Building on a Budget $150K or less
aporthole
11 years ago
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11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoibewye
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Kitchen remodel in a neighborhood where homes cost between 100-150k
Comments (63)I heartily endorse Ikea cabinets (and sinks), and laminate countertops. We will probably go cheap with the lighting and faucet at first. I would get the most inexpensive Moen kitchen faucet they have. Moen has an excellent lifetime guarantee and it beats paying slightly less and dealing with a dripping, leaking headache for the next few years. Like one of these, https://www.homedepot.com/p/MOEN-Adler-Single-Handle-Low-Arc-Standard-Kitchen-Faucet-with-Side-Sprayer-in-Spot-Resist-Stainless-87202SRS/305716254 https://www.homedepot.com/p/MOEN-Brecklyn-2-Handle-Standard-Kitchen-Faucet-with-Side-Sprayer-in-Chrome-87102/300214064 I'm in Canada so I'm not sure where the best deals on kitchen faucets are in the US. But I'm sure folks here will chime in : ) . Lights like this are inexpensive, https://www.amazon.com/Lighting-1100-WH-Sherman-Pendant/dp/B003Q72MR8 https://www.amazon.com/Lighting-1100-BK-Sherman-Pendant/dp/B009ADE4VO...See MoreRenovating on a 35k budget - design/build firm? architect? DIY design?
Comments (50)Do you have a Habitat for Humanity store or something similar in your area? You might consider trying a place like that and keep an eye out for nice cabinets that have been removed from another house that you could use in your remodel. Sometimes they have the counters too if they come out without breaking. Often these are removed from really large homes and there are enough cabinets for a smaller home and the extras can be used to make filler strips etc to make it look custom to your home. This is rarely an overnight exercise -- it could take quite a while and lots of searching to find something that could work, but it would be more budget friendly than all new. With your current budget you'll be choosing from the bottom end of the cabinet market. Also with your budget you should be considering that you might need to do some of the work yourself which is going to be tough with small children. You mentioned you can save $1000/month. Even if you waited a year to add to your savings that would make a significant difference to what you can afford as well as a contingency for other things that will definitely come up, its not an "if" but "when" when you start renovating and taking out walls. Plumbing or electrical or both could give you issues or pipes might need moving, venting moved etc. Plan carefully and come up with a "must have" list, then a "nice to have" list. Work with someone you can trust and work through what you can get from your must have list with your current budget. Good luck and congratulations on the new home....See MoreBuilding a house on a budget
Comments (46)Even rural areas have zoning and are covered by state adopted building and health codes. The zoning may allow for agricultural, and residential mixed. Or industrial. Or mixed use. It may be very lenient, as opposed to very restrictive. You could wind up with a sewage treatment plant, or 700’ long chicken house, or 10,000 member church, right next door to your cottage, with lenient zoning. It doesn’t mean that there is no zoning. It means that the zoning is non restrictive. Your bank’s financing is contingent upon you producing something that meets nationally adopted building codes, even if there is a lack of local oversight and inspection. If you want a wood stove without the proper clearances and fireproofing, or a hillbilly solar setup with a dangerous battery bank setup, they can decline to provide the funds. Insurance companies can decline to cover you, which also eliminates any bank financing. The freedom to build a non code compliant personal dwelling in this country depends on 100% self financing, and a location prohibitively far from interactions with an urban area....See MoreHow much less does a square or rectangle house cost to build?
Comments (10)Back to the topic at hand.....corners and how they effect cost... While there's a tipping point as to the number of corners as it relates to excessive costs, just because it's an easily quantifiable thing (stick out one's index finger and go clockwise, or counterclockwise around a house....how hard is that?) doesn't make for anywhere near of a complete analysis of a designs cost. I don't design production housing anymore but when I did, the builders (and unlike the folks building here and possibly yourself, they are professional clients who know a lot more about what they are looking for) really didn't make a big deal about corners, even for very price point sensitive entry level housing. As an illustration, below are plans of entry level housing (which for the record, I don't think are that good, but this thread is about corners and cost, not about spatial organizations so I hope we don't get sidetracked) going up in my area (which is about $400K here, the land being the significant cost driver). Three bedroom, two bath stuff, not even a dedicated PR! This is real stuff in a real market with real costs, real risks and real profit margins, yet corners are abundant. And the financial model for a typical builder building cost sensitive speculative houses in a competitive market is a lot more financial constraining than custom building by folks who are going to move in the day of completion. Sure, everyone has a budget but building a house to hopefully immediately sell at a profit so food is on the builders table or a builders kid can go to college is a whole lot harder financial endeavor than building a house where "profit", a number outside of the cost of building, is not part of the financial model. Yet, most of the builders I've worked with really aren't concerned with houses having 10, 12 or 14 corners like the above. Sure, there's a point where increased complexity has merit as it relates to costs but the "corner thing" tends to get too much weight on this forum when compared to the attention it gets from folks who deal with costs everyday as part of their livelyhood. As another example, we are temporarily in a rental now, having sold our Annapolis house faster than we thought. It's an entry level 1200SF speculative built house that at one time needed to be sold for a profit in a competitive environment...... and it's got 10 corners!...See Morezkgardner
11 years agolast modified: 9 years agoibewye
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