We're still in the process, but I have to say that you could get a very wide variety of answers, depending on whether each had to put in a septic system, and then because of house size, and systems and materials decisions. High end appliances? Built-in vacuum? High tech networking, computerized systems, builtin audio video? Which type of heating/cooling system? Granite or laminate? Custom or stock cabinets and how many? All DIY, all subs, or some combination? Stock windows from HD or high end Andersen or other? 15 yr asphalt shingles or slate and copper? LOTS and LOTS of things that will vary and influence the final cost.

If we come in on or near budget, including appliances and septic system, ours will be about $70/sq ft. We had/are having subs do rough plumbing, septic system, sheetrock finishing, and maybe HVAC. The rest is DIY.

We did all but a few things ourselves, built a basic house, nothing fancy for us....$35/square foot I think, can't remember exactly right now, but no more than that.

Wow, jcal, I don't know how you did that! That's great. Was it just recently? Ours isn't fancy, either, just mostly efficient space for a big family, and we do have covered porches, but no garage. We started just after Katrina and just after the copper mine problems, so hit right at material price increases.

Yes, we did all the framing ourselves, ideamom. Thankful for talented and able teen and almost teen sons, and a DH with experience and a builder friend who showed up at a couple of crucial points to help.

If we meet our budget. We will be at $33/sf. hired somone to do gutters, havac, and septic. Anyone else have pictures?

Here is a link that might be useful: zoltun house

If things continue according to plan (we close in two weeks), we will have built for approx. $58 a square foot. We subbed everything out, except painting and insulation. The house is built well, but definitely not high-end.

I think that another variable is the location. We live in the south, which can be much lower in cost than the West Coast and Northeast.

I am building right now. I am an electrician and I am doing the electrical, security, and central Vacuum myself. I am building a 3200 sq. ft house (500 sq. ft is the finished basement)with a 760 sq. ft detached garage. I have called in some favors with other trades but my budget is $320,000 and so far I am coming in very close to it. That figure is only for the building and demo of previous home, I allready had a septic, well, driveway and the lot was cleared.

I am building mostly high end finishes, granite, marble, free standing air tub, many high hats 9 1/2' tray ceilings upstairs, Hardiplank, 1000 sq ft deck, master bedroom balcony, and others.

Siding was supposed to start today but it is too cold, -11 with wind.

Here are some pics:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingReg.jsp?Uc=p66hjai.7ybjs7sm&Uy=9i6vqk&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=795407877250_268366695206

gregdrose: Beautiful home! Where is your home located? The area looks famillar. Was it more expensive to build the garage detached? Why did you choose detached? How much of that budget went to demo of the previous home? Thanks

The DH did everything (with some day labor help now and then) except foundation pour/smoothing, electrical,sheetrock/tape/bed/texture, insulation, HVAC, garage doors, rock. We have 2000sq.ft., nicely trimmed out, no carpet. Cost: almost exactly $80 per sq. ft. This is Central Texas Hill Country. Not included--a lifetime of landscape projects/retaining walls. Wish us luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Interior shots

I am in northern NJ about a 50 minute commute to NYC. The demo was about $8,000.

It is more expensive to build detached because you are not sharing any walls and generally you need more property, the garage is basically a small home.

The Architect had the idea to build detached when he came out to see the lot and we loved the idea. It is not very common around here.

We purchased the lot (2.14 Acres) with a 850 sq. ft home on it and lived there for three years untill we got our final plans, variances, and permits.

gregdrose's post shows why prices vary so much wehter owner build or contractor build, a nicer house costs more.

We used one pice fiberglass tub/showers, normal unfancy trim, carpet, linoleum, etc. Why? thats all we could afford. We hired out only what we needed to for safety reasons, and laziness(sheetrock).

How to do it on a tight budget(less than $100,000) watch every penny, price every piece of material with three suppliers, price every hire out with three subs, be patient,
don't cut corners. The biggest savings in a house owner built is inside. This is where the $ really adds up, granite, marble, fancy mouldings, etc. are not for the tight bugeted.

That's awesome for the people that were able to be under $50/sq. ft.! My materials alone were over that cost, at about $58/sq.ft., and the house is mid-grade. Subbing out added another $26sq.ft. I did not factor my DIY labor into the PPSF. I did part of the framing, part of the grading/ trenching, some drywall, some exterior siding, all the exterior stonework, all electrical, all plumbing (except septic), all finish work (cabinet, millwork, trim, paint), tiling and a few other little things.

