Home construction prices in Canada...what the heck is going on?

[MapleLeafFarmer]

Ok folks... I know the area very well and know home building very well also.

$220/sq foot for a very basic house in a big market area where people can find labour and competitive suppliers is common. Premium builds... well sky is the limit but being reasonable $300 sq foot gets AC, granite, hwf and some ceramic tiling and stucco / vinyl exterior.

Now Riding Mountain (depending on what side) is 2+ hours from a reasonable sized urban area (Brandon which is 40,000+ people) so getting competitive supplies is not easy. Small villages heavily dependent on natives and some logging and a lot of unsuccesful failing farms is the alternative

Now add on that the fact that the area is being stripped of its young folks/trained trades by the oil patch and support industries then $300 sq foot is not out of the question IF the contractor can even find people who want to work. In that area as a licensed trades person for small jobs like a house I would be $1200 for a 8 hour day PLUS 50% mark-up on supplies I bring to the table covering what I use/inventory I keep at my fingertips so I do not have to run 4 hours rnd trip to pick something up, etc....

concrete $200/sq yard
Serviced lot in a city (elec/water/sewer).. $50,000 - $75,000
Acerage in a rural area with no services maybe $10,000 - $20,000 for say 10 acres but very variable depending where you are.
Running power from Power pole to a house by the power company in a rural area (from front road with transformer, 100' 200a wire, trenching) at $1500
100' deep well $5,000
Septic field if not on municipal system $7,000 - 12,000 depending on what zone and type of soil

 

[Stimw]

One year ago last month I bought a 1568sqft Manufactured Home custom built to my altered manufacturer plans and delivered and set up.
It is built with 2 x6 exterior walls, up graded insluation and meets Cat 2 hurricane specs. I paid under $40. a sqft !!! It took 4 days from the time I placed the order to enter the build schedule and be completed at the factory.
I can't imagine paying the prices discussed in this thread!

 

[yelbike]

Motorseven, PM me the details and plans if you want. I'm a small electrical/HVAC contractor. I'm not real close by but maybe I can make these jokers(mean contractors:laughing a little more honest. 26k sounds like double the price.

 

[MotorSeven]

She needs to find an honest local sub-contractor and use his contacts for trades. The stupid high bids will go away after that...

That's exactly what I already told her...fire this guy and get someone else.

And no, no underground or transformer. There was an existing house on site, so everything is right there.

Ductape, that's what it is here and that's why I doubled it......still too low @ $100 an hr for new construction job prices?

 

[crazyal]

Price per sqft is not linear. A small house will usually cost more than a large house per foot. Without something on paper showing what these contractors are doing for the price they are charging it's hard to say how over priced the quotes really are. They do sound high to me but I've also seen local codes that require so very expensive additions be added into quotes. There's a town not too far from here that requires a mount system for all septic systems no matter how well the ground perks.

 

[clemsonfor]

I bought my house for $33 sq/ft! It was out dated but it looks fine now for me, still outdated to most but i really dont care.

Anyway, a girl i work with's brother runs a flooring/ finish trim biz in Minisota. His guys she says make around $70K a year and he just sold his like multi million dollar home to get out from under the crushing $13k/month morgauge!!! He moved into a more modest i think home around $500-750k!! :confused2: I think she said he makes several hundred thousand a year. Said somethink like to run stain grade oak trim in a home up there i swear she said something like $35/ft!!

I dont see how anyone can even think of putting HW in? She said he is good, but good enough to pay your day laborers $70K a year and thier christmas or year end gifts are things like custom hunting rifles???

I'm almost thinking something like the OP get a team of decent guys and somehow putting them up in an APT anf finding a foreman to run it. Let them work 6-9 months a year and them come south for the holidays and then return when the ground thaws!

 

[300UGUY]

I bought my house for $33 sq/ft! It was out dated but it looks fine now for me, still outdated to most but i really dont care.

Anyway, a girl i work with's brother runs a flooring/ finish trim biz in Minisota. His guys she says make around $70K a year and he just sold his like multi million dollar home to get out from under the crushing $13k/month morgauge!!! He moved into a more modest i think home around $500-750k!! :confused2: I think she said he makes several hundred thousand a year. Said somethink like to run stain grade oak trim in a home up there i swear she said something like $35/ft!!

I dont see how anyone can even think of putting HW in? She said he is good, but good enough to pay your day laborers $70K a year and thier christmas or year end gifts are things like custom hunting rifles???

I'm almost thinking something like the OP get a team of decent guys and somehow putting them up in an APT anf finding a foreman to run it. Let them work 6-9 months a year and them come south for the holidays and then return when the ground thaws!

Back when the economy was good, a good finish carpenter could get $50 per hour up here in Michigan. Electricians were getting $70. Now it's more like $20 and $40. I don't think we will ever see those days again.

 

[yelbike]

Back when the economy was good, a good finish carpenter could get $50 per hour up here in Michigan. Electricians were getting $70. Now it's more like $20 and $40. I don't think we will ever see those days again.

I beg to differ! Our economy isn't doing all that bad. There's such a shortage of good qualified trades people, our wages have done nothing but raise in the last 5 years. I don't really see it slowing down. Then again I'm in Manitoba where we really don't get the spikes and dives in economic spending.

 

[300UGUY]

I beg to differ! Our economy isn't doing all that bad. There's such a shortage of good qualified trades people, our wages have done nothing but raise in the last 5 years. I don't really see it slowing down. Then again I'm in Manitoba where we really don't get the spikes and dives in economic spending.

I am speaking of our country. Canada has a lot going for it. I sometimes think some of my ancestor's should have stayed there, rather than coming to Michigan. Maybe we can get something going like in Isreal, if you have Canadian ancestor's, you can get citizenship?

 

[doelake]

We built our 2,400 sq ft home in 2007. Guilcrest modular with 2 story, 4 bedrooms, wrap around porch and all the upgrades for $160/ sq ft CDN. Built to CSA standards (far exceeding Ontario Building Codes). House arrived within 2 months from the start of construction, and we walked through within 5 hours after the crane assembled the 5 modular sections. Now I wouldn't do it any other way!