House build

[carloco]

I was wondering if some one has an idea how much would it cost to build a small house.  A builder gave me a rough estimate of $180 per square.  that sounds way to high for me. 
I found a person that sells SIP (set in Place structural panels) (these are in essence two pieces of plywood with foam in the middle)  house kits for $30000.  Those do not include drawings for electricity, plumbing, and HVAC.  Just the walls the and the roof.   I would have to build a foundation, side it and roof it.
There is a small piece of land with water, sewer, gas, and electricity at the street for $20000. 
My hope is to be able to build a super efficient house of ~1000 sqft.   

Any ideas and suggestions?

 

[Spork]

The cost per sqft seems to vary a lot by region.  It's also going to vary TONS by your plan. 

In general:
* the more corners you have, the more expensive. 
* the more complicated your roof line, the more expensive
* 2 story is less expensive per sqft than 1 story because you get more sqft living area per sqft of roofing/foundation.  It can also make plumbing/wiring runs shorter.

Decide on a plan.  Get several builders to bid on it.  This will both give you a feel for the builders personal style and will give you confidence when you get 3-4 bids that are approximately the same price.  Outliers that are way high or way low are probably not what you're looking for.

We built ours for about $100/sqft -- and I think (in retrospect) our plan was way too complicated.  We didn't really skimp on materials, but