I know all the cautionary notes about pricing a house this way, but it at least gives some sort of measure.

I can see the bigger the house, the less potentially the cost per sq. ft. would be, but then I would think people would have a tendency to upgrade things in a bigger house so it probably off-sets. I am still in awe of how people were able to build for such a low PPSF, even doing ALL of the labor, as I couldn't even get my materials under $50/sq.ft.

Can you share any tips JCA1? How big is your house and did your costs cover all the finish materials (cabinets, flooring, fixtures, etc.)? Thanks.

Hddana, can you tell me what color/brand stain was used on your master bath cabinets? Are they oak? THANKS!

Demerara, I know you asked JCA1, But I would like to share my two cents. ( I hope it's welcome.) We are at 33 psf. We saved alot by getting a price list from 84 lumber then we took it to lowes. Lowes mached some of the prices and beat some of the others we did not buy at that time instead opened up a account and at that time with that account lowes was giving 10% everytime we made a purchase. ( they no longer have that but we were able to get our framing lumber in before they stopped.) Then everyday I check classifieds to see if anyone was selling building materials that we need. Then we got to know the guy that did our septic who also does work for alot of builders he asked around and then would tell me were to go for the the things that we were going to contract out. Also for the special order stuff that lowes would order for us we would find out where they were ordering from then call that company and see if they would sell directly to us. A big thing that helped was the state of sc has tax free weekends one at christmas (starting black friday) and one before school starts. We went to lowes on black friday and ordered everything we could think of and they were also offering an extra 5% off to go with the tax free weekend. I am also saving alot by making my own stone veneers. (I just got the molds I hope it works out) The last thing is clearance clearance clearance! hope this helps. -Marie

Thanks Marie, your comments are very welcome. How many sq. ft? Are you on a basement or slab? Are you saying you are currently at $33 with some finishing to do or that is all in? And that price is for foundation, flatwork, framing, flooring, cabinets, fixtures, etc?
If I was to add up my concrete price, framing lumber, joists and trusses, doors and windows and shingles I would already be at $28 psf JUST FOR MATERIALS (for 2200 sq. ft.) and these were supposedly contractor prices....but I guess not!!
Your house looks real good, BTW.....and coming along very nicely.

For mzoltun,

I looked at some of your first pictures during construction and can see you are on a crawl space so ignore my earlier question on foundation.

Right now we are at 80,000. We have not yet got our cabinets and some trim and have to pour our drivway and about 1/4 of the carpet,also the gutters. the house and garage is about 3000. We were budgeted for 100,000 and that is what the 33psf is based on.

Watch out on that kitchen, that one really surprised me.

Wow! You guys are inspiring. I am hoping to keep ours under $70sq ft (haven't started yet)

3500 sf home, with a 1900 sf unfinished basement. **There is additional sf in and above the garage, however it was built at a different time, so not counting that for the moment, though I believe that came in for around $35/sf.

Our intention for the main house (5400sf part) was to build a lodge style/western working ranch kind of home (with a slightly urban loft kick to it inside), and to give it enough patina so that you'd think we inherited it instead of built it new. This "patina style" is very forgiving - mistakes or errors actually just add to the look.

Upon completion (almost done), it will have cost between $45 and $55/sf (depends on how we fancy we get with tile and other such things).

We gc'd/built it ourselves - did some work ourselves, and subbed out some. Like dh rented a huge size excavator to dig the basement (one with an attachment for pounding through rock ledge we built on) for a week at 3K (off season price). Dug out the whole 1900 sf daylite basement himself. The bids to do it were a whole lot more than the 3k we spent, like the lowest was in the 30K range, unless they had to do much "rock." So likely would have ended up way more given the rock dh pounded through day after day.

Only put money where we really cared about something - a few examples - the large Pella wood windows that allowed the "I feel like I am outside" feeling (large enough to be the wall in several places) the Bluestar range and a fancy bathtub (stupid expensive, but keeping an eye out for deals so I could feel okay about the splurge, I got it eventually for half price. Still a disgusting price, but many thanks from me to the dentist who refused to take delivery, and thanks to me for asking everywhere I went, "hey, you have anything in the back?" That it could ever have been the exact tub I wanted was beyond my expectations, but here it sits:)

Things that were not as important to us in the scheme of things were treated that way, and I bought those at "average joe" price levels - but I did shop to get even better "deals" on those items as well. One key was to be completely flexible on as many of these items as possible - ie, if I could get a different brand or style or whatever for a huge savings, then that is what I bought.

