Duplex Plans, Cost to Build, Lessons Learned

[Mike Pennington]

Anyone have experience with building duplexes?  I'm looking to build 20 units +/- and want to find cost effective plans, experience with costs to build, and any hard lessons learned.

I sure would appreciate your insight.

[Chris Rodriguez]

Hi @Mike Pennington, I built a duplex from the ground up in 2016.  It was a fun experience and ended up costing me less than buying a used property that needs a ton of work and requires more upkeep costs.  

Part of the beauty of building from scratch is you can tailor the property to your target market.

We bought a batch of 6 lots, split them with a couple partners and built from there.  The plan originally was for everyone to get 2 lots each, but one of the partners got a little overzealous and ended up keeping 3.  I was grateful to get the one lot, but next time will have something in writing vs a verbal agreement.

Second hard lesson learned is to work with the city planning department very early in your project.  They can make the project fun or a pain in the butt.  This mistake cost me 4-6 months of back and forth.  All good

I used advanced house plans out of Omaha.  We built a customized version of the Moorehead building.  I recommend them

https://advancedhouseplans.com/collections/multi-f...

More details of the project are here.  Let me know how else I can help

https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/34...