Increased building costs... Thoughts?

11 years ago

Folks, I'd like some help. Our builder has sent the first draft of the contract and has stated that costs have gone up (market conditions) based on the estimates they used to build the same house next door around 6 months ago but closed last week. It is a 4000 st ft home.

Here is the rundown.

A) Lumber Increases $6,000

B) Install sidewalk (20ft and retaining wall per City's revised position $4,000 (albeit this is would cover both homes)

C) Prepare house for ejector pump due to rock $4,000

D) Drywall Increases $2,500

E) Electrical/Plumbing Increases (copper)$3,000

Total$19,500 based on the home next door which sold for $700k.

It seemed highly excessive to us, but wanted to get the experts to weigh in on each.

Thanks

Ursula

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Comments (7)

flgargoyle
11 years ago
I was shocked to see a huge jump in plywood and OSB prices recently. I'm in the middle of building a house, so I see the pricing often, yet this took me by surprise. OSB, a standard commodity in home building, went from $7.50 a sheet to $12.00 a sheet. I also think that in some areas, home building is getting pretty active again, so prices that have been held down for some years now are starting to move up again.

The increase you noted is less than 3%- Have you priced food lately?
dpusa
Original Author
11 years ago
Flgargoyle. Thanks for the perspective - It is opinions that I am seeking so that helps. I understand prices increase I guess I was surprised at the $ amount in addition to if adding an ejector pump and associated labor is really $4k etc.

Other experts, any other thoughts welcomed.

Thanks Ursula
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We are just finishing up framing and we paid a higher than orginally quoted although we were able to buy all of our osb and hold it on the job before the price hike...here is a link to current and historical lumber prices... http://www.nahb.org/generic.aspx?genericContentID=527
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Your mistake was beginning before you had a firm plan. This not only will increase costs for you as any contractor can only give you estimates on firm items, but it also sent the message to your contractor that you cannot be relied on to make decisions and it's best to wait you out while you change your mind several times. If you don't have the money to pay for your changed mind, then you go back to the original plan--if the original plan was realistic in the first place. But, you should also have had at least a 20% contingency fund to pay for unexpected expenses and that should take care of some of the changes unless you started moved plumbing around or went from $5 a square foot tile to $50 a square foot tile. And you should have relied on national average numbers for your ballpark estimates, even if you were getting lower specific numbers because of locale. The national average mid-range bath remodel, replacing like with like, costs around 16K. An upscale one, 53K. A midrange bathroom addition, such as a master bath, costs around 40K. An upscale one, 76K. With you moving things around, your costs should be closer to the second than the first.
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Thanks ci_lantro...I just reread the OP's last post. Yah...the cork is going to need the SAME amount of glue as the floor. That means a DOUBLE stick...Ohhhhhh dear! That's very expensive. Personally I would find an engineered floor that is allowed to be FLOATED. That will save you $$$$. The cork is 'floated' (it just sits there...nothing needs to be done to it) and then the floor would float over top of it. The amount of glue will DRASTICALLY reduce and the amount of LABOUR will drastically reduce. The $1000 up charge would go away. Or a little bit more money would be spent on the subfloor preparation (probably gypcrete = super annoying to deal with) so that the floor sits beautifully over the floating cork. I'm sorry to say Lana the installer would have quoted you properly if s/he had been fully aware of your flooring + underlayment decision. In other words you would have said, it must be glued down and cork used underneath. The GC/installer would have quickly understood the double stick idea. I'm going to tell you a little secret about cork and glue. You need a regular amount of glue to get the cork to 'stick'. But you need MUCH MORE glue to get the wood to stick to the cork. Why is that? Because the glue on TOP will simply 'sink into' the cork underlay. That will leave very little glue sitting on top. The cork will just suck the glue right into which means the installer will trowel on MORE glue than the 'bucket' says. Which means the $1000 up charge is going to turn into $1500 very very quickly. If your 'guy' hasn't done this before, he won't know to add MORE glue to the cork. He'll find out somewhere around 30% wood installed. He will them have to come to you to purchase MORE glue...and that's when your project will skyrocket. And another thing...doing a double stick like this adds 2-3 DAYS of time onto the floor project. Why? Because the cork layer must CURE first. The guy cannot go over a wet cork. He'll have to wait until the first layer of glue cures. That means more time spent OUT of the condo. If you are in a hotel/motel, you will have to pay MORE for those extra nights. And if your 'guy' doesn't know this, he might request more money because of his wasted time 'waiting' for the first layer of glue to cure. Again, this is where I would SERIOUSLY look at a floating floor over floating cork. I'm unable to find installation instructions for the Thunder Cloud Maple (wear layer is only 2mm...which is strange for such a thick plank). I would reach out to the manufacturer and ask for the installation instructions for your choice. And while you have them on the line, go ahead and ask if your choice can be floated. And ask which GLUE is required for installation.
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millworkman
11 years ago
Housing market is increasing slightly raising prices (supply and demand), Hurricanes in the gulf increase oil prices (think gasoline increases) all building products are affected by oil prices either thru manufacturing or distribution. I am surprised he did not tell you that roofing was going to increase as well.
Beth Parsons
11 years ago
Our lumber package cost increased by about 8% between the begining of June when we obtained the first quote to the end of August when we actually placed the order. Hurricane Issac didn't help matters but the housing market is on an upswing and trades/materials are in greater demand. We anticipated framing labor to be $3.50 sq/ft but it's more lke $4.25 sq/f - a 20% increase.
dpusa
Original Author
11 years ago
parsonse - thanks for the info. Can you help me understand the cost of total lumber and sq. footage of your home - i ask as I want to understand that even with a 20% increase as per your thread is $6000 a reasonable amount or not.
Beth Parsons
11 years ago
Actually, our framing lumber increased by around 11% - we were anticipating $36k and it came in around $40k instead. That's just lumber and hardware for framing & doesn't include windows, doors, roofing, trim, etc. We have may open spans that require LVL beams ($$) and have a complicated roof line and many, many corners.

Our total sq/ft under roof, including porches & garages, is just over 5,000 sq. ft. which is what our framing bid is based on. Comparing my budget to others on this forum, it's much cheaper to build here in Tennessee, though. We're on track to to have this house finished for under $80/sq.ft using brick, stone, hardi, granite, all hardwood floors, etc.
jimandanne_mi
11 years ago
All of the reasons given above were also the cause of price increases when we built in '06-'07. Additionally, lumber prices can be seasonal, and there was/is (?) the issue of the number of operating plywood factories. When we were building, they were maxed out, and they wouldn't start new ones due to having been burned previously when the economy had tanked and they were stuck with overproduction. I would guess that during the Recession, plywood factories might have downsized due to almost no construction, which might be affecting the supply now.

Anne

Increased building costs... Thoughts?

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flgargoyle

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Increased building costs... Thoughts?

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flgargoyle

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