Can you negotiate the cost of a building

[EddieWalker]

At $33 a square foot, you don't have a lot of room to go much lower. Since your neighbor is going to be doing the work, have you asked him about ways to save money on your build? I have clients that tell me what they want, and I can almost always give them something very similar for a significant savings if they just change a few things. Almost always, they didn't realize that by doing it their way, it was adding so much money to the job. An experienced builder can look at a plan and know instantly where the big money is going in what needs to be done to achieve that plan. I always start with a basic box when designing a building or structure. I know the bigger my spans, the more it's going to cost. I know that when I modify the roof-line, I'm adding more money to it. Going from a Plain Jane in trim to something unique will really add to the cost. And probably the very worse way that I know of to add costs to a job is to do something that isn't normally done, or standard. If you can't buy it at Home Depot, you know that you are doing something more expensive then you need to. How much do you want to pay to be unique?

As to your original question on how much will they come down on their price for materials, I don't know. I have found that those willing to lower their prices always have a reason to do so, and it's never good for the buyer when that happens. I've walked away from jobs where the client got a really good deal on something and wanted me to "make it work" The time and effort to do that is always obscene. Better to let them be angry at somebody else. Green buildings are some of the worse. It's like going back in time to the 80's and dealing with all the changes Jimmy Carter did to the trades with his policies that led to the worse build cars and houses ever. Avoid anything built in the 80's!!! Same with Green houses of today. Most are meeting goals that have nothing to do with actual energy savings, and a lot of the time, will actually cost you more money to get absolutely no improvement to your energy usage.

The economy is booming. Builders and manufactures cannot keep up. Why would they want to lower their price?

 

[plowhog]

I am at 100k for a 45x68x18. That is all in with plumbing and electric.

I wish I was at $100k for my project. My dirt work and concrete exceeded $100k. That included access, driveway, and removal of a lot of organic material, compaction, slab, retaining walls, apron, RV pad outside, and on and on. Then the real expense kicked in.

 

[plowhog]

Builders and manufactures cannot keep up. Why would they want to lower their price?

Amen, brother. I finished my steel building six months ago and feel like I just slid under the wire with steel prices and being able to get subs to do the grading, concrete, plumbing, electrical, septic, sheet rock, and it goes on. Construction prices in my area are climbing seemingly non stop without limit. Our biggest problem in this market is getting people to show up since there is so much work spread among not enough companies and workers. My neighbor is building a 4,200 ft garage, is halfway done, and the builder won't even guess when a completion date could be.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

With the economy the way it is in the Puget Sound Area today I doubt you can negotiate much. The steel building market is saturated with many businesses expanding and new startups. One contractor friend recently told me; I only look at the simple non specialized projects as there are plenty of garden variety jobs out there as the current buyer wants a shelter quick and easy, no frills. He said if any potential project looks like a hassle down stream let someone else do it. The first hassle before signature on a contract and he backs put right now. He does not have time to play around with special requirements. The only guys looking for work are the ones you do not want. There is a reason they are out of work. There is also a drastic shortage of workers here so the price of labor has gone up and overtime is required to get a job done on time. Guess who pays those extra costs?

Ron