall to get to the pipe and fix it - but I had no one to blame but myself.

 

[hitekcountry]

I agree with Eddie Very Nice!

The funniest recent thing was after we moved in, I discovered a small leak in our main plumbing drain line. It was only a little leak going into the basement, and only when the upstairs bathroom was being used. Turned out, I had put a tiny, tiny hole in the main drain pipe when drilling holes for cabling through the studs. Luckily, I only had to remove one piece of unfinished drywall to get to the pipe and fix it - but I had no one to blame but myself.

I did notice in post #30, picture #6046 you're ready to put up sheetrock but you don't have any protective plates on the studs where the pipes run thru to prevent driving sheetrock screws through the pipes. Then I thought I hope he doesn't end up with any leaks. BTDT

 

[ktm250rider]

Looks great. I especially like the tile border in the bathroom. Not only because it looks nice but its also what i used in our mud room.
Our house (4000 sqft 3 car garage) came in at $82/sqft with the 50 acres or 62 just for the building. It should be a little higher as we still need to finish our master bath, the window trim and my home theater is only rough framed. Unfortuneatly, we built when lumber prices were out of control. If i was building now, I could have saved 10 bucks per sheet of plywood. I had to stop comparing costs after that one line item.

Did just about all the work myself with help of family. We contracted the excavation, foundation, drywall and carpeting. A plumber friend hleped with the drain lines and purchasing components. Everything else was me and two helpers, myself and I.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Thanks for the pic's of your castle!

I'd spend double if I built my own (50% for Advil). I have a back which doesn't like to stay bent over.

 

[IllMarty1]

Papabear,

I think $100 a sq.ft is pretty good estimate. I just did this in Wisconsin 2 years ago, so my numbers are fairly recent. We built 2650 sq.ft lodge home and we spent roughly $100/ sq. ft. by time we blew through fixture allowances, made as built changes, and hauled in dirt and stone for final grade and driveway. PM me if you want any info

****, I attached the wrong photo. DUH!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/IllMarty/frontright.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/IllMarty/DSC00076.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/IllMarty/IMG_0311.jpg

 

[rtimgray]

For the most part, I didn't have to use any protective plates because the wires/piping in the walls were in the center of the studs. I used 1/2 drywall and 1 1/4" screws, so as long as the pipes/wires were more than about 7/8" from the edge of the stud, I didn't have anything to worry about. I punched the hole in the drain line boring through the studs with a hole hawg when I was running the electrical lines. It was just a little bitty pinhole in the side of the 4" soil stack (but it still leaked a lot!). I did put protective plates over several spots in the kitchen and lower bath where I couldn't get them in the wall far enough to suit me.