I'm so sorry! I feel and know your pain. (((HUGS))) go out to you because I know the disappointment.

Hang in there. Count your blessings and all the positive things in your life. (I know you know that, but sometimes it just helps to hear it from a stranger.) Things that are meant to be are meant to be. You never know how good the lemonade may taste after deciding what to do with these lemons you've been handed--it may take awhile too-- LOL!--but you'll be ok.

Best wishes! Keep your chin up!

shelly, I'm so sorry to hear this. I'm sure you are feeling very low right now. I've found building a home to be very trying, with highs and lows and stops and starts. The good news is you own the lot and have the plans and there may be a time soon when you can pick up the project again. I hope that is the case and that you are able to realize your home. (((HUGS))) to you and your family.

shelly

the same thing happened to us with the excavation costs. In our case - we wound up continuing but the cost overruns were very high. It is sad that you have to put your plans on hold - but I can tell you that when you are in the middle of a build and the costs keep going up, the stress is incredible and would be much more difficult to deal with. Had we known what our house was really going to cost, we would have pulled the plug too.

If your builder was that bad at estimating that one budget item - then you know that everything else was going to be higher too. While it is true that the costs of some materials have gone up, we have noticed that the labor costs are doing down because people want the work. It is all about supplu and demand - and right now demand is way down in most areas. Since a large portion of your house is labor - it sounds to me like your builder was setting you up for a financial disaster. It was absolutley the right call to shut if down. The money you spent was not throw away since it sounds like the grade had to be built up to get the house and drainage working right.

Don't give up on your dream. Wait a year and see if costs come down. Definately look for another builder or perhaps try to do some of the work yourself. It can be done.

Best of luck.

"Then our builder told us that our materials have risen quite a bit just since our bid 4 months ago."

FOUR months? Supply & demand doesn't support this. We are in a slump, does you builder know this? Sounds like a classic case of bait and switch.

I am sorry to hear your pain, but there are some good suggestions posted above.

* Go get another est. from other builders, they may be looking for work, where as your current builder may have his share for now, and 'revised' his bid to push you off.
* What items can be finished later? Gravel driveway instead of pavement, unfinished basement, can you do some of the work yourself after the house is done, things like landscaping?
* If you find another builder, make sure you have a contract that protects you, not just the builder.

What ever you do to lower the cost, DO NOT skimp on the bones of the house. Don't skimp on the windows, doors, framing, insulation, anything that can not be changed at a later date. it will most likely come back to haunt you.

Rusty

shellyk - sorry to hear the news, but I agree with the others that it may be in your interest to see other builders for bids and opt to DIY or go without some projects (like the aforementioned driveway and landscaping).

My dream home is 3,200 sq ft (including basement) and right now we can only afford $100/sq ft. Knowing the costs will continue to rise, our ability to build at $100/sq ft will not. This means in 3-5 years when we go to build we'll DEFINITELY have to cut out the frills that we can afford were we to build TODAY. But we're prepared for that.

It's the reason I'm working so hard to get rid of ALL consumer debt in our household. If I'm able to clear out all our consumer debt in the next year or two, we'll have such significant savings each month that we can raise our $ per sq ft amount.

Keep your chin up - there are ways to come up with the money you need for the fill dirt by sacrificing just a little bit in/around the house/land. Those extras can come later. And don't hesitate about getting other builder bids. It's possible you'll find a good one in the next round!

Rusty said:

Don't skimp on the windows, doors, framing, insulation, anything that can not be changed at a later date. it will most likely come back to haunt you.

I just wanted to post again and say I couldn't agree more! We are going top of the line for the structure of the house, and essentially will go "builder's grade" on sinks, faucets, flooring, etc. That's the "frills" that I was talking about (I'd love bamboo and cork floors when it's time to build but know I probably won't be able to afford them, so I'll lay the cheapest carpet I can find and spend a couple years saving up to have bamboo and cork floors put in).

Again, I wish you luck and hope you are back in one months' time telling us the happy news that you get to build after all!

I don't get it. Who determined that you needed that much fill, when it apparently wasn't obvious to anyone else?

I know it is confusing about the dirt coming in that way. We were given estimates by knowledgeable folks, but when the actual land survey was done, it was different. You see the dirt people here are so busy, that they can charge whatever they want. We need 200 side dump truck loads of dirt that needs to be brought from 30 miles away so that it is "similar soil". We live in a river community and many of the lots are quite low.

The biggest thing is that we live in a very isolated pocket of EXTREME GROWTH in construction. My town is about 3000 people and about 5 miles outside of a town of 100,000 people. My little town is very medically oriented -- lots of surgeons, medical specialists, a large surgery center, tons of medical clinics, and a high end orthopedic surgeon center, breast health center, etc... They are putting up several knew clinics, adding a hospital, and adding a 40,000 sq ft assisted living facility as we speak. Currently, there are probably 30 homes under construction, specs and custom. The medical growth is not expected to decline, only grow. In fact, there are so many new doctors moving in right now, that our town cannot support the number of lots that are in demand to be developed. In South Dakota, there is no state income tax so all these doctors love to live and work here, be 2 minutes from their clinic and have great quality of living and take home more money! So the doctors are coming fast!

Anyway, that all said, construction costs are extremely high, labor is high and everyone is busy. No one is slowing down and so you pay for it. That is the construction climate that I live in. A very isolate pocket of high activity.

