Cost to build your own home?

[EddieWalker]

When I was building spec homes 10-12 years ago, I was subbing everything out and running right at $70 a square foot for houses that would sell for $80 to$84 a square foot without doing anything myself on those houses. Then when the market collapsed in 2005, I barely broke even on my last house and decided to use my free cash to build a small house for myself. I hired a crew to spread the concrete for my slab and had an HVAC company install my air condition system. I did everything else myself and came in right at $30 a square foot. My finish materials where on the medium range side of things. I did tile counters, assembly yourself cabinets, fiberglass tub/showers and carpet floors. My exterior siding was Hardie and I put on a metal roof.

I am currently upgrading different things. Tile showers. Tile floors. Different Hardi siding. Bigger and fancier porch. And then I'll add on a big addition for more square footage.

When I built my parents house a couple years ago, my parents and I did all the labor except we hired a crew to spread the concrete, install the HVAC, hang the sheetrock, and install the architecture shingles. It's a much higher end home with tile floors, granite counters, Kitchen Aid cabinets, high ceilings with exposed beams, Hardie with a lot of cultured stone. It took 10 months from the time we started building up the pad to them moving in with a finished kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. It took another six months to get the rest of it all done. I worked on it every weekend and evening, they did what they could during the day. They are in their 70's and work good together as a team. That was right at $50 a square foot.

Some of the things that add to the cost of a house is how fancy the roof line is. A simple rectangle is going to be the cheapest house to build. One story is cheaper then two stories. Cost per square foot on average is going to be $5 to $10 more on the second story compared to a concrete slab fist story. The lumber and the stairs both contribute to this, then adding another HVAC system and all that goes into working up higher adds up. If you have the land, always go single story to save money.

There are two things to consider when budgeting for a house. Dry in is pretty fixed. Adding brick or rock, cedar posts and fancy porches are all extras that add up quickly, but you can also save a lot of money on what you do there. Finishing off the interior is where most people get in over their heads and lose track of the budget. I tell clients all the time, I don't care what you buy, it all installs the same. I've put in $300 door knobs on a house that ran out of money and had to take a loan out against their vehicles. I've put in $20 a square foot tile that looked the same to me as $3 a square foot tile at the box store, but the client refused to go to Home Depot to get tile.

I would plan on spending $20 a square foot to get it dried in, and $30 for the interior. If you like fancy stuff, that $30 a foot number can easily double!!!!

 

[Budweiser John]

If you have the skills, knowledge, time, and equipment building one's own home is life's most rewarding experience. However, of the above listed assets time is the only commodady one cannot buy or save and that's where most owner/builders underestimate the process. Take your best time estimate and multiply by 2.5 or even 3 to come close to a completion date.
Know your limitations. Horsing 2x10 floor joists on the weekend is different than pushing a desk from 8 to 5 Monday through Friday. Volunteer labor is volunteer don't count on it for the life of the project. S--t happens, inclement weather, material delays, building inspectors with unreasonable demands.
Have a good talk with your insurance guy about liability, material theft, and fire coverage on a partially completed building. Also, meet with your building/zoning department officials with plans, property ID numbers and a site plan in hand. Most municipal/county offices are looking to be spoon fed. If you are planning to get "weathered in" and live at the sight be sure it's acceptable to the building inspector. If you need or think you might need bank financing line up that resource before breaking ground not after finding yourself behind the 8 ball.
Lastly, is the spouse or significant other fully on board with the project?

My point here is making sawdust and playing in the mud is the culmination of extensive planning and preparation.
I've seen too many couples think they have the commitment to self build a home and although the manual skill sets may be adequate the disruption of family life and lack of pre planning have ended in distaster.

B. John

 

[shibaura_4043]

Thank you Eddie and John for your replies, you both have great points. It's sounds like if I make sure to plan/budget well and have a contingency plan, it seems reasonable that I could in fact build my house for $50-55 psf as long I don't get carried away in the finishing stage. My wife is onboard but would probably prefer I hire a GC, but I feel like I'm leaving too much money on the table and it would push me into another mortgage for sure. The main goal was to build a cash house.

 

[newbury]

How "modular" will the new house be? As in will it be a big 2 story box with one or two smaller one story boxes on the side? This lends itself to building the big box and putting on the smaller boxes later.

