Possible to build a 1000-1500sf home for 45k?

[Stringer]

Money is tight, need a home. Something plain jane, even if it's just dried-in. Trying to avoid getting a mobile in central florida. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[magicheater]

Yes it is but will be very plain, more like a garage with amenities.

 

[Reg]

Purchasing land and having ground work done will CO$T YA !!!
Location, location, location, etc.
Are heat AND A/C needed ?, that can have a big effect on cost.
If you have no better opportunities for your time you can save SOME money by doing some of the land work yourself.
There are many stories here of folk buying a dozer, clearing their land, selling it on, etc.
Same with excavators and hoes, but you need the TIME and at least some skills for it.
If you can make better money doing something else, then you probably should do that.

After that, supposedly modular is the best deal and they don't ALL look like cardboard cubes.

PS Just saw the "Central Wisconsin", I guess you NEED heat.
AC might still be optional.

 

[dave1949]

Money is tight, need a home. Something plain jane, even if it's just dried-in. Trying to avoid getting a mobile in central florida. Any ideas? Thanks.

That sounds like a challenge. Will you have town/county water and sewer? I assume your foundation will be a concrete slab? How about the Florida hurricane building codes?

You will have to make every inch of your building materials count.

From a purely financial aspect, the mobile may be a better use of your money if you end up skimping everywhere on a new build. Have to watch your resale value.
Dave.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

If you do most of it yourself, and you are building in a county with little building codes, and you already own the land.
Around here you get to pay "impact fees" of around $10K, not counting the permit fees which can be a few more K's. And you get nothing for the impact fee's, it's not a water tap or sewer tap, just an impact on your wallet.

 

[Stringer]

That sounds like a challenge. Will you have town/county water and sewer? I assume your foundation will be a concrete slab? How about the Florida hurricane building codes?

You will have to make every inch of your building materials count.

From a purely financial aspect, the mobile may be a better use of your money if you end up skimping everywhere on a new build. Have to watch your resale value.
Dave.

A challenge indeed. I have a well and septic ready to roll but will need a slab. I peeked at the florida building codes but they are thousands of pages long and I don't understand any of it.

For around 33-34k I could get Kodiak Steel Homes | Autumn View Series this 1170sf model delivered. Red iron bolt-together steel construction with PBR roof panels and steel siding (no windows, doors, interior, or labor). I wonder what it would cost to erect this and put in "dry-in" condition?

Or the mobile might be a better idea? Concrete blocks are cheap here too, i wonder how much it really costs to put something small and simple together. Nobody will build anything here under 90k+ it seems.

 

[Stringer]

If you do most of it yourself, and you are building in a county with little building codes, and you already own the land.
Around here you get to pay "impact fees" of around $10K, not counting the permit fees which can be a few more K's. And you get nothing for the impact fee's, it's not a water tap or sewer tap, just an impact on your wallet.

I really don't know how to do anything myself

But my impact fees are already paid (came with land)

The county tells me that if a structure meets the florida building codes, its a-ok with them.

 

[dave1949]

A challenge indeed. I have a well and septic ready to roll but will need a slab. I peeked at the florida building codes but they are thousands of pages long and I don't understand any of it.

For around 33-34k I could get Kodiak Steel Homes | Autumn View Series this 1170sf model delivered. Red iron bolt-together steel construction with PBR roof panels and steel siding (no windows, doors, interior, or labor). I wonder what it would cost to erect this and put in "dry-in" condition?

Or the mobile might be a better idea? Concrete blocks are cheap here too, i wonder how much it really costs to put something small and simple together. Nobody will build anything here under 90k+ it seems.

The price of getting the Kodiak assembled and adding doors/windows and minimal interior with plumbing could easily double the $34K would be my guess. A steel building could be more difficult to finish inside and more difficult to build than a conventional wood frame home as a do-it-yourself project. Plus, there is the resale thing. If you ever need to sell, and most do sooner or later, will a Kodiak building bring the same price as a wood frame building? You may save some upfront only to lose a lot later. I don't know the answer to that, but you should before you jump in.

For any kit home, the first thing to ask is 'does it meet Florida building codes'. If it doesn't or isn't certified by an engineer, it's a non-starter for you. For any company who says yes to that question, you will have to verify that by asking your local inspectors and building permit people what they require to show the structure will meet the Florida code.

How picky are your local inspectors about occupying a partially complete home? That would be a problem in many areas.

How did you arrive at the 1000-1500 sqft home size? Is there a minimum sqft required in your lot location? How many bedrooms do you need? Are you willing to have one bath versus 1 and 1/2 or two? How many people will live in this home? For one or two people, you can have a nice house that is under 1000 sqft. Getting the house sized correctly upfront is the surest way to maximize your budget.

My advice is to do a LOT of homework first on this. It will save you many $$$ and headaches down the road.
Dave.

 

[crazyal]

I have a friend who was tight on money. He built a large garage and then picked up a used camper and parked it inside. He got around a lot of the building codes since a garage doesn't need the same permits as a house where he was building. As he has extra money he's been turning the second floor of the garage into a loft and has plans of someday turning some of the first floor into living space.

 

[oldnslo]

Concrete blocks are cheap here too, i wonder how much it really costs to put something small and simple together. Nobody will build anything here under 90k+ it seems.

Around here the Mason's charge a $1 a block or more tp lay them. Not sure what they charge in Florida. With cement block walls you will have to either run all of your electrical through the cores of the block in conduit or on the surface in conduit. All of these items make cemnt blocks an expensive option quickly.

