does that include land or do you already have the land?

What’s the cheapest tract build for first time homeowners that you can find? Add 25% because of the one off nature. Hope that it’s that cheap with you doing a bunch of work to contribute sweat equity. Choosing bottom end finishes aren’t going to greatly affect the overall build cost. Choosing to custom build, even something cheap, is the cost driver. You can’t approach the economy of scale and repetition of a low end tract builder.

You are talking mobile home budget, not a single family home type budget. Keep saving. Or buy existing.

What do you find for sale in your area for $150K?

"You can’t approach the economy of scale and repetition of a low end tract builder. "

low end tract builder has a lot of costs that a a one off budget custom doesn't have

GC yourself or hire?

There's not enough information to answer this question. Who will design it.? Who will build it? Do you have other obligations like a full time job? What is your design and construction experience? Will your town allow you to be your own contractor? Do you have friends in building trades? Do you have a source for used or salvaged materials, appliances and equipment?

I suspect you would need to take advantage of all possible cost savings opportunities and work on it full time.

Still waiting for the OP's response to what existing housing may be available for $150K or less.

it always costs more to build than to buy existing. Mostly.

The 1900 sqft for 150k, that is 78 sq ft. If there are tract builder check their prices. Tough, but who knows.

You need to check the fixed costs:

- Cost paid to the governments

- Cost paid to the utilities (hook ups)

- Impact fees if any

Add Insurance

Builder Risk

GC liability

Add the cost of financing

8k alone

Next find 3 largest interior costs

plumbing, electrical, hvac - many areas these costs like 50k together.

If you are using third party GC add 30k may be more for contingency fund. GC has to have it... in case unpredictable event. (contractor broke countertop and vanished; big boulder is found and has to be removed. )

Plan fee: (designer, architect, purchased plan)

I think it can be done but it takes a certain type of mindset

What sort of mindset?

Draw a BIG circle around the metro area. There are no new homes in that price range. There are few mobile homes in that price range. There ARE older homes in that price range. Seems an easy conclusion to make. If a new home could be built for that price, that’s what everyone would be doing.

https://www.coldwellbankerhomes.com/tx/collinsville/866-bates-rd/pid_31737103/

Texas is cheap but probably not that cheap. My mom bought a tract home in north Texas for $110K...20 years ago!

Robbin Capers

"Texas is cheap but probably not that cheap. My mom bought a tract home in north Texas for $110K...20 years ago!"

did it have a concrete floor and basic finishes?

A concrete floor is much more expensive than vinyl and carpet. A plain building slab isn’t intended as a finish surface. By the time you manipulate it to a sealed finished decorative surface, it rivals wood or tile in cost.

can you do wood floors in a whole house for $600?

https://www.domesticimperfection.com/all-about-our-diy-sealed-concrete-floors/

A low quality cheap temporary sealer over a non manipulated straight from the float slab isn’t the same thing as a finished concrete floor. It will also have to be ground off in order to apply any permanent flooring product to the slab in the future. Or in order to have a durable finished and sealed concrete floor should that be the ultimate choice.

GreenDesigns is correct. There's a float or trowel finished garage concrete slab. And then there's colored and scored finished concrete floors in a Frank Lloyd Wright home. They aren't the same thing by a long stretch.

"A low quality cheap temporary sealer over a non manipulated straight from the float slab isn’t the same thing as a finished concrete floor."

please advise, where did the op say he wanted a finished concrete floor?

DE - it's perfectly clear from your link that the blogger has not done her floors for $600 because she hasn't done her floors yet at all. She's spent $600 on a temporary fix, nothing more.

jmm I have friends who did the exact same thing to their floors. They built a budget house on .5 acres for $120k. inexpensive sealed concrete floors. over 10 years still looked great.

its what you do when you are building on a strict budget

So, Debbie, you are saying the OP will be perfectly happy with a garage slab for the interior of her house?

Always amazing how much you know about architecture.

D E, tile floors. Much more in style for that time and place.

There is lots of incorrect advice here on concrete floors on a new slab construction... any concrete guy can smooth and add the lines in the concrete pad... only extra maybe beefing up the waterproofing around the perimeter of the foundation....the application of a gorgeous acid wash stain can be done by anyone... as well as a coat of sealer...voila! Prettiest floors ... last forever...

DE you cited a blog in which the author makes it perfectly clear she is not happy with concrete underfoot, and areas of her floor do not look good, never mind great. Hers is a temporary, not a permanent, fix and she makes no bones about it. So don't use her blog as evidence that you can do perrmanent flooring for $600 when the writer herself is making no such claim.

Another way to save lots is use antique cabinets everywhere instead of manufactured ones... go to one of those mega warehouses and get beautiful buffets with tops damaged or missing for cheap... and leave as is or paint

Like this

Or this

If you have the land and they permit it, how about a tiny home? You'd be sacrificing a lot of square feet, of course.

Forgot to mention .. the stain and sealer for 1300 sq.ft. Was about $250...this was about 18 years ago ... may be $350-400..?... today

Mine was taken for stone by most people...

ritasj, people who live high on the hog on borrowed money won't appreciate your posting money saving ideas.

you've been warned :D

DE... I know!... and no one ever came into my house and said ... were those floors and cabinets pretty cheap?...

Ritasj, your cabinets etc are beautiful. However most people are not as handy as you appear to be. And most people are so busy working they don't have the time either.