How big a shop w/ apartment are you planning on? If this was built first and was big enough it could provide valuable room for storage of materials and give you a place to sleep after you put in 16 hours building the house. There is a lot of value in having a good break area.

Some member here wrote about building a large pole barn first and parking a RV in side and living in the RV while building the main house. Then sell the RV. As often timing was important, he bought the RV used in the autumn when prices were down, sold it in the spring when prices were up. And the pole barn provided security and cove for all the lumber and materials he bought.

Good luck.

 

[TnAndy]

If you have the skills, knowledge, time, and equipment building one's own home is life's most rewarding experience. However, of the above listed assets time is the only commodady one cannot buy or save and that's where most owner/builders underestimate the process. Take your best time estimate and multiply by 2.5 or even 3 to come close to a completion date.
Know your limitations. Horsing 2x10 floor joists on the weekend is different than pushing a desk from 8 to 5 Monday through Friday. Volunteer labor is volunteer don't count on it for the life of the project. S--t happens, inclement weather, material delays, building inspectors with unreasonable demands.
Have a good talk with your insurance guy about liability, material theft, and fire coverage on a partially completed building. Also, meet with your building/zoning department officials with plans, property ID numbers and a site plan in hand. Most municipal/county offices are looking to be spoon fed. If you are planning to get "weathered in" and live at the sight be sure it's acceptable to the building inspector. If you need or think you might need bank financing line up that resource before breaking ground not after finding yourself behind the 8 ball.
Lastly, is the spouse or significant other fully on board with the project?

My point here is making sawdust and playing in the mud is the culmination of extensive planning and preparation.
I've seen too many couples think they have the commitment to self build a home and although the manual skill sets may be adequate the disruption of family life and lack of pre planning have ended in distaster.

B. John

LOTS of good advice there, John....especially on the wife part.

Wife and I built two houses that we've lived in....a small ranch that was our starter (and learning house) home, then the one we live in now. If you can get her with a trowel in hand on the wall laying brick, you've got commitment !

Mine 35 years ago:

Me down the other end of the wall: (Note...if you plan on using more expensive, colored mortar, be aware in a few years on the outside, it fades and looks exactly like plain ole ordinary mortar)

 

[TnAndy]

When I was building spec homes 10-12 years ago, I was subbing everything out and running right at $70 a square foot for houses that would sell for $80 to$84 a square foot without doing anything myself on those houses. Then when the market collapsed in 2005, I barely broke even on my last house and decided to use my free cash to build a small house for myself. I hired a crew to spread the concrete for my slab and had an HVAC company install my air condition system. I did everything else myself and came in right at $30 a square foot. My finish materials where on the medium range side of things. I did tile counters, assembly yourself cabinets, fiberglass tub/showers and carpet floors. My exterior siding was Hardie and I put on a metal roof.

I am currently upgrading different things. Tile showers. Tile floors. Different Hardi siding. Bigger and fancier porch. And then I'll add on a big addition for more square footage.

When I built my parents house a couple years ago, my parents and I did all the labor except we hired a crew to spread the concrete, install the HVAC, hang the sheetrock, and install the architecture shingles. It's a much higher end home with tile floors, granite counters, Kitchen Aid cabinets, high ceilings with exposed beams, Hardie with a lot of cultured stone. It took 10 months from the time we started building up the pad to them moving in with a finished kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. It took another six months to get the rest of it all done. I worked on it every weekend and evening, they did what they could during the day. They are in their 70's and work good together as a team. That was right at $50 a square foot.

Some of the things that add to the cost of a house is how fancy the roof line is. A simple rectangle is going to be the cheapest house to build. One story is cheaper then two stories. Cost per square foot on average is going to be $5 to $10 more on the second story compared to a concrete slab fist story. The lumber and the stairs both contribute to this, then adding another HVAC system and all that goes into working up higher adds up. If you have the land, always go single story to save money.

There are two things to consider when budgeting for a house. Dry in is pretty fixed. Adding brick or rock, cedar posts and fancy porches are all extras that add up quickly, but you can also save a lot of money on what you do there. Finishing off the interior is where most people get in over their heads and lose track of the budget. I tell clients all the time, I don't care what you buy, it all installs the same. I've put in $300 door knobs on a house that ran out of money and had to take a loan out against their vehicles. I've put in $20 a square foot tile that looked the same to me as $3 a square foot tile at the box store, but the client refused to go to Home Depot to get tile.

