Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Has anyone built a home lately that would have very ballpark costs for everything but the land? I know it can vary greatly. But I am talking EVERYTHING....from building permits, cutting trees to clear a site, well, septic, power, driveway, site work and then the physical house. This would be a 2,000sf or less house, maybe even 1,500sf. It would be attempted to be done in as cost effective manner as possible. Any good per sf numbers that would encapsulate everything?
Has anyone built a new log home/cabin from a kit on a piece of land and can give me an idea what the whole thing cost? Any recommendations for log home kit providers? I'd like to compare this to custom new construction of say a Cape type house.
We built our house 10 years ago. Different environment than today. You can buy an existing home and renovate cheaper than building.
Most homes today will cost more than the appraisal will come in at when you are done. There are exceptions, but you should get all your numbers together before you do anything and consult an appraiser. My wife does mortgages and sees a number of times where people buy land and then can't get a construction loan because it won't appraise after it's done.
I can tell you that building a house entails a lot of surprises cost wise. You should budget 10% extra for extras and unforeseen expenses and I can assure you there will be some.
I don't want to discourage you from building, but do your homework beforehand. It'll save you a ton of stress later on.
We built our house 10 years ago. Different environment than today. You can buy an existing home and renovate cheaper than building.
Most homes today will cost more than the appraisal will come in at when you are done. There are exceptions, but you should get all your numbers together before you do anything and consult an appraiser. My wife does mortgages and sees a number of times where people buy land and then can't get a construction loan because it won't appraise after it's done.
I can tell you that building a house entails a lot of surprises cost wise. You should budget 10% extra for extras and unforeseen expenses and I can assure you there will be some.
I don't want to discourage you from building, but do your homework beforehand. It'll save you a ton of stress later on.
Cheers!
Thank you for the words of advice harpoonalt. I would already have the land so I would avoid that cost. It really seems like if I want to include every little tiny last thing (well, septic, power, grading, land clearing, landscaping, foundation, permits, etc...) probably $200 sf everything out the door to build say a Cape. Seems like I might be able to get away with $250k total for everything if I did a small log home kit on my existing piece of land. Reason thinking about building is I'm inheriting a very pretty piece of land about 75 acres with great views in the hills. I'm not very handy (zero experience building with my own hands - but I have owned a fair amount of rental houses which I hired out all of the fix up work) so I would have to hire everything out.
If I was to buy an existing house that I needed to fix up, how hard is it to get subcontractors in VT to do work for me at a reasonable price? I live on the west coast now but grew up back in New England. Pondering moving back that way for much of the year.
Owning your land is a big step up. Prices vary depending on where you build. We picked out a house plan online, ordered the blueprints and had our contractor give us an estimate. The local lumberyard have people that print out a spreadsheet for the builders.
The more complex the house and the quality of your materials can make a huge difference in price per square foot. I'd put the most money in things that can't easily be changed later, like doors,windows and the mechanical s.You'll have hundreds of decisions to make, so the more you decide on early, the easier things go with less surprises.Things like cabinets, light fixtures, heating systems, flooring, and it goes on and on. Keep a notebook as you go and write down things as you think of them. We spent a year planning and still forgot stuff.
The things that will surprise you are the dozens of little things. Permits, septic, and the well are all wildcards. You forget about curtains,blinds, cabinet knobs, countertops,trim work and a million other things that need to be picked out.
I'm happy the way our house turned out. I saved a lot of money with sweat equity that allowed us to splurge on things like granite countertops, central air, and upgraded mechanical items. Hardwood floors are easy once you get going. Air sealing makes a world of difference and isn't hard to do.
My best advice is to visit a lot of houses and see what you like and don't like. My musts were a 3 car garage, a big pantry, and porches. My wife picked the rest. Do your homework beforehand and building will be way less stressful
Building from scratch $200 a sq ft is a good ballpark with fairly basic but decent finishes, not including the cost of land.
That is to say 200$ * 2000 sq ft = 400k gives you 2000 sq ft above grade and 1000 ft basement
Solid finishes but nothing fancy (basic trim, maybe wood floors and doors).
These guys are doing a lot of houses around VT. Solid build and good energy efficiency. Another nice thing is the price for the house itself (not the site work, etc. ) is set by a contract, so no surprises .
What surprised me was that (for our builder at least) a full 2 story (not cape) was the cheapest per finished sq ft. May vary between builders though depending on the value of their time/labor/materials.
Last edited by joe moving; 08-22-2016 at 02:51 PM..
Building from scratch $200 a sq ft is a good ballpark with fairly basic but decent finishes, not including the cost of land.
That is to say 200$ * 2000 sq ft = 400k gives you 2000 sq ft above grade and 1000 ft basement
Solid finishes but nothing fancy (basic trim, maybe wood floors and doors).
What surprised me was that (for our builder at least) a full 2 story (not cape) was the cheapest per finished sq ft. May vary between builders though depending on the value of their time/labor/materials.
Does that include the foundation too? In my budgeting preparations, it's never been clear if a per-square-foot quote is just for the livable / above-ground structure, or if it includes basement, foundation, etc.
(And the answer to that question may inform your surprise re: 2-story - because once you've built a basement / foundation, when you add a 2nd floor you're just adding lumber and labor costs, but you're not doubling the foundation costs... and then the total cost gets divided by 2 (due to the doubling of the square footage.)
Our 2nd house we built was originally going to be a cape with dormers. It was cheaper to build a full two story colonial. The builder told us for max square footage, it's cheaper to go up than out and Boxes, like colonials are cheaper than capes with all the associated labor involved with the dormers and knee walls.
Our house is stick built but we have 3 houses near me that are modulars. 2 are 2 stories and one is a ranch. The 2 2 story ones are very well built and you would never know. The ranch is not well built and it's very obvious. There are some very well built modular homes and many will build your designs. They tend to be cheaper as they are built in a controlled environment . If you consider one, make sure you research the company as they are all over the spectrum as far as quality.
The upside to modular s is that you'll have fewer cost surprises. You still need to budget for well, septic, and landscaping items but you'll have way less house related surprises.
It was already cut and he bought it on special for around 50K, This was for a shell but had all the windows, doors, and shingles. He then hired a contractor to assemble the thing and it was quite a bit more involved then you would think. The log company sort of implies anyone can put up a pre cut kit, but there ended up being a lot to it. The house sat back about 400 feet off the road so it needed a long driveway, power was 2 poles and then about 50 ft underground. A mound septic system, A drilled well, gas base board heat, hot water, stove. A full basement. Once that was all up my son did all the railings porch and inside, layed all the finished pine flooring, hung all the cabinets and installed appliances, installed the woodstove. They started breaking ground in October and between winter and issues with contractors it took a whole year to finish. Total cost was $185,000 that was from a construction loan. When finished the appraisal came in at $250,000 so they were able to roll that right into a fixed mortgage.
we have 3 houses near me that are modulars. 2 are 2 stories and one is a ranch. The 2 2 story ones are very well built and you would never know. The ranch is not well built and it's very obvious.
Do you happen to now the companies that designed & built those good and not-so-good homes?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
