Seattle, WA · Member since 2013 · 8 posts · 1 vote
Hi Guys,
I just wanted to ask all the spec home builders out there how much it cost for you for your construction per square foot? I feel like this can give an idea of the cost of construction around the nation.
So if you can leave, City, State, Cost, Tier of homes (Optional) it would be super helpful!
I'll start with my family business' numbers
Arcadia (Los Angeles), CA. $160-$185/Sqft High-end to Luxury
@Jeff Coga Don't get me wrong, I think the products in the catalog are very nice, and high quality. I'm sure there are a few people that would like it. In fact, there's a tub in it that I really liked for a house we will be doing. It's just anything related to sales has to go on Marketplace. As for taking out the catalog link, I can't do that, but I'll have @Jon Holdman look at it.
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I get that. I wasn't trying to sell. I wanted to show people but then realized that regular consumer will have access to this, so I have to make sure its taken down. I sometimes go on this site late at night when having a few brewskies and that day I responded, was one of those days lol Thank you for taking it down!
I'd say you need better parameters. I bet I can get a luxury home built at over $400 a foot, no problem. Average, under 1500 ft, maybe $80 if I call in favors, big favors, maybe $75.
I have no idea how 100 averages from all over the country might be relevant to a builder. The average cost of new construction, say a SFD, single story, 2000 ft. will be different 50 miles from me than it is here. Material costs may be similar, labor is not, nor is the average build time (inspections, permits, terrain is different, sites are more remote and holding costs during the process are different) all contributing to the total cost. :)
Sorry about the lack of parameters. I would say this is just a fun perspective to see what all the construction costs around the country. I agree that 50 miles can make huge difference but that is also why I said to include the city you're in =)
The cost is purely construction that does not include, inspection, holding cost, and land acquisition cost.
Some people include permits and demolition in it, but I think that can be left up to the responders!
$100-$120 for standard bread and butter homes, $150-$200 for higher end homes and more for super high end. This is So Cal and excludes pain in the butt cities like Malibu where permit fees and timelines can be through the roof!
@Will Barnard your 100-120 psf intrigues me. When you say standard bread and butter are we talking a simple box with vinyl siding colonial like this Standard Colonial or something with a little extra like this New Home.
The second example is a good example of what one local builder is doing, and if they are building for $115/ft they are cleaning up. I imagine the costs here, Chicago suburbs are pretty close to So Cal.
I would charge $250/SF in San Francisco Bay Area. I would not consider it high end.
This is for new ground up construction. Price goes up for tie into to existing (additions).
This is for construction only, foundation, framing, drywall, plumbing, electrical, painting and flooring.
Number could go up or down depending on finishes and number of bathrooms.
Appliances not included.
@Will Barnard your 100-120 psf intrigues me. When you say standard bread and butter are we talking a simple box with vinyl siding colonial like this Standard Colonial or something with a little extra like this New Home.
The second example is a good example of what one local builder is doing, and if they are building for $115/ft they are cleaning up. I imagine the costs here, Chicago suburbs are pretty close to So Cal.
Your market is different than mine, here in So Cal, we use a lot less of the wood siding these days and stucco is the typical choice. As far as looks between the two samples you gave, turn them to stucco on outside without the shutters and I could likely do either of them in that price range. Remember, the major cost differences are in the finishes, not the rough.
@Henry Tsao please keep in mind that's what I would charge, not my cost.
I'm considering some ground up construction for a 1500 SF footprint, and estimating somewhere around $300,000 cost. That'd bring me down to $200/SF. This is in Vallejo, CA.
I received an insurance quote to rebuild another property I have for a max coverage of $380,000 for a 2,200 SF home. That comes in at $172/SF which I believe I could do as well. I usually factor in an additional buffer for things that could wrong.
Shocks me sometimes how some builders are able to lower the $/SF because I don't consider the skilled labor I use to be that expensive. We self perform most of the trades (or direct labor).
Thus comparing the cost of construction necessitates being very prescriptive. An apples-to-apples comparison is also tough from market-to-market because codes vary widely in different areas of the country as do licensing requirements and thus labor costs.
