Building a Home

Sam28 · 05-26-2006, 12:07 PM

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if someone could help me in coming up with a figure that it would cost me per square footage to build my own house. I have some plans that I am looking at that are approx. 1,580sq ft. this does not include a basement however I would like to include that in the plans. Do anyone know what the average square footage to build a house (going through a contractor in western PA). I have done some research and it looks like the figure I found was approx. $107 per square foot. I would like to see how much it would cost me if I did most of the work my self. I would probably hire someone to put in the foundation, put up the shell and maybe some minor work here and there. My father built his own house and can help me with a lot of the work (ex: drywall, electrical and so on). Does anyone know where I can find information on this? I want to see if I can afford this house I want to build. I am not including land right now in this calculation because this is something I want to have paid off before I build. Thank you for any assistance you can provide me.

THEBIGPUNN · 05-27-2006, 04:53 AM

money amount is complicated cause minor items can change a bid drastically. your best bet is to figure what you want in the house, walls, cabinetry, counters, siding and have it bid out by your supply yard for materials. find your subs and have them do complete bids based on your floor plans and expectations. from there you will know what you can afford and have a better cost amount. if your going to be your own general contractor and laboror itemize the costs and included your labor also, just in case you change your mind on a certain job. some say by just being your own general you save 20%.

robertcdf · 05-28-2006, 12:03 AM

Keep in mind that in most cases a GC will be on the jobsite on a daily basis keeping all the subs in line. Does your work afford you the oppurtunity to be on the jobsite 4-6+ hours per day. As well as being able to know if a sub is doing the job right (to code). Where I am from the GC is the one resposible to make sure that if something violates code they either get the sub back to fix it. OR they have to fix it themselves if the sub has skipped town or gone out of business. This is what you are paying a GC for.

747 · 05-28-2006, 12:10 AM

1580 square feet. I don't know where your located which means land values but where i live your looking at around 140,000. now if you want upgrades meaning granite in the kitchen ceramic tile in the bathrooms all that would raise the price. See the price of a new construction home is going to depend on how much the lot is going to cost. See a lot could cost 20,000 in one area and the same lot in another could be 80,000

747 · 05-28-2006, 12:12 AM

Building yourself. What can you do? you will need a foundation contractor than a framing contractor, Then a electrical contractor Plumbing contractor, roofing contractor. Basically if your going to build yourself you should sub out everything that requires inspection.

**joasis** · 05-28-2006, 08:16 AM

Since you are looking at a median price in your area of $107 a ft, You can assume the minimum to build if you did everything yourself would be $50. There is a lot of variance in prices across the country, but the breakdown appears to be the same. You should be able to hire a contractor to build to the level you want to take over from, and save yourself some big bucks.