84 Lumber Home Kits?

3 years ago

last modified: 3 years ago

My fiance and I are looking into house plans through 84 Lumber and were wondering if anyone had any experience with kits like this in general. With the market being how it currently is in our area, we are both in agreement that building is going to (likely) be our best option. .5 acres/1 acre of land go for ~20-30k in our area which I don’t think is too bad. We have a budget of 200k for our first home, and I was just wondering if anyone has any knowledge on if this is even possible within our ideal price range. The kit model we’re looking at is $72k, which doesn’t include upgrades, HVAC, plumbing, foundation, electric, or finished flooring, so I’ve accounted for everything based on national averages and it puts us around $140,000 including averaging in land for 20k and 3k for land clearing…it just sounds kinda too good to be true to me??? Not sure if it matters but this is the one we're looking into: https://www.84lumber.com/projects-plans/home-plans/1-12-story/carriage-hill/

Featured Answer

Gene Lewis

2 years ago

The answers like '1/6th' and '600k' are full of it unless you're hiring a builder -- which is what they most likely are. With the housing market like it is, builders are bending over consumers all over the nation.

If you can stomach being your own General Contractor, you can finish it for around $150k. If you hire a 'builder', plan on 300k - which is a lot of money to spend for someone that harasses subs and talks to folks in county permitting. I just finished an 84 kit that I paid $65k for. A couple caveats - I owned the land and I personally did a TON of the work. Still, I finished the ENTIRE THING for just shy of $100k.

Builders: KMA.

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Comments (12)

rrah
3 years ago
Your link doesn't work. Are you planning on doing the entire building part yourselves? I can't imagine even with the low costs the $140,000 includes paying for labor.
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Celadon
3 years ago
They are about 1/5 to 1/6 of the total build costs.
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I am leary of these "kit" homes. They probably use the cheapest materials that they can. The route I took was to go to a local architect and pick out a plan. Many localities have different standards for engineering. Shear walls and hurricane straps come to mind. I saw the disclaimer on the Menards plans. It did not inspire confidence. Anyway, after you pick out a stock plan you like you can have changes made and the engineering that goes along with it. This is the time to make any changes. You do NOT want to make changes during construction. After you have the plans you want you can pay for a materials takeoff (list of materials). The people that do this know what they are doing and can steer you in the right direction. We were told to go with a specific type of sub-floor because around here they are guaranteed to get wet during construction. It saved us a lot of grief. I built my house myself. Framing was the most fun of the whole thing. If you get a contractor use his contacts for materials. He can usually get them cheaper than an individual. In my case the lumber yard that supplied my framing package also makes trusses. Once I had the walls framed they came out and measured the house and then made the trusses. I had light storage and attic trusses made. The engineering must be done ahead of time becasue these trusses require stronger headers (beams over the doors and windows) than regular trusses. They are worth it though. It took me 7 years to build my house. We lived in a double wide in the front yard during the ordeal. The double wide is gone. We do not have a mortgage. Life is good.
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Thx spire for all the links. They look promising. I suppose a kit or prefab price would be a little more transparent unless u want to buy a stock home from a builder. I do knowyou can buy them with different levels of finish, from just a skeleton to fitted out with all the bells and whistles. But really I don’t know much about kits or prefabs—Just a little about Sears homes from the 1900s. And my mother bought a home for retirement that was pre built iin the 1950s in Michigan and trucked down to Dayton, Ohio, and it was quite elegant and about 2500 sq ft. She was not the original owner bit we found out from the owners‘ grandchildren. I have looked at a few websites and the prefabs are not cheap and can be quite expensive—into the millions, plus labor, plus foundation, plus land, plus landscaping. Personally, I am not necessarily looking for a bargain, I just want to minimize headaches. I am going on vacay now but when I return I am going to call a few of the sources Spire listed to get timelines. (we are trying to have a pool put in and there is a 2 year wait on those around here.) Thanks, everyone, J.
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84 Lumber plans are not DIY plans! I don't quite understand why people on this site seem to get so offended by someone finding a way to spend less money than they did. Just to be clear, these plans are simply a small tweak to the normal home building model and operate much like any home build would. In a typical build model a house plan is taken to the builder, who then has a lumber yard do the plan takeoffs. The lumber yard will then give the builder a list of items on the takeoff and a bid for that lumber package. What is included in that lumber package, and therefore the bid is somewhat up to the builder and client. Often the client will go back to the designer to attempt to value engineer the plans if they come up a bit over budget. The 84 Lumber plans use the same process, except the value engineering has been done by someone with a lot more material cost information and therefore the plans are generally tweaked to a much higher cost efficiency than independently designed plans. These are not paint by number plans or marked lumber that makes the house DIY friendly, it is a normal lumber package typically delivered to a normal contractor who is building a house with a fairly normal set of plans. The only significant difference between this and any other home that has been through extensive value engineering is the high degree of accuracy of the materials take-offs. The value engineering, plus the high degree of accuracy in the lumber package, often combine with contractors who are experienced with this particular process to create even more savings. The false dichotomy of HOA living or double wide trailers is disingenuous at best. The reality is that many people out there simply don't want to spend $80,000 on a kitchen and are fine with a functional house that lives well enough. They simply want to create a home for their family, often on rather rural pieces of land, and really don't care what the latest trend is.
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PRO
Mark Bischak, Architect
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
"National averages" can be dangerous.

"it just sounds kinda too good to be true to me"

You are smarter than you think.
new-beginning
3 years ago
what about water? electric? sewer/septic tank? driveway? Just for getting the raw land ready to build?
PRO
GN Builders L.L.C
3 years ago
By the time you done and over with you will be @ $600k give or take.
BT
2 years ago
Does 84 even sell a good lumber? I don't know who their supplier are - I was afraid to order about 1 year .
Gene Lewis
2 years ago
This is an English forum.
millworkman
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
"This is an English forum"

Actually American but what is your point?
dan1888
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I believe this is a link to the plan. Link.

Carriage Hill One and a Half Story House Plans | 84 Lumber

Imo, the layout and kitchen family room could use some revision.
bry911
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
I have several acquaintances who have built 84 lumber homes on their land. I have some knowledge and experience with them, from helping with a few things or just talking finances with them.

Here is my 2 cents... 84 Lumber has two collections (1) the Affordable and (2) the Oaks. The Affordable plans are mostly cost effective to build and can generally be done cheaper than a custom home so long as you stay in their selections. Their selections are designed to lower costs, you are not going to get marble counters and Zip sheathing, you are going to get laminate counters and OSB sheathing. They create decent, builder grades homes on your land and with some select upgrades you can get a reasonably affordable lumber package.

Having said that, a reasonably affordable lumber package is to a house what a tree is to a reasonably affordable lumber package. There is quite a bit of work and expense to get from a pile of wood to a house.

In my opinion, most of the houses in the Oaks collection lose that appeal. They are not designed to be cost effective to build and so while you save on the lumber package, those savings don't carry through to other build costs and you end up with expensive construction costs of cheap materials. The one notable exception to that I believe is the Stratford. I think it is a fairly simple to build Oaks collection home.

I believe the two I have seen in person were the Cape May and the Westminster. Just for reference here is a link to the August 2020 price sheet.
Gene Lewis
2 years ago
Thank you for the information. I just got 'ballpark pricing' for my daughter on 2 of the smaller homes - The Pocomoke City and the Watertown. Both are $15k higher now. I'm looking at Steel SIP construction for her now as it's not that much more expensive, and significantly better build quality.

84 Lumber Home Kits?

Gene Lewis

Comments (12)

rrah

Celadon

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