And yes, with lots of time, etc you can get some great bargains. The vanity in my powder room was $150 on CL and I love it. Mushcreek built his whole house from scratch and did it with lots of found items too.

ritasj, I love a simple unadorned style but what I absolutely love about your pieces, is that it doesn't look like you raided the latest trade shows to obtain them.

you see this with a lot of builder "customs" and many architect designed houses where you start to see the cliche trendy things -a certain ceiling mounted wood stove comes to mind, or the fashionable wall mounted toilets/vanities etc. so formulaic.

so I definitely appreciate someone who goes off the beaten path to furnish their house. and bonus points for affordability. extra bonus points for being green :)

Thanx DE...this idea came to me when I bought my home in Aspen...I ran across some gorgeous old cabinets from a drugstore...display and base cabinets with big deep drawers....that made a more cohesive look in my kitchen there...but I got so hooked on the idea I was unable to look at new cabs here... I dread the day we feel we need to leave our mountain retreat...to move closer to civilization...

Thanx...Cpartist...my feeling is that the time spent on “saving money”...also paid off in longevity...in 19 years I have only updated to stone counters and replaced stove and fridge...and I still love everything about it...

It's great and looks great and does work for you. As mentioned in this thread and in the thread I started weeks ago, I'm a huge fan. (Anything but the ubiquitous gray/white kitchen!)

However it wouldn't work for me nowadays although would have 30 years ago. I'm at the age where I need to think in terms of aging in place and more efficient for someone my age is all drawers and other things that will make it easier as we age.

Even those concrete floors would be too difficult for us on our backs and knees nowadays.

There is no one right solution for every person or every family.

Sorry but with all the out of state folks moving in thinking they are getting good deals on jacked up prices, we have soaring house prices. Which means our taxes are rising with appraisals up over 40% in just a few years. I have seen nothing in nice neighborhoods for less than $200,000. Even new condos are $400,000 in my area. Crazy hot market. The building boom is in far outer suburbs. Ft Worth might be different, but in most of DFW $150,000 won't buy much house.

I think the answer is labor, labor, labor. The labor market is TIGHT and therefore costly. You'll have to do a TON of stuff DIY - major stuff like foundation, window installation, sheetrock, etc.

I think the old rule of thumb used to be a ratio of materials:labor at 1:1, now it's more like 1:2

Most folks don't have enough time or skills, and even if they did - the bank is VERY risk averse to finance a self build.

I would say you "could" if: you already had the land, you were retired / didn't work, paying cash, and had a lot of contacts in the construction industry. If any of the above are not true - your costs will increase accordingly

just-janni is correct

labor is very expensive in this market and anything you can do yourself will save a lot of money.

can you install the insulation? drywall? siding? electrical rough in? above ground plumbing? windows, cabinets etc

I also think money can be saved in planning and design. don't rush in. as Hassan Fathy said, if you have 3000 hours to build a house, spend 2900 in planning and design.

I wonder if one could build a garage for $150K with a bathroom and kitchen against the back wall...

Well, we built a 1600 ft shop, with just our own 4 hands, for today’s equivalent of $78,000. It’s 2x6 construction, 10’ ceilings, heated and cooled, with an epoxy floor. The only paid labor was for lot dirt work, the slab pour, and the trusses built. That was right at 15K in today’s money. Those are friends and family prices.

All of the rest was materials, and we built it better than our house. The total includes tool purchases that we kept, but which the pros would likely already have. Like a drywall lift and roofing nailers. We built the forms, did the termite treatment, framed it all, roofed it all, did all the electrical, and all of the finishing. It took over 2 years, with both of us working 2 full time jobs.

There’s no plumbing, but, I figure that we could put in an IKEA kitchen, and 2 basic 5x9 vinyl floored bathrooms with an acrylic tub/ shower for 30K, plus the added rough in plumbing from a pro of maybe 7K. But again, that’s with us doing almost all of the work. We’re talking materials only, and an existing water supply, and either a city sewer, or existing septic.

Aiming for 150K, that would only leave 35K for all of the work that we did ourselves, to be done by pros. I know for a fact that would not be nearly enough allotted for labor, as I deal with the construction labor market on a daily basis.

To build that shop as a house today, with the plumbing and more lower end choices, such as eliminating the 2x6 construction, exterior foam sheathing, upgraded windows, and architectural shingles. etc, I think I could get it done for just at 180K, GCing myself. But that would be too big a pain, as I work too many hours to fully babysit a work site. And, the whole point of wanting to build it ourselves was to be able to build it better than low end. Add back 50K for a GC and the upgrades. 230K, for something fairly basic in shape, with upgrades to the bones, but not crazy finish upgrades. That would be my estimated a bit better than a starter home price.

the Cook's kitchen thanks for posting that!!!

it's great to see that a couple working a full time job can build a 1600 SQ ft space in two years.

We lost the OP. My thought was 'unfinished concrete' flooring is possible (just leave the slab the way it was poured) and build a box with some windows and doors. Put a roof over said box. Finish the interior with the most budget friendly products you can find on the market. Don't expect a $35K kitchen...If a kitchen can be built for $15K (some low-end Ikea kitchens can get you quite a bit for that price) then it is possible. Same for the bathrooms. NO tiles. Just tub/shower surrounds.

Check out this story from houzz - https://www.houzz.com/magazine/houzz-tour-elbow-grease-and-steel-create-a-modern-texas-farmhouse-stsetivw-vs~29136387

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