Our house build is over $300/sq ft. This is with some nice finishes (3/4" hardwood floors, soapstone counters), but a lot of it is the rise in cost of materials and labor. The only thing that seems to have gotten cheaper in the past year is lumber.
Our builder wasn't very good in guiding us on where the costs lay and what makes sense to try to cut and what is "cheap". We've learned some as we've gone along:
* 2nd floor space is "cheap" as it doesn't increase the foundation and roof size. 1st floor space is more expensive in this case.
* Corners on the exterior add complexity and thus cost
* Many things (for us) are priced by sq ft: electrical, paint, some of the trim.
* HVAC is totally up to you. We are paying 2x the original estimate for inverter heat pumps vs single-speed AC + furnace, even with a lot of work (and cost) gone into additional insulation and air sealing. We could have just gone with a pretty basic 16 seer system instead
* Metal roofing (standing seam) is really expensive right now. Almost 3x what a good shingle roof costs
* "textured" hardie siding was considerably more expensive than the "smooth" siding (still no clue why)
* Brick facade on the water table is cheaper/easier than stone. The material costs may be similar, but stone adds complexity in several other areas we're learning.
* You may not realize when you're specifying something non-standard (aka "custom") and price goes up a lot more. We've found it helpful to ask for the price of what we want, and also something more basic to get a sense of this (we're on a cost+ contract)
The upside is it's pretty cheap (comparatively) to make improvements to lower the operating cost for the house - 2x6 walls instead of 2x4 for better insulation. Basic air-sealing details (tape the OSB sheathing seams, for example).
The time to complete certainly can be hard to complete, as weather, product availability, and contractor schedule are all factors right now, at least in my area. It's better than it was, but we've still seen long lead times and some down time waiting for contractors to free up/be able to make it out
Our builder wasn't very good in guiding us on where the costs lay and what makes sense to try to cut and what is "cheap". We've learned some as we've gone along:
* 2nd floor space is "cheap" as it doesn't increase the foundation and roof size. 1st floor space is more expensive in this case.
* Corners on the exterior add complexity and thus cost
* Many things (for us) are priced by sq ft: electrical, paint, some of the trim.
* HVAC is totally up to you. We are paying 2x the original estimate for inverter heat pumps vs single-speed AC + furnace, even with a lot of work (and cost) gone into additional insulation and air sealing. We could have just gone with a pretty basic 16 seer system instead
* Metal roofing (standing seam) is really expensive right now. Almost 3x what a good shingle roof costs
* "textured" hardie siding was considerably more expensive than the "smooth" siding (still no clue why)
* Brick facade on the water table is cheaper/easier than stone. The material costs may be similar, but stone adds complexity in several other areas we're learning.
* You may not realize when you're specifying something non-standard (aka "custom") and price goes up a lot more. We've found it helpful to ask for the price of what we want, and also something more basic to get a sense of this (we're on a cost+ contract)
The upside is it's pretty cheap (comparatively) to make improvements to lower the operating cost for the house - 2x6 walls instead of 2x4 for better insulation. Basic air-sealing details (tape the OSB sheathing seams, for example).
The time to complete certainly can be hard to complete, as weather, product availability, and contractor schedule are all factors right now, at least in my area. It's better than it was, but we've still seen long lead times and some down time waiting for contractors to free up/be able to make it out