So 3 big things saved money - the work we did ourselves, limiting big ticket items to only those things which really matter to us (not to resale or the friends who need impressing, etc) and then having a sharp eye for a deal, coupled with the flexibility to change something to save thousands. We are now referred as "those rich bastards up on the hill with that big house" which we find pretty amusing, all considered, since some of the offenders actually paid far more for their smaller homes. The money we've saved in building it will pay the taxes for the rest of our natural lives. And we have built it pay as we go, so there isn't a mortgage involved either. Yes, that meant it took a bit longer to build. Which is why we built a guest house/garage first, so we could enjoy the view while we built.

I have never had a home so suited to me, & despite the sf price, it is not like it looks like an assisted living home or a Comfort Inn. It has serious personality and detail. And I am not very likely to walk into another one exactly like it. After this experience, I don't think I could ever hire a builder again to a house for me.

Doubleshot~ What things did you sub out for? Your home sounds great! Do you have any photos you could share?

ideamom -
Items 100% subbed out: water well, septic system, concrete basement pour, metal roofing, HVAC and granite slab counter. In fact, our slabs were being laid on the countertops as I typed this (I fret re breaks, so I am up here, and dh is down with them:). We had it fab'd in the big city where prices were lower due to more competition, hauled the fabbed pieces in our horse trailer to here (4 hours). Local bids had ranged from 12,000 to almost 18,000. Our cost this way? $3,200. I learned online how it should be done properly, likely causes of jobs gone bad, picked the same plain jane granite slab I used 17 years ago in my other home (still looks beautiful), and made the simplest kitchen design (open kitchen), no sink cutouts, only straight runs, 3cm, etc. At 3K +/-, I could have replaced them twice if something bad happened before reaching the lowest "fancy place" bid.

Things partially subbed: rough-in plumbing only, initial electrical wire pulling only, 60% of the framing, painting of vaulted ceiling rooms. Probably some others not coming to mind now - like we will do all flooring and tiling, except I'd prefer to not do the shower tiling (getting the slope right might be beyond us).

DH just finished installing the 54" vent hood (our hvac guy wanted $800 to install), the cabinets, all security, smoke detectors, lighting switches/plugs/scones, pendants & can lights. Trimwork, flooring, and plumbing fixtures next.

Out of the ordinary savings: We cut and milled fir trees, & sent the boards out to be T&G'd for plank flooring. We milled thick cedar board and batten that dh sided the house with. We snagged several large beams and pine flooring from closure of a historic local mill, and with a lift, we raised them inside the kitchen as decorative beams, and made stair rails out of what was left. The rest of the mill's old beams reside in a high end resort's club house here - we can't even get in to see how they used them, as it is gated and by "invite" only to enter. But we only paid around 800 bucks to get to enjoy the same reclaimed stuff from the same mill.

I designed a cable and powdercoated steel stair rail for the great room to loft stairway. Swift steel is making our posts which our powder coat company will do in matte black for us (did that too for every plain grey metal support plate, bolt and hanger we used anywhere in or outside), will get the rigging at a marine supply store, and so on. Dh loves engineering, so the post will be rock solid. Looking like no more than 1k or so. We had gotten bids for around that - until they came to the site and saw the house, at which point the bids rocketed up to 6 and 8k respectively. Believe that is the "zip coding/look at your honker house" markup. No big deal - it will look the same when we are done.

I don't have either photos or a scanner; when the house is finally complete (target - this summer), I plan to do get some taken. I am really happy with our sf costs to date; my only goal was to stay under $75/sf. So far so good.

As to subs, the less we understood a process, the more we got ripped on work/bids. Knowledge is power; without it, you can't tell the skilled subs from the big talkers.

If you are flexible like us, love learning, and are a bit of an adrenaline junkie when you have to handle stuff that is going horribly wrong, you will have SOOOO much fun!

Obviously there are variations in what "Owner Builder" means. My contribution to our project has been limited to clearing some brush and pushing a broom as well as acting as the GC. With alittle luck we will be at $175 /SqFt. The home will have a better than average level of finish, but is by no means "high end". I did have upwards of $10 /SqFt in lot prep before we even got to the foundation. We are building in the Seattle area, and cost are certainly higher than in some parts of the country. Clearly the labor portion of the total cost me alot relative to those of you who have the time and skills to due major parts of the job yourselves.

All we could do for our first house was to clear the site of brush, push broom and pick up "stuff" too - and we did hire a pretty great builder:) We had no knowledge, no time, and no money to spare if we made "mistakes," so DIY was out of the question. Just a couple of broke starting out professionals.

