Build Cost Per Sq Ft in Hill Country? (Austin, Wimberley: house, luxury)

[Mama Grey]

My dad is moving in with us and we're planning to build a 900-1,000 sq ft casita/ADU with attached 3 car garage on the back of our property. We've started conversations with several builders and architects. I fell out of my chair when an architect told us $500/sq foot! In your experience, what is typical right now for $ cost/sq ft to build?

We're in Wimberley and are not looking for luxury finishes. 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath. We can plumb into city water but would need septic and propane for cooktop only.

[ashbeeigh]

What are the comps in the area? That’s where I would start.

[LocalPlanner]

1. Per sq.ft. prices will always be higher for smaller structures. That said, the quote still seems quite high to me.

2. Have you tried a home designer as opposed to an architect? The savings can be huge, and you'll still get what you need, especially if you want something simple and not an artistic statement.

[Mama Grey]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

2. Have you tried a home designer as opposed to an architect? The savings can be huge, and you'll still get what you need, especially if you want something simple and not an artistic statement.

Building on our lot is a first experience for us. What is a home designer vs. a builder or architect? We're open to any and all ideas.

[Mrs.JT]

We are currently building for about $197 sq/ft.

If you don't mind doing a lot of the grunt work, essentially acting as a general contractor, you can go through UBuildIt. There's an office in Spicewood. You can speak with Tim Poole or Cheyanne Wilson.

[rabbit33]

That $500/SF would be for an exotic structure, difficult to build, designed for artistic effect not for function, and the whole schmeer managed through the architect. You pay extra for the beret and attitude.

If you want a small house of more or less standard design, I'd say $200/SF. Use a designer/drafter, not an architect. You may have difficulty finding a builder who wants to take on such a small job; these days the custom guys are all doing 5000 SF jobs for people moving out of the cities. A good GC can do the job for you, probably. You need to find recommendations by word of mouth, which I can't help you with in that area.

[verybadgnome]

About $400/sq. ft. for building in Austin a small house including all soft costs. Your situation should probably dictate a quarter or a third less than based on my estimation. Of course there are a lot of variables like site prep, topography, geology, utilities, etc. that can add a lot to the cost.

[Austin97]

if you go to the facebook group contractors underground you will find contractors that can do it for less.

You can also look at a company like kanga or ma modular that specialize in prefabs.

500 is on the very high end, but a nice place is going to be at least $300 turnkey. $200 is going to be hard these days.

I do feel like if you manage it directly and get all the subs yourself you can do it for $150.

We had plumbers give 5K quotes to connect 4 things to existing lines (toilet, shower, two sinks)

I had quotes for around 60K for my master bath. Had one company come in and say I was lucky to get a 60K quote they wanted 80k.

I did it for about 15K (custom cabinets) but I did the tile and plumbing myself, hired a company to do drywall, painting, cabinets. My GC who did the rest of my house did the demo.

[Mama Grey]

Thanks all. So much good info! We've started talking with home designers and a few builder recommendations. We'll see how their pricing comes in, but they mentioned that they've slowed down considerably and their subs are hungry for work. I wish we could consider prefab structures but our POA dictates that we have to build in place.

[cheeva]

Originally Posted by Mrs.JT

We are currently building for about $197 sq/ft.

If you don't mind doing a lot of the grunt work, essentially acting as a general contractor, you can go through UBuildIt. There's an office in Spicewood. You can speak with Tim Poole or Cheyanne Wilson.

I PM'ed you with no response, so I'll ask publicly - What did you think of Tim Poole?
disclosure: I don't work for UBI, and your response is anonymous.