In Austin a decent finish-out inclusive of ALL costs and not just sticks/bricks is generally around $90psf - $100psf for product on the order of 1500sf -1800sf. If you build a bit larger product the psf cost does not scale linearly because a lot of the cost is somewhat fixed. In the inner city they have building codes with magical tents to restrict the size of houses evil developers construct to fleece the citizenry so this accentuates the psf cost of construction. In tertiary markets nearby with larger tracts this cost could easily be reduced to south of $75psf. If you're a good fish story teller you can leave off the cost of fences, services, etc. and claim you can build for $50psf. Just be dodgy with the details and everyone will be super-impressed.
Cost are also a function of scale. With large crews with reliable paychecks building cookie-cutter plans that are optimized and replicable the volume would drive much of the dominant material costs south along with the corresponding labor costs from the higher-tier subs.
Henry, are you still in Arcadia, or seattle as your profile says?
There are a good handful of small developers here buying up land and building new houses. It's a goldmine especially with the chinese cash buyers snapping them up.
I have called a few general contractors who built luxury homes around here, and they charge from 140-190/sqft. $150 will build a nice enough home with craploads of cheap painted moulding, granite, marble, nice enough cabinets and finishes. Buyers don't care. They just want something that looks nice. Lots of building materials are cheap and being imported from china.
I recently previewed a new $2.7 million home here and I could tell the materials were cheap. They even used SHINGLES on the roof instead of the traditional tiles.
It must have been a $140/sqft house. The only catch is that the general contractor bought and built the home himself, so his cost was a little lower.
He bought the home for $820k, built a 5000 sqft house, sold it for $2700k.
I'd estimate he made $1 million gross profit after 5% real estate commission.
BTW, what is your family's company? are they buying and building, or just building?
@Kevin Z. My family is the investors for the development that goes on a private scale. Mainly doing this in Asia but my sister and her family are still in Arcadia doing this as a side investment. I'm in Seattle working and want to understand the market more since one day I will be rejoining my family's business
You're stats about that house goes quite closely in the range that we do in Arcadia, they generally look for lots with 10000-20000 sqft.
We focus on just finding the land to buy and hiring a contractor ourselves. But if you're in the Arcadia area I would definitely recommend Mur Sol Construction built houses. As an Asian in a largely chinese dominated city of Arcadia, they know what we want in terms of luxury, build, and cost.
I'm a contractor in the Washington, DC area. While I don't ever price on square foot I went through some of my numbers to see where we've been. We've been able to do 2000 sq. ft homes with Hardi, cedar shingles, hardwood 1st floor, granite, frameless glass shower, etc.. all the hot buttons for buyers for $61/sq. on our best effort. Typically it trends closer to $80/ft . This all depends on how aggressive I am shopping out things to subcontractors.
If I want to lower costs it takes a personal involvement to hit the auctions and buy flooring, fixtures, tile , etc.. by the pallet load. I can slash $12k off a $120k build this way but it is time intensive.
If I was building new homes for a property owner/investor (which I don't , this pricing was on my own jobs) the absolute minimum we'd be at would be $120/ft and higher with nicer finishes.
@Jeff Coga I like the items in the catalog, but I'm not seeing any great cost savings there. Also, you may want to put your post on Marketplace where those types of things are allowed.
@Jeff Coga I like the items in the catalog, but I'm not seeing any great cost savings there. Also, you may want to put your post on Marketplace where those types of things are allowed.
Seems like you do the bigger projects then most mom and pops folks. You probably shop very well. :-) We do takeout lists for developers as well and give bigger discounts on that. Either way, please do me a huge favor, can you kill that link (you're the moderator right?). I don't want the catalog floating around.
@Jeff Coga Don't get me wrong, I think the products in the catalog are very nice, and high quality. I'm sure there are a few people that would like it. In fact, there's a tub in it that I really liked for a house we will be doing. It's just anything related to sales has to go on Marketplace. As for taking out the catalog link, I can't do that, but I'll have @Jon Holdman look at it.
@Jeff Coga Don't get me wrong, I think the products in the catalog are very nice, and high quality. I'm sure there are a few people that would like it. In fact, there's a tub in it that I really liked for a house we will be doing. It's just anything related to sales has to go on Marketplace. As for taking out the catalog link, I can't do that, but I'll have @Jon Holdman look at it.
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I get that. I wasn't trying to sell. I wanted to show people but then realized that regular consumer will have access to this, so I have to make sure its taken down. I sometimes go on this site late at night when having a few brewskies and that day I responded, was one of those days lol Thank you for taking it down!