I admire some of my older friends and my dad, all of whom held full time jobs and built their only homes "on the weekends." My dad did it with minimal knowledge, no money, nothing we'd consider "spare time". He did it because he could not afford to hire someone or buy anything. Way different approach than his daughter's. It was a bigger deal than I thought at the time, what my dad did for us. They still live in that house.

Contrast that with us, who waited until we were now semi-retired, have some spare time, put aside $$ for this day (so no loan pressure), and built some things in the intervening years (plus had a great interest in construction). Makes me think how hard is what we are doing? Not.

All we could do for our first house was to clear the site of brush, push broom and pick up "stuff" too - and we lucked out with a decent builder. We had no knowledge, no time, and no money to spare if we made "mistakes," so DIY was out of the question. Just a couple of broke starting out professionals.

I admire some of my older friends and my dad, all of whom held full time jobs and built their only homes "on the weekends." My dad did it with minimal knowledge, no money, nothing we'd consider "spare time". He did it because he could not afford to hire someone or buy anything. Way different approach than his daughter's. It was a bigger deal than I thought at the time, what my dad did for us. They still live in that house.

Contrast that with us, who waited until we were now semi-retired, have some spare time, put aside $$ for this day (so no loan pressure), and built some things in the intervening years (plus had a great interest in construction). Makes me think how hard is what we are doing? Not.

No these people want 'everything' cost per ft.2. You cannot build a shed for $35/ ft2. Do the math again please. Either your lumber is really, really cheap, of your contractor bills $10/hr.

bushleague, maybe I missed something here, but if you're calling me a liar, you stand corrected sir.

.

Mine was about $70 / sq ft. That includes land ( 1.5 acres ) / septic / well, the whole nine yards. Subbed out basement pour, roof trusses & metal roofing, and sheetrock. Rest DIY to the tune of 2years from 1st concrete pour. LOTS of hard work along the way as I was a one-man band for almost everything. People love to help but it fades quickly. I'm in the sticks in NY State which helped keep costs down . . .

Bob

Superchick,
Just saw your query on vanities.
Yes, oak lumber and red oak stain; regular old Minwax stain. DH did these from scratch. Brushed on poly.

We were at $67.68 psf as the Owner/Builder but that became a disaster since we used a contractor friend to handle many of the details. He abandoned the project and we ended up hiring a new builder/GC after many months of no activity at the house. If we stay on budget we will finish at $117.41 psf not including the cost of the land.

This includes a built in vacuum, security system, semi-custom cabinets, deck, granite + all subs. The price has almost doubled but groundbreak was November 2004 with our friend/builder and at this point we just want it finished so we are not doing DIY but throwing money at it.

We have not taken any new photos since the current builder started in late December 2006.

Here is a link that might be useful: Progress on our house November 2004 - December 2006

It would be no trouble at all to build a home for $35/sf.

In fact, several of my neighbors have done exactly that. And I like what they have done. In fact, if you didn't know what they spent, you would not guess. They did most of the work themselves, were flexible, had a sharp eye for a bargain. Made the necessary choices that allowed the home to come in for that price. That is how it is done.

I guess things are different in CA. I am probably at $150/sf for the house only. And that was with me doing a lot of the work myself -- for the last 5 years. But I have done it my way, steel framed, radiant heat and a few of those high ticket items which really bumps up the price.

MSM859, I am also in So Cal. We are taking over the build on a steel framed house. The grading is done, the frame is up and we're moving on to finishing it. We're about ready to receive bids from GC's and any tips would be appreciated. I'll write back with a sq. ft. price.

Steel framing has a lot of advantages although some people are afraid of it because they aren't use to working with it. However, if you are already framed you should be good to go. As to tips....... don't be afraid to shop the internet for big ticket items. i.e. bought my foyer tile - 18" granite for half the price of the local tile store. Biggest tip for anyone who needs heating would be go with radiant (may not apply to you) but there is no comparison with comfort.

Can't remember the exact amount. Lemme ask my house building partner.

Here is a link that might be useful: Simpson Strong-Tie Wood Construction Connectors Catalog

housebuilder,
Stop advertising your crappy connectors on our site, you idiot.

Thank you Stumpy ! I was thinking the same thing. 10 one line posts by this guy about his connectors in under 10 minutes ...

