No one here can answer that question. You don't say where you live, how big the lot is, what is on the lot, if there are utilities there already, etc.

Normally you buy the lot and own it free and clear, then that applies to your equity in the build.

To find out, you should seek advice from local builders. Your loan officer friend should know a few.

@catbuilder I understand what you mean by saying I didn’t say where, size, etc. I’m not looking for an answer for myself, I’m looking for what others have incurred. So yes, they can answer that.

We purchased a 5 acre lot in upstate NY (2 hours North of NYC). We are building a single floor house with total square footage around 3650 (including the garage). Husband's cousins own a landscaping/excavating business, so we spent about $6K in excavating costs to cut down trees and clear the lot (a little over an acre cleared). That was not included in our construction loan. Survey costs I cannot remember, but pretty sure it was under $5K and was paid out of pocket. Home plans, working with our architect, and permits were paid for out of pocket as well. Well drilling and pump install was probably about $4-5K. I think we paid out of pocket for that. I'm sure there may be some other out of pocket costs I missed.

What was built into our construction loan was basement excavation, stone for driveway, stone for other areas. I think that ran about $31K. Septic cost a sh*t ton (LOL) because we are on clay soil and needed a raised bed system and about 20 truckloads of sand for the leach field. Septic was $30K but that also included a lot of property grading as well. Septic cost was built into the construction loan. 1000 gallon propane tank purchase and install was $4K and built into the loan.

Hope that helped a little! It's nice to get an actual answer sometimes to use as a reference point even if the numbers aren't exactly the same for other areas of the country.

@Rower 76 Yes, that was very helpful! Thanks!

In development as in HOA in a large suburb.

$5k for basically impact fees. There was about $500 in NG meter. So peanuts. Our permitting cost was $10k. Tree removal and rough grade -$5k (.48 acre)

Rural oceanfront lot. $15k for septic. Permits was $1000. No lot prep work needed. Maybe clearing something for $1k - not sure (.2 acre? - 67 feet wide)

Teardown in City - $18k to remove house and trees. permit $3k (.32 acre)

See the variability. And yes - I have a building addiction problem. 1st one 2009. 2nd one 2011. 3rd one 2018.

But either way $20k, $17k, $21k.

No wells, one septic, all with surrounding houses so zero utility costs. Variable situations for sure but all about the same costs.

Temporary construction and permanent electric service costs vary depending on your utility, whether your electric is above ground or underground and how far away from the street/existing electric you are. You can look up the cost on the utility’s electric tariff, which you should be able to access from the Public Utility Commission website. Many utilities have a fixed cost for the first - pick a small number/250 feet - from the street and every foot after is extra. Can’t tell you how many people have flipped out when they found how much it costs to go down the nice long driveway they planned on their big lot. It can also be more expensive if you want to run the line someplace other than where the utility wants to put it.

You just want a range? That should motivate you to ask some local expert opinions.

Permits I've paid $10-100K including impact fees.

Grading, retaining walls, soils import/export, etc from $0 on a prepadded subdivision lot or random valley lot to over $100K. I just passed on a lot that needed $150-200K worth of water main run from the connecting street.

I'm sure there are bigger numbers out there as some of my hillside friends spend upwards of $200K grading and retaining, which sometimes explains that "too good to be true" lot price.

Every property is unique with unique non construction costs.

I guess it depends what you include in getting the lot ready and what is/isn't there already.

We tore down an existing house, had to remove tons of trees and bushes, needed extensive excavation and had to have a private side hydro pole put in. We obviously also had to get permits to do it all.

Our rough costs are below:

Site Prep and Demo: $120,000

Tree Removal: $7000

Private Side Pole: $1500

Temp Power set up: $2000

Temp Water set up: $500

Permits: $35,000

Surveys: $5000

Engineering Costs: $15,000 (some of this is for house too but hard to pull out of budget file)

Hazmat Testing: $800

Asbestos Removal: $3000

Arborist Report: $700

I've obviously seen it in the budget and paid for it, we live in house now and have for 1.5 years, but man that's a lot ugh.

I forgot the temp pole charge. For me always $1000 or less. But totally agree - what do you include in lot prep work - temp driveway? Port a potty?

AS - that is amazing $120k for site prep and demo? So whatever the lot was already had a house on it so you would think it wouldn't need nearly as much site prep. Or was the demo that extensive? And are you talking Canadian dollars?

I bought a teardown lot and later found out that the prior owners were tied to the County's sewer without a permit. The County imposed a $4000 fine/eligibility fee on me which I paid, but I will file a claim against my title insurance policy to collect the $4000 fine.

Yes Canadian dollars. The house that was here was maybe 800 square feet on each floor. Our house is 1600 basement so double that. We also had so many trees to take out and completely changed the lot so tons of extra work needed to keep it all safe. The original house also didn’t have a basement really.

Did you decide to build with Diyanni? i know your post is from last year, but we built with Diyanni last year in Marengo, Ohio (Morrow County). We have 5.23 acres, no land clearing costs involved, poured wall basement for a 2,000 sq ft ranch (with 3 car garage) tapped in to City water system (tap fee $5,300 plus line run charge)had septic system installed $10 k, and electric run roughly 160 feet, 270 ft drive way cut Diyanni budgeted us just under $50 k. Lucky for us my husband has been in the construction field for over 25 years and knew when they didnt use additional gravel for topography and elevation, set a temporary power pole (which the electric company did not do) and a few other things in Diyannis budget that weren't needed or done and he asked for a credit back. The credits back totaled almost 7k. We know had he not kept an eye on land improvements being done and not done, Diyanni would have never voluntarily give us these credits or acknowledged that some of the budgeted land improvements were not need or not done.

We ended up buying a pre-existing home.