I would plan on spending $20 a square foot to get it dried in, and $30 for the interior. If you like fancy stuff, that $30 a foot number can easily double!!!!

Again, lot of good advice.

But I have to disagree on the 'go out versus up' on costs. UP beats OUT almost every time. Going up, you utilize the same foundation (but slab IS the cheapest of any foundation type, agreed), and same roof to cover more space. I actually find a story and a half is the way to go when going up, but even a conventional 2 story is cheaper than spreading out. IF you want everything on a single level, that's fine.....do it....but it will not cost out cheaper, no way.

 

[hershmeister]

We just finished building our dream home and used a builder. Even with that, it was an all consuming process in just the design, and material selection. Since the home was custom we had complete control of everything- which was great - but took a lot of time to evaluate options, determine pricing and make smart decisions. I cannot imagine doing all that AND the actual construction too. The tradesmen who drywall, paint, frame, roof, etc all do their thing every day and do it fast - you'll be slower, without the tricks of the trade knowledge and without special tools and equipment.

We also had foam insulation and I highly recommend it - our new house is twice the size of our old one and the electric/gas bills are nearly identical! So thats at least a 1000+ per year savings in utilities on a equity per square foot basis!

Cost to build just a basement is around $50 - total without land was around $100-110, and if you dont want builder grade finishings, then expect to pay more. Good luck!

 

[RedNeckRacin]

Sounds good, I had a buddie of mine to install my septic system for $5000.

That's a smoking good deal. I had 2300 in pipe, tanks and a pump, 1100 for stone, machine rental was 395. I also had $400 for the perc test, $250 for the septic permit, and two more $335 machine rentals for the profile holes that I had to dig twice. SO i guess I put the septic in for 5k but that wasn't all inclusive. My cousin-in-law just put in a sand mound and paid a contractor and I think he was in the 15k-17k range all said and done. I'm pretty happy with my price!

 

[jk96]

Some of the things that add to the cost of a house is how fancy the roof line is. A simple rectangle is going to be the cheapest house to build. One story is cheaper then two stories. Cost per square foot on average is going to be $5 to $10 more on the second story compared to a concrete slab fist story. The lumber and the stairs both contribute to this, then adding another HVAC system and all that goes into working up higher adds up. If you have the land, always go single story to save money.

Eddie I would agree with TnAndy about cost being cheaper to go up instead of out. Just curious how you justify out being cheaper? Also with zoning there shouldn't be a need for a 2nd HVAC unit on a two story unless its a monster sized house.

 

[handirifle]

Know nothing about Texas building codes, but I do know CA's earthquake codes make for expensive homes, and some cities are worse. We built in rural CA, finished in 2010. The house is 2150 sq ft and total cost was $123 sq ft. That was taking it to what the contractor called "drywall complete". It was dry walled and textured on the inside, no flooring, no trim work, no doors or frames. Exterior was basically complete (Hardy board siding and comp roof, at 6-12 pitch.

ALL electrical, out and in was brought to boxes, and stubbed. Service panel installed, but no breakers, wires only stubbed. I did ALL outside work, and there was a lot of that. All elec work, including setting my own temp power pole, running the wires for it, and then later building and running the main panels and wires. We have 2 power meters at 200 amp each. One goes to the house, and the other is divided between the well service and my workshop (100 each panel). I also did all my own trenching laying conduit, pulling wires. The only thing I didn't do was pull the wires and make the connection to the pole transformer , left that to the pro's. Also did all water lines from well storage tank to house, and did all indoor plumbing. That was also left stubbed by the contractor.

The point I am making is even with all the labor cost savings on MY project, it was still pricey. Part of that, is we went fairly high up on interior appointments. Hardwood flooring (we did ourselves), carpet, tile work, kitchen cabinets were expensive, all hickory, plus appliances were near top end. I installed all appliances.

Had we gone much more conservative on appointments, lower pitch, more simple layout (truss design was pretty complicated). That also included demo of an old existing house built in 1920 that was unsavable, and over excavation and soil compaction, for the slab. Plus digging and setting new septic system and 2, 100ft leach lines.

Here, at least, $50 a sqft would not get you much in the a house. It would be basic design, straight roof ridge and basic amenities inside. Liveable new home, but plain. That would be with you doing most all the work yourself.

Not sure about other places, but also here, when you go owner-builder, they set a time limit to completion. Somewhere between 1-2 years.