Materials for a 800 SF addition including foundation are costing me around the $45K

Are mobile homes approved for hurricane areas?

Roy

 

[tommu56]

Around here the Mason's charge a $1 a block or more tp lay them. Not sure what they charge in Florida. With cement block walls you will have to either run all of your electrical through the cores of the block in conduit or on the surface in conduit. All of these items make cemnt blocks an expensive option quickly.

Materials for a 800 SF addition including foundation are costing me around the $45K

Are mobile homes approved for hurricane areas?

Roy

In the hurricane belt block is the best building system along with a hip roof.

look what was standing after Katrina block held up the best.

tom

 

[ding2520]

There are multiple questions that need to be answered. Is this structure for just you? I have a friend that lives in a pole shed in MN, so you can make yourself do anything if there isn't a "missus" involved. Is this a short term fix for housing? Then the garage thing with a camper is going to be your cheapest. Maybe a two stall garage with a "carport" for parking the camper under. When you "hit the big times" and money isn't as tight you could add the house. Place the garage, planning on a home on the same lot in the future. If you build a small house as cheaply as possible, that is all you are going to have. Resale in the future will be a very small group that is interested a home in that sq.ft. range.

 

[Stringer]

very good points guys. thanks alot for all your insight. this would be more of a permanent thing, not temporary. It's starting to look more and more like a mobile is the way to go. Are there any special things that can be done to make a mobile more stout? Any advantages to putting one on a slab?

 

[Mousefield]

very good points guys. thanks alot for all your insight. this would be more of a permanent thing, not temporary. It's starting to look more and more like a mobile is the way to go. Are there any special things that can be done to make a mobile more stout? Any advantages to putting one on a slab?

We have a couple of mobiles on our property, lived in one before we built our house. A slab is nice along with good drainage. Just putting a mobile on raw land often leads to lots of moisture under the mobile. With a slab you can also put in tie downs for those strong winds. Slab and/or tie downs may be required by code in some areas. Also once you have the mobile set up it is not that hard, as money is available, to build on an addition for more living space.

 

[dave1949]

very good points guys. thanks alot for all your insight. this would be more of a permanent thing, not temporary. It's starting to look more and more like a mobile is the way to go. Are there any special things that can be done to make a mobile more stout? Any advantages to putting one on a slab?

For the money and the amenities you get, and the efficient use of floor space, a mobile/manufactured/double-wide is probably going to be hard to beat.

In terms of resale value, they are a known quantity too.

I don't think it's a bad choice for your goals.
Dave.

 

[EddieWalker]

National Home builders, who build thousands of homes a year have figured that one third of the cost to build a house is materials. That means that two thirds is labor. If you do all of the labor yourself, you can easily build a house for $30 a foot. That's what I built my house for, and that included a shop that's bigger then the house. I hired out the slab and HVAC and had to run the water line to the house, have power installed and I was able to do my own septic system. The septic laws have changed since then, so that would be another expense that I didn't have to pay for, but still within reason of what you want. My house has a slab foundation, built from 2x4's with Hardi siding and a metal roof. It's all sheetrock on the inside with simple doors and windows. I had concrete for floors for awhile except all the dedrooms are carpet and the bathrooms are tile and vinyl. Thee bedrooms and two full bathrooms. A nice kitchen and no dining room for 1,000 sq ft of living area. I built it myself in four months with a total of three days off. Since then, I've covered the concrete floors with tile and wood.

Eddie

 

[Gary Fowler]

I contracted out a 980 sq foot shop building which included an 8 x 10 bathroom for $28 per sq foot walled in, wired, insulated and sealed. It has 1560 sq feet under roof, but only the 980 is on slab. That would make a nice 1 bedroom or even 2 bedroom house. That price does not include the septic system that I had put in for $6500 or any water well. The kitchen cabinets and appliances are probably the most expensive part of a house this size, but if you already have a range / oven /refrigerator that would take away a big expense. The cabinets would still be a strain to put in enough to be practical and not blow your budget. I suppose that if you did some of the work yourself and didnt have to put in a well you could build a small house of 1200-1500 sq ft for $45000, but you would have to go with the cheapest materials that you could get and so a lot of the work yourself. Even if you went the $.99 cent floor tile thru out the house, most till layers charge at least $2 per sq. foot to lay them, but it isnt hard to do it yourself with some basic tools and a $100 diamond blade wet tile saw if you have a strong back and good knees. Most of the work you can do yourself and then pay a licensed person to inspect it and sign off. A lot depends on where you live and the local officials. For instance, get an electrician to design your circuits and wire schedule, then you can pull the wire and get the electrician to hook it up and save a lot of money You can get a plumber to lay out the ditches, but you dig them and save some money. If you have any civil skills, you could even put in your concrete slab by soliciting some labor by the hour to place the concrete. Dry wall professionals will often do a job on the weekends cheaper than a contractor, you just have to watch out for lack of insurance issues should some one get hurt.

 

[Pops15]

Interesting to see how things are done in other parts of the country. Here in NE IL you couldn't buy the materials for 45K because our building codes are so stringent. I have property in southern IL and have seen people building pole barns and finishing the inside for living area. That's a very inexpensive way to build but isn't legal everywhere.
Blocks with a slab floor is probably the least expensive choice for you but if you can't do the work yourself it would still cost way more than 45K.
Have you considered buying a repo house from a bank? If you go that route be careful about buying a pre 1978 house because it may have lead paint and any work you have done will be very expensive.