I would like to understand what I can expect to pay for a the construction of a home per square foot. I know the best I can expect is a range, but let me try to narrow it down. We would like to build something in the range of 2500 to 3000 sq. ft. in eastern PA, but fairly rural -western Chester or Lancaster Counties. We have done a lot reading of books like the The Not So Big House and ascribe to that philosophy – build it smaller but with a lot of quality. Definitely not interested in the monster homes that seem to be so popular. I am interested in the variables we need to consider in order understand what we can expect.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
Fine Homebuilding's editorial director has some fun news to share.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Replies
" build it smaller but with a lot of quality."
To me that means lots of expensive, labour intensive built-ins and high end fixtures and appliances. That can double the square foot cost.
But 3000 feet sounds fairly big to me for someone who wants to build it smaller...
Assuming this is a semi-custom house, the best you're going to get is a range - $165-$215/SF IMO in that area depending on LOTS of things you haven't said.
Big variables - Accessibility (to roads, for access, and utilities, since you said 'rural'), complexity, constructibility, finishes, windows, doors, siding material, casework, fixtures, fittings, appliances, landscaping.
T. Jeffery Clarke
Edited 7/10/2002 10:12:32 PM ET by Jeff Clarke
Welcome to the big catch 22 of new home construction. You don't know what it will cost to build what you want, and those of us who know how to figure the cost, don't know what you want. Some loose design decisions must be made to get any kind of meaningful guesses, and even then you can figure that it will be more instead of less. Start with a budget in mind, be realistic, then contact an architecht in the area, settle on some general ideas, then ask everybody in the world to give a guess. The top 20 % will be pretty close, I bet. Good luck! If it helps, I am about double what I figured on for my own house remodel, and not done yet. But it is starting to look like a pretty cool house and someday will be worth almost every penny of it. As you will read Excellence is a good theng
Dan
ame to that my addition is already aver cost and i dont haqve any rock up yet. get a figure then double it, sorry reality sucks.
Wofat,
Are you the same guy from Hawaii 5-0? If so you should never have done all those bad things to McGarret and Dan-o!
Now then, if you want to get the most bang for your buck, IMNSHO the shape of the house is the single biggest factor in driving up the square foot price.
Every time you add a jog or a bump out or an ell you add at least two corners and complicate every thing from the Foundation up through to the roof line. You are basically making more walls enclose less area.
For some reason a lot of people feel that square or rectangular houses are boring boxes. I feel that this is because not enough of then are built with the proper attention to detail.
If you build a simply shaped home, you can take the cost savings over a complex shape and apply them to trim details and finish materials that will make your home unique, appealing and more "user friendly".
Instead of making the master suit an ell off of the main structure, put it at on end of the up, or downstairs. Now you have saved enough in extra costs on the shell to help pay for the Jacuzzi and the tile floor and maybe a nice fireplace you can enjoy from bed!
when you give some one a plan that is full of jogs and corners and angles, their square foot price goes up (or they are just fooling themselves & you) They may not come out and say it because good "salesman-ship" is to give you your dream house and throwing a monkeywrench into your plans is not something a lot of builders want to do at the beginning of the negotiation process. And besides they can make just as much if not more on a complex design if you are willing to pay for it.
With a simple house you can increase the detail on everything from the siding to the cabinets. you can add to the appeal with details and quality that would break the bank on a complicated floor plan.
Drive around a neighbor hood that has some nice older homes and look at how the details are in the finishes. You will see a lot of smaller simpler homes with details that are rarely done these days because they are foregone in the name of square-footage.
I hope this will be of some help
Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am a trained professional!
Catch 22 is right, you don't know so you try to make an educated guess. you try based on a per sq foot number that simply doesn't exist. Afterall no one can read your mind.
It's work but it's the only real way to get a number that will give you some idea.
Drive around and look at open houses, new ones. Try to pick in the neighborhood you want to live in and the size you think you need. that should give you an idea of the costs involved.
the details won't change the costs.... much but keep things about the same.
While you may be able to cut out some costs (realitors commission, builders profit etc.) you'll lose some effiency since it will most likely be custom built rather than stock plans, mistakes and higher prices since your sub'contractors liable to charge more for a one off then their regular deal with developers. In the end it will come close to a wash.... close enough for estimate reasons.
Not sure what you mean about the details not changing the cost much. That's one of the biggest cost variables there are, running neck and neck with change orders.
For instance your decision to use dormers instead of skylights was a 'detail', a rather expensive one apparently.
I can install an engineered floor for about $6 / ft vs buying antique heart pine for $10 / ft for materials only. Finished makes the floor more than twice the cost.
I can install a 25 dollar cieling light in the bedroom or maybe eight nicely trimmed recessed lights that cost $79 each.
In the kitchen, we can use a $600 range or go for the five thousand dollar super roaster deluxe and add the three thousand dollar hat sucker offer fan.
For siding we can sheathe with T-111 or use plywood and a rainscreen wall for quarter sawn red cedar.
I can use stock simple casings at .75/ft or make custom milled moldings built up at as much as ten dollars/ft.
These are all 'details' and they all effect price.Excellence is its own reward!
If I visit a house with the correct size rooms and an acceptable level of trim does it make much differnce if the knobs are brass or nickle? (details)
If I want a budget idea and I see a house in the neighborhood I want to live in and it's painted white instead of blue does it matter? (details) If I see a development that has three car garages and I only need a two car garage will the costs be off by $100,000?