Our builder has a great reputation and is one of the cheapest around because he only has one crew. We feel very comfortable with him and his work. He had several people estimate the dirt as well and he estimated even higher than that, but the survey showed differently. He couldn't have known and we don't blame him.

Anyway, sorry that got so long! :)

TWO HuNDRED dump truck loads?? I sure hope someone did and will do again an in-depth soil evaluation. That's a lot of dirt, and it either wasn't tamped down as the loads were spread or it was, but those choices make a lot of difference in foundation requirements. In my area, hillsides are occasionally built-up to provide a level area for the house, but not to the tune of 200 loads!

Well, now that I'm sorta past that number, I can say that I'm sorry you've had to put the house on hold. However, like other folks here, I can see the potenetial benefits of waiting... including giving you time to save enough to re-build the emergency fund (the one for boulders in the basement, tornados, etc), since the fund apparently got whopped with the fill dirt. If the locale is actually as popular as you make it sound, then even a couple years wait won't make a difference in the value. And personally, I'd want to see just what a couple floods did to the area before I built. (Popular is not the same as smart.)

It's not clear to me that they actually had the fill dirt brought in. If I am reading the thread correctly, they bailed before eating that cost.

So sorry to hear your plans were derailed...keep up with your plans and ideas. Perhaps you could redesign with a future expansion plan added in to save $$ for now? And one item that may be of comfort is that it is no fun to start out being at the top of your budget...very stressful! Hope things work out evntually, though. Sounds like you are in a very good market area.

frog_hopper -- yes, we put the project on hold before any dirt work was done to the lot. But we still own the lot, so even if we build on it sometime, there will always be that dirt to be brought in.

I agree -- starting at the top of the budget isn't fun! Maybe at some point, we will still be able to use our plans. You just never know what might happen. But for now, our current house which is well within our means looks pretty good, as long as I don't spend too much time looking at our house plans! :) We have lots of options as DH reminded me. We can keep our lot and built on it after we've saved more money, sell our lot, probably at a profit with the way things are going here, buy a different lot here which might require less dirt work and upfront cost, or maybe even find a spec we like that we can get in early on and customize. Lots of options!

Thanks for all the well wishes for the future.

Shelly

God knows how to do his things.
My heart goes out to you.

We also wanted to build and we have been debating for the last couple of months. People that knows about economy and real estate advised us to get something already built. I was working on the plans (lots of work) and meanwhile I started to look in case I found something.
Turns out I found a lovely place with the perfect size for DH and I (when I almost give up) and today we put an offer (35,000 below the asking price) they called us with a counteroffer (20,000 below asking price) we then offered 30,000 below asking price and asked 3 items that I fell in love with when we went to see the place: a big mirror, a set of 3 paintings (I was worried I had to fix 3 holes on the wall) and a desk, all the items were designer selected items - I know who the interior designer was.
They called back saying that we got the set of paintings and the desk. Not the mirror because it was too expensive.
I told the realtor NO. With the mirror or no deal and you have 1 hour or we will move on - What I actually wanted was building - she called back and said congratulations.

I felt a little bit bad about the mirror (I have a problem of guilty conscience)but I am thinking that I also gave up my dream to build our house and the lady had troubles trying to sell the house and in just 2 days from start to finish she sold it. I know she did not loose money.
(the idea of asking for some items was from the realtor - I never heard of that, she said that people is doing that more and more and that she had a client that went o se a house and said, I offer full price with everything in it!!! and he got it!!! :)

Could you find a bid with a fixed price and no allowances (allowances scare me)? you have to chose everything in advance without going overboard and maybe you can find a builder that can do the work below your current price and level up the extra expense that you had with the dirt.
Could you be your own general contractor?
We have built 2 houses before and we were our own GC. What we did, we went to areas with nice constructions going on and got a lot of subcontractors names and phone #s.
I also got a lot of names from a catalog that we got from the showcase of homes (all the builders listed their subs) and that is how we found good subcontractors with good reputattion. we asked 3 bids on each item or trade and most of the times went with the middle priced one. We saves some money but the best thing was, we used good materials and not "builder" grade ones.
It is a lot of work but it is worth it. I just feel that if there is something that can be done, why not?
Good luck!

Shelly k-- We are kindred spirits. I live in Montana, your neighbor to the northwest. My city also has a large medical community. Commercial and residential construction have never slowed down here and prices are holding steady. We bought 2 lots in a new subdivision 2 years ago and have been holding off building; we hope to start construction next summer. We never planned to build immediately but I know how hard it is to wait. For you to be so close and yet so far is so sad.

My heart goes out to you. I'm sorry that you've been dealt this disappointment. But you are correct when you say that you do have options. Take all the time you need to consider them carefully.

I know this may sound trite, but years down the road you may look back and realize that building your house at this time wasn't the best option. Like you, we own our lots. Now we are putting money into our savings. DH knows how much our house is going to cost and he just isn't comfortable starting construction yet. Sometimes I think he's just stringing me along, pretending that we will build our dream house-- but that's another subject all together!

Keep your chin up. ((You will be in my thoughts))---

The "other" Shelley K

Shelley K -- wow, very similar situations! Yes, it does make me kind of sad when I hear of so many others here building in their communities where construction and real estate is way down and they are getting some bargains, or at least construction at a reasonable cost.

Maybe someday? And we'll keep our options open...