Anyone use CraftMaster doors?
HELP! Shower bench too wide and it's a concrete issue
question on outdoor fireplaces and summer kitchens
Attn: Owner Builders: How much did you spend per sq ft on home?
Wood surround on/ in front of corner bath tub
Regular pvc for central vac?
Framing Labor Quote
HaHa-did you ever dream (good or bad) about your house?
framing a wall at 45 degrees.
Plumbing fixtures

Even in a semi-rural area (less competition and a travel premium for some subs), people are coming in at $150 to 200/sq. foot without land. That's for relatively high-end, lots of bells but maybe not so many whistles, not Architectural-Digest-level homes.

$35 a square foot to build a house?

I live in the Midwest and my foundation alone cost $15 a square foot.

The local law enforcement officers should be called into investigate all the stolen materials used to build that $35 a square house

To come in at that price, I would need to use straw bales and mud. A porta potty could be placed inside. Running water would require a long hose connected to the neighbors faucet. 2x1 interior walls with tarps dividing the rooms. Lots of candles...no money left for wiring.

For a 2800 square foot house with 3 car garage our house was about $70/foot in Western Washington. We were living in a double wide on site so well, septic and electrical were already there. I contracted out the foundation geothermal HVAC, insulation, drywall, oak floors and finished stairs . I did most everything else with the help of family and neighbors. We saved a lot on the granite countertops. I bought chinese "blanks" and cut them and with the help of neighbors placed them. I can't beleive how well they turned out. It took 7 years since I work full time and then some. I still have a lot of trim work to do but the place is very comfortable and we own it instead of the bank.

Wow, am I envious! I live in the Tampa Bay area and we are hoping to come in somewhere about $110-120/ft. Average prices are between $175-300/ft. The main thing to consider is that our building codes are probably some of the strictest in the country due to the hurricanes. The home is built to withstand 130mph winds. It is built from concrete block which definitely increases our cost substantially. As we are the GC, we did hire a manager to over see the entire project (he also did the slab/block/frame). But the money we are paying him to manage is definetly worth the peace of mind! He is very reputable in our area and has many many contacts so we are able to get his pricing. In the end, his management fee will probably wash with the savings. We are also going pretty high end with everything else from windows to appliances to flooring and so forth. In the end, it will all be worth it.
However, our cost to build does not include what we paid for the lot. Land is NOT abundant here and you pay for it - ALOT. Our lot had a home which we initially wanted to add on to. But after talking with our architect and engineer, the cost was more to do that (by going up a floor) than it was to demo and start over. We went that route since then we are not limited to the footprint and could then have exactly what we wanted.
Our new home is 4000 sq ft living/8900 sq ft under roof incl 1500 sq ft covered lanai/3 car garage/semi-detached 4 car garage. So, with all of this, in the end we should be about $450K (not including pool). For Florida, this is not bad at all.

We will be starting a home soon in Texas and hoping to stay within 65 to 75 a sq. ft. I feel this will be a fairly good estimate because a builder is charging here for new construction approx 100 to 110 sq ft and that would put us saving about 30% we would pay a builder.

honey11, where are you building? We plan on building summer of 08 and are budgeting about the same. We are building in Selma,TX (right outside San Antonio)

We live in the San Francisco Bay Area (south bay). The house that we are building is almost 2,600 sq ft. We are not building a garage. The house is framed, roofed, and the in-wall work is almost complete. So far we have spent about $100 per sq ft. That includes architectural and engineering costs, permits, and town fees, plus demo of existing home. We still have to get stucco ($20k), exterior and interior doors ($15k), sheet rock ($?), insulation ($3k), flooring ($20k), cabinetry ($25k), appliances ($15k), countertops ($?), light fixtures ($?), stair railing ($?), paint ($?), door harware ($?), plumbing fixtures ($?), baseboard and molding ($?)... Yikes, we have well over $100k of work left on the project and only half of that left in the budget. Sounds like we will have to open some credit cards!

So in the end the house will cost almost $400k. That does not include landscaping. We hired a GC to handle the demo, foundation, framing, window install, exterior trim work, roof, and gutters. My husband did or is going to do the plumbing, radiant heating, high velosity AC, and installing the flooring. We have or will hire our own subs to do the rest.

May I post another hypothetical? I was going to start a new thread but found this one. No. California, possibly El Dorado Co. About 2000 sf, with double car garage. Some excavation of site probably necessary, large deck. Average to above average level of build, single story. Some cathedral ceilings and large windows. Would probably go with a GC, possibly some interior work DIY. From one estimating website and a few other things that I read, I'm thinking that it's up to $200/sf. Is this reasonable? Other comments? Thanks, Steve