How did you figure out what you could afford? did you draw up plans for the buckingham palace and subtract from there or go look for homes selling in the budget you felt was acceptable?
The limitations of the internet prevent full and complete discussion, but it's a good starting point.
Now I like this discussion. I eat it for breakfast . What yall are talking about is pretty much all true and then there is a lot more to it. Now Frenchy said "economical". He is right there , if he wants to build a house in an addition with other homes of the same value . Of course he has to build pretty much the same thing with in reality .
Where the rub for every one is , is what Piffin said . Yes sir !!!! Thats where people veer off course . Now Piffin was only mentioning a few. What adds to what he is saying is that it throws appraisers also. They really dont seem to care if they are close or not. Its a game ,however you want to look at it. A very risky one where people win and lose every day . I love the game .
Tim Mooney
For a proposal to FHB for a book inclusion (rejected) a few months ago I redid present day calculations for what it would take to rebuild 2 story 3500 sq ft house today (full 7-1/2 ft ceiling basement not included).
It came to $36 sq foot, not counting own labor (100%), but including all interior finish, carpets, appliances, etc. "Green" cost included, which meant 5 previous years of "scrounging" & stockpiling good stuff - i.e Moen faucets for $5 when local supply store quit, other surplus sources, trees off own land, etc.
This is Seattle area, Permits NOT included - school assessment costs, surface water impacts, sewer assessments, and permits here can get to well over $10 sq foot all by themselves, depending on area. Up from there if you are a "wetland".
DIY labor is all TAX FREE if you live in the house over 2 years.
WE all should be doing the two year thing . Only thing in this business that makes great sense.
Tim Mooney
I've heard you guys talking about the "2 year thing" several times, but don't exactly follow what it means. Any chance one of you could fill me in?
Glad to Ron:
Others on this board have stated that this is how they now make their living.
A few years back the tax laws changed so that there are no taxes due on the profits from the sale of a residence, with the caveat that you have personally lived in it for 2 years. The 2 years has a quite liberal interpretation, including 2 of the previous 5, an immediate family memeber living there, etc. Hence the "2 year thing".
IRS even allowed me to buy a house 5 years ago, "rented" (and depreciated it) it to my son while we remodeled/improved it, some rental complex rules there, but suffice it to say when I sold it I even got an additional refund check from the IRS - I'd read the rules that I had to pay tax on the depreciation I'd taken on it as a rental, but apparently not so as they sent me money back that I'd paid.
You do need a little capital to start, but ideal would be to be able to buy a few lots near each other, with an existing "fixer". Live in the fixer for 2 years while building a McManse next door, live in it for 2 years, sell for $120 sq foot having paid $40 out of pocket (assuming you do all the work, not just a GC), the $80 sq foot is tax free. (essentially your income for the previous 2 years), then go back and renovate the fixer or build another near by, etc. There may be some alternate minimum tax impact, have never research the "only job" aspect,.
"IRS even allowed me to buy a house 5 years ago, "rented" (and depreciated it) it to my son while we remodeled/improved it, some rental complex rules there, but suffice it to say when I sold it I even got an additional refund check from the IRS - I'd read the rules that I had to pay tax on the depreciation I'd taken on it as a rental, but apparently not so as they sent me money back that I'd paid."
I am not sure what happened in your case. It might have been just the right timing.
But there is a 25% recapture tax on what has been take for depreciation since 1997 (I think that is the date) on the sale of any rental or business property.
Even so that will a typically be a relatively small number of a house that you are trying to do the 2 out 5 no cap gains deal on.
And BTW, you can't get by with just not taking depreciation. The code assumes that you did and you will be taxed on the recapture (if they do an audit).
Lets take maybe your senario right now. You could sell your own house at any time, and not have to pay taxes on it. You could live in your new one for two years and not have to pay taxes on the sale . I think you said you would be stressed to do this , but you could move into the one you built and sell after the next two years. Rent the one your living in or sell it at any time .
Since you are in the position you are in with your two houses and the other thread you started, listed renting the new one as a possibility , I recommend you buying ; How To Buy @ Manage Rental Properties , by Irene and Mike Milin [the milin mehtod for small investors] Basically she has put together a fleet of nice homes she has lived in for two years , and then leased them. If she ever wants to cash out she can, unlike me. I would be plastered with taxes if I did that. Since you might be renting one of your homes , or selling one , this is a must buy. You do need to do some reading at this point your in. I was going to post this in the other thread , but you didnt ask for any advice. Funny it comes in this thread. Email me if you would like to discuss this further.
Tim Mooney
I dont want to tie up this post , but many are taking different degrees of advantage of this tax break, even paying for their home they will retire in with out paying for it. [pretty sweet] Others are making a like "a crop living" out of it. [ get payed every harvest] I think that it is a wonderful thing for tradesmen to do.
Ok Ill shut up on this one , [one of my favorites ]
Tim Mooney
Thanks for the info guys. I don't know that I'll be trying that anytime soon but was curious.
Of course - All this assumes you'll make money on the house, right ???
Smith & Wesson the original point and click interface.
That would be right . Are you going to answer my post ?
Tim Mooney
Just did answer it. Answers requiring thought take longer at my age, ya know.............(-:
I'll check back in an hour or so and see if you're replied.
Middle age is when you choose your cereal for the fiber, not the toy.
Thanks Again !
Tim Mooney