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

[clemsonfor]

$70Hr??? I have 2 college degrees and run an multi million dollar timber harvesting program for a government agency (one of those evil overpayed gov employees) and i dont make but half that!!! Maybe i out to consider moving north and taking up a trade? Im still young enough at 30?

 

[clemsonfor]

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!

Yea saw a show on HGTV i think about 8 yrs or so ago on modulars. I think it was called....well i dont remember(edit think it was called "some assembly required", not sure if it was multiple shows or not?), but was on modular homes. They talked about how quick it was and how effecient cost wise as they did not loose time to extreme heat cold or wet. Was built to strick quality standards in a factory which were more stringent than code and everything fit better.

These are not the "modular homes" you see around here which look just like trailers. These things were like yours 2 story, or a plain "trailer" rectangle. What every you wanted. Also showed the prefab insulated ridgid panels etc. If i had the money and was at a place in life i was gonna build i think i would look REAL hard at this option.

 

[EddieWalker]

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.

Labor is the big killer in building a house, but you do get what you pay for. My competition is charging half of what I charge, and I'm booked up till the end of the year. Two jobs that I looked at this week are jobs that where finished very poorly and with questionable prep work. Both clients want it all ripped out and for me to do it over again. If they accept my bid, I will start sometime after the first of the year.

Be VERY VERY careful hiring the guys who are working for less and who have time to start on the job right away. The slowdown in buildng has led to an increase in remodeling. People are keeping their homes instead of selling and buying new ones. They are putting money into where they live and making them nicer. There is plenty of work out there at top pay for those who have built up a solid reputation.

Eddie

 

[riptides]

I paid those 100 dollar an hour types 5 years ago. Now I pay half that for -
1. More people to bid the process
2. A higher quality product

 

[tractorshopper]

I bought land about 3.5 years ago and had plans to build. The economy crashed shortly after I bought it and it took me right at a year before my house sold (for much less than it would have had I listed 6 months sooner). Anyway, once sold and settled into my rental house, I worked on the builders to get my quotes together and they had mostly come down. The one I chose was going to build my custom home for about $87/ft2. This was hardee/cultured stone exterior, hard wood floors, custom cabs, granite, etc. Very good price IMO as most were $120/ft2 not too long before and that's what the house should have appraised for. Had the plans appraised as part of the loan process and low and behold, the appraisal came back $30k less than the cost. Wife and I did some soul searching. The difference in my down payment and the additional $30k would have had us with zero savings left pretty much and then not knowing would the final build appraisal drop even more leaving us with a larger deficit at final closing. We decided to not build at the time.

We looked around a good bit and found a foreclosure that was 2-1/2 years old, not quite what we were going to build, but close. 2,433 ft2, about the same. On a smaller property (3.3 acres). 4.5 miles from our property we were going to build on. Similar construction, except vinyl and cultured stone instead of Hardee and cultured stone. Anyway, we bought that place for $70/ft2 (including the property).

As you can see, in the Southeastern US, rural prices are much lower than other areas (except maybe some parts of Texas which are also very reasonable). This is probably why M7 and others on here are so shocked about prices in Canada, NE US, California, etc.

 

[MotorSeven]

$70Hr??? I have 2 college degrees and run an multi million dollar timber harvesting program for a government agency (one of those evil overpayed gov employees) and i dont make but half that!!! Maybe i out to consider moving north and taking up a trade? Im still young enough at 30?

No kidding Clem...hmmm, let me think a min. This $600K 2,000 sq ft house..I wonder how much is labor and how much is materials. Just a WAG, but say $200K in material? So, I figure a good crew of 4 guys should be able to build the whole house in 6 months....or about 120 8hr days...right? 960 hrs total means these guys are making $100 an hr. Most likely one is making over $200 an hr, while the other three are getting a lot less.......not a bad living ...{eh}?

 

[clemsonfor]

Mo7, yea a lot of this dont add up?I know property is more up there and materials should be close to the same price unless your super remote. Wadges higher as the heating in the winter can get pricy, but someone who is a "good" carpenter working for an excellent contractor say of Eddie W. caliber making $120k???? That would still mean these "excellent contractors building 2000-4000sqft semi custom homes are easily making $500-750k a year, thats just to much in my opinion. Now if your a large builder building 15 semicustom or custom homes i can see that amount of money but a basic builder building 2-3 houses a year making $500k a year and "help" making $100+k a year just does not add up in my opinion.

 

[dfkrug]

View attachment 273871
Wasn't planning on using the ARXX but was curious of the costs compared against
renting forms. Any building above 600 sq/ft require footings in my county.

That implies you want to use the ARXX ICFs for just the stem walls, instead of all the
way up. ICFs save money over conventionally poured walls in that no labor for
stripping steel or wood forms is required. You also get a better wall.

There are ICF specialist sub-contractors out there who can assemble a one-story
building in a day or 2, and pour the next. Very competitive, esp in Canada where
ICFs are more accepted than in the US, and MUCH more accepted than here in
California.

 

[Mike476]

I am seeing ICF homes more and more often in my area actually. I hadn't considered them as an option, never having researched them I thought they would be cost prohibitive.
Yes, I plan to frame in with lumber I've already milled for the job, my initial call for the quote was for the footings / four foot frost wall, when he asked if I wanted him to provide a second quote (free of charge) using the ICF I said sure, has me thinking now about using it for the garage I want to build once the stables are up.

 

[300UGUY]

Mo7, yea a lot of this dont add up?I know property is more up there and materials should be close to the same price unless your super remote. Wadges higher as the heating in the winter can get pricy, but someone who is a "good" carpenter working for an excellent contractor say of Eddie W. caliber making $120k???? That would still mean these "excellent contractors building 2000-4000sqft semi custom homes are easily making $500-750k a year, thats just to much in my opinion. Now if your a large builder building 15 semicustom or custom homes i can see that amount of money but a basic builder building 2-3 houses a year making $500k a year and "help" making $100+k a year just does not add up in my opinion.

They have a entirely different labor market. Canada hasn't had 40 or 50 years of illegal immigration to keep wages down. We are closer to the 3rd world than they are, both geographically, and economically.

I just looked it up, the lowest minimum wage in Canada is 9.40 per hour. And because of the economy there, very few folks are at minimum wage. Some provinces are over $11. And they are talking about going to $12. A carpenter in Calgary averages 38.63 per hour. I'd guess a guy who is above average would be making in the mid $40's? With ot, these guys can get to 100K. Way different than Michigan.