New home construction costs - OMG!

[FlaGator]

$200/ft is the going rate in my neighborhood, a mile from the beach on a 10,000 ft lot.

Get a lot for that, compared to a production house-well insulated, good finish work, storm-rated windows, functional design.

Easy to spend more based on your tastes

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Construction costs are dependent on where you want to build. In some parts of Texas, you can build a 2,500 sq. ft. house for around $120 per sq. ft. including the building lot. In Sunnyvale, Ca, it's probably $400 per sq. ft. In Detroit, Mi, maybe $50.00 per sq/ ft.

It also completely depends upon the various details of both the local area (and building codes) as well as basics like "Is it a slab on grade (common in Texas) vs having a basement (having a basement is a substantial expense). 2 story/1 1/2 stories will be a bit cheaper than a ranch (a LOT cheaper if you have a basement, since you have half the footprint for the same square footage).

In many parts of the St. Louis suburbs, existing housing stock for 40 year old modest ranches go for $200+/sq ft (decent areas but not the cream de la creme) So it's not unexpected for retail pricing on new construction to go for $200/sq ft in your area. Also, you have to remember that not only does a builder have to have their overhead and profit added in (do you think a builder will take on a $500,000 project and only make $5,000 in profit with the risk, financing, and time commitment?), but if you are talking an entire subdivision vs a single home out in nowheresville, it will also add on an additional sum on top of it given no economy of scale.

And there are various building code changes over the past 10 years that all add up to another decent chunk of cost increase, whether it's general building codes, electrical, fire protection, etc.

[Bamaman]

I'm so sorry that you're finding new construction so expensive in your area. With such low interest rates has brought a high demand for new houses and thus builders are charging premium prices on new homes.

A new house was built in our neighborhood about.what you're talking about. It is 2650 square feet large 3 bedroom house with a full daylight finished basement and a huge screen porch on the back. The house alone cost them $300k.

We.bought a foreclosure home 18 months ago in a very substantial neighborhood with homes going up to 10,500 square feet. We have 5 bedrooms and 5 full baths, 2 double car garages and a 35 ft. deck. My media room is a ridiculous 26' by 47'. Our landscaping is absolutely incredible and the 120 ft. by 210 ft.lot is fully irrigated and sodded. We paid.just under.$300k.

There are cost based home markets and there are demand based home prices. It seems that homes are more expensive the farther you go north. Have you looked into buying an existing home or even better a foreclosure?

[FI_RElater]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireSoon Thanks for all the great responses.. This is a tough one..we've been looking for "the" house for 10+ years, and have not been able to find it. So, buying used is pretty much out of the equation unless a two-headed purple unicorn happens to stroll across our path one day Hard to find all that in a pre-built house unfortunately..

Well we did find a single-headed orange unicorn, but it only had three legs, but it took a few years to find-- at a distance of a couple of thousand miles. Most times, by the time we could book a flight, the good ones were gone.
We found a house that met virtually all our requirements:
View) over 160 degrees of cascade mountain view
Single level) only one step up from the garage, first level of deck is at level, then a few steps to smaller deck with hot tub
Space) over three acres-- sited like over five with no obstructions to the view; house is just over 2300 sq ft
Quiet) it's in semi-rural area but only a few miles to decent town
Recreation) has its own golf course, close (~half mile) to world-class trout fishing, a few miles to international known rock climbing--- you get the idea

Downside) the unicorn doesn't have good restaurants close by and have to drive to the city (~20 miles) for good restaurants {closer ones just aren't as good}, hence the three-legged nature of the property

Price) at the time, under 300k-- but easily would be well into the lower 400's as sites like ours aren't easily found and less appealing, smaller with less acreage, ones are **selling** for 350-400k

So-- keep looking and good luck

[travelover]

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Originally Posted by Blue Collar Guy ...........That worry faded after 3 years, because the last 2 years some well healed people have been bulldozing homes all around me and building the most fabulous abodes, all easily worth double, triple (?)of my place.

The same thing happened in my neighborhood but with the effect that my house was too small and old to appeal to the new class of people building McMansions on tear down lots and worth too much to just tear down for the lot.

[Aquafit2]

We are in the process of building our retirement home as well. We are building in Heber City, Utah and we were absolutely blown away by the cost as well. We are building a 2700 sq foot ranch with a walk out basement and it will cost us almost 1,000,000. not counting our lot! The builder told us that materials are really high because of the demand brought on by natural disasters like Harvey. Now this is going to be a very nice house with high end finishes but still shocking.

[aja8888]

Harvey just happened? What kind of baloney is he feeding you? And the "like" disasters happened years ago.

[Jerry1]

It's $X per square foot and X is highly dependent on what you put in it. And, as you stated, you're wanting higher end, nice stuff. $200 doesn't surprise me at all. I bought a 1,700 sq ft ranch and gutted it. No moving walls or anything like that, but all in, (initial price plus re-building cost) I'm at over $160. We'll not likely ever get what we paid for this house, but we're very happy with it and when you figure what you pay minus the years worth of living in it, minus future selling price, you might break even.

[Aquafit2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Harvey just happened? What kind of baloney is he feeding you? And the "like" disasters happened years ago.

Our builder is a cost plus builder so we pay exactly what the materials cost him and the price of lumber jumped up this past week.

[Aquafit2]

http://nahbnow.com/2017/04/cost-of-b...s-on-the-rise/

This is the real reason.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquafit2 Building Materials Prices Rise for Second Straight Month | NAHB Now | The News Blog of the National Association of Home Builders This is the real reason.

Yeah it wans't because of Harvey, it's because of those Canadians!

Quote:

The price of softwood lumber increased 2.3% in March after rising 4.8% in February. Softwood lumber prices have increased 7.2% over the first three months of 2017 and are up 12.9% since March 2016. These hikes have been largely, if not completely, due to the ongoing softwood lumber trade dispute between the U.S. and Canada.

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireSoon ...of the street), we want the house to have certain things - no living room or dining room (waste of space), .....

So you are not planning to sell it later ?

I wouldn't buy a house with a kitchen and bedrooms

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 I had a co-worker that did just what you are planning. He built a high end house for lots of dollars, but the area was priced about 1/2 what he paid to build. When he went to sell, it and move on, which people do (or need to), he could not get anywhere near what he had into it. Maybe that's not your concern?

This is the first thing I thought of. Unless you can afford to lose the money, I would hesitate to have "the nicest house in the area." Maybe there are other comparable properties but my experience is that buyers look mainly at square footage and price per sq ft when comparing similar properties. They may not be willing to pay for amenities you put in as their tastes might be different.

[Danmar]

The softwood lumber trade dispute with Canada has been going on for decades. Very large duties have been imposed recently in the US on Canadian lumber that have greatly increased the cost of lumber in the US market. This is to protect the much less productive American industry. Don't blame it on Canada. We would love to sell you cheaper lumber.

[flintnational]

New home construction costs respond to market forces. If you can wait until the housing market is slower, your construction costs are likely to fall. But, as always, markets can continue up or down for years.

FN

[DrRoy]

Quote:

With 3% inflation, 100 then is 155 now. And tract home cannot be compared with custom build. Even if you get 150 instead of 200, what is the difference? 125K. So your problem is not construction cost.

The total cost is high, but each of the elements seems about right. That is what it takes to have everything you want, just the way you want it. My fairly nice home of the same size in the suburbs 20 miles north of Detroit is less than half the cost, but it is not exactly what you described. Does it have to be perfect? Can it be smaller? DW and I have thought for a long time about building a new house someday, but we have not gone through the process of getting a real costing. I don't think I could spend as much as you are looking at. It will come down to a personal decision on whether you think it is worth it or not.

[ivinsfan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aquafit2 We are in the process of building our retirement home as well. We are building in Heber City, Utah and we were absolutely blown away by the cost as well. We are building a 2700 sq foot ranch with a walk out basement and it will cost us almost 1,000,000. not counting our lot! The builder told us that materials are really high because of the demand brought on by natural disasters like Harvey. Now this is going to be a very nice house with high end finishes but still shocking.

There has to be more to this story...Heber City is a town of around 12000 people. Are you going to have the only million plus dollar house in town?

[Big_Hitter]

I heard a rumor that there is a shortage of construction workers. That may contribute to the cost.

[wrigley]

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Originally Posted by Big_Hitter I heard a rumor that there is a shortage of construction workers. That may contribute to the cost.

Yeah.........most of them became pig farmers. Have you seen the cost of bacon lately!

[Aquafit2]

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Originally Posted by ivinsfan There has to be more to this story...Heber City is a town of around 12000 people. Are you going to have the only million plus dollar house in town?

Have you looked at homes in Heber? I'm talking about nice homes. Yes you can buy a home that is on a tiny lot with no views, but that's not what we want. There are lots of homes that are priced way over the one we are building in our neighborhood. In fact ours will be one of the less expensive homes there.