Soon, I have to decide whether to buy land and have a house built or to buy an existing house and have it remodeled. If I go the custom route, I want a super-green house.
I appreciate that a precise answer to the following question depends on more variables than I can list, so please think of the houses that appear in the annual houses issue of Fine Homebuilding when you answer.
Can I hire a good general contractor to build a 2000 sq. ft. custom house in northern Virginia for $400,000 (excluding the cost of the land but not the cost of site work)? If necessary, I would sacrifice size rather than quality materials.
Thank you very much.
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With today's market, I'd guess you could get a pretty fantastic deal on an existing home. And since you're going to remodel it, there are a lot of fixer-uppers you can get dirt cheap.
http://www.housingauctions.net and search for Virginia.
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Edited 1/10/2009 12:29 pm by Ted W.
Can I hire a good general contractor to build a 2000 sq. ft. custom house in northern Virginia for $400,000 (excluding the cost of the land but not the cost of site work)? If necessary, I would sacrifice size rather than quality materials.
That's definitely a workable budget for most types of new "green" homes of that size.
I'm sure that you'll be able to locate any number of qualified GC's who'll be willing and happy to talk with you about such a project with that budget in mind.
If you add some more information and questions you'll get better, more pertinent and interesting answers. Start with the locale where you want to build and any features that you want to incorporate.
Edited 1/10/2009 12:43 pm by Hudson Valley Carpenter
You could certainly build a decent 2K sq ft house for that here -- probably half that. Dunno about VA, though.
Are you a check writter kind of guy or do you like to do a lot of work yourself?
Remodeling is vastly more expensive per square foot than building new..
Starting from the money point first is simply the wrong way to go about finding happiness in a home.. .
I know it's easy to measure but forces you to make choices based on economics rather than love.
It's sort of like selecting your wife based on projected costs.
I'm not dismissing your budget. I'm trying to get you to sit down and design your house first.
NO don't do detail drawings.. simply make circles.. I'd like 2 large bedrooms on the first floor, circle --circle. No not next to each other, erase --circle. I want a master bathroom next to the bedroom circle..
I don't really think I want a seperate dining room but I want a big kitchen. circle .
Get it?
Now that you've written down your plans and shared them with your wife go see what you can find that fits that concept..
Once you've found several (don't worry in todays market they won't sell) then you can do the rough calculation about building new..
Remodeling is vastly more expensive per square foot than building new..
Vastly more expensive? Not in my experiences.
I guess we need to define remodeling then..
IF you change wallpaper and the trim then remodeling is a whole lot cheaper.. on the other end of the spectrum if you tear down old walls and put up new roof, walls and etc.. it's more expensive..
Want to take a small 50's ranch into the 21st century? Demolution of the old adds those costs, plus the disposal fees, and site updating.. Plus the cost of time to do all of the above..
Faster and cheaper to start fresh.
>> Faster and cheaper to start fresh.<<Way too many variables to make such a blanket statement.Steve
Frenchy, I do that type of work all the time and you are wrong. That have been a few times over the years where the cost may have been close to new, but by and large it is cheaper to remodel. I'm talking gutting interiors, new windows, new electric, plumbing, etc. Obviously, the more extensive the remodel the closer to new construction cost. Never have I had a case where I found it to be cheaper to build new.
That's tough to answer without knowing a little more about what you want in a house.
I personally would have a hard time living in a new house, simply because I like the feel of an old house. I like to feel connected to something that was there before I was, and will hopefully be there long after I'm gone. I like the patina, the nicks, the dings, the wear and tear. I like that the initials of some long-gone kid are carved into the pilasters that surround my front door.
I also think that the greenest house is one that's already there. Modified of course for contemporary standards of comfort and energy efficiency.
But it also depends on whether you can find one that's suitable for you needs and tastes in a location that suits you as well.
Are you talking Northern Virginia as in near DC? 400K won't get you much within commuting distance of DC, last I knew.
Steve
Edited 1/10/2009 2:28 pm by mmoogie
I'm with you, Steve. Even a new house, I'd rather have it built with traditional materials and methods. But why go through all that when somebody else already did, maybe 80 or 120 years ago, and it's just waiting for somebody to fix it up and call it home.
Of course, we're all different... would get pretty boring otherwise.
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Check the tax ramifications.
In my area, it is better to renovate an old home vs. new.
New assessments are through the roof. When renovating, they dont use the same adjustments as new construction so the taxes are not as high. (I'm talking huge numbers here, depending on area and price of home, it could be $4,000 vs. $9-10K or even more extreme (15K vs 35K)
School taxes can be high here in PA
"Can I hire a good general contractor to build a 2000 sq. ft. custom house in northern Virginia for $400,000 (excluding the cost of the land but not the cost of site work)? If necessary, I would sacrifice size rather than quality materials."
It depends where in NOVA you are, but I think the answer is yes. We build in Fredericksburg and the surrounding areas and you can definitely get a good product for $200/SF.
As others have mentioned, there are some great deals out there with the current housing market. If you can find what you're looking for I would recommend buying an existing house. However, depending on how "custom" and "green" you want to be, your options will likely dwindle quickly.
Jon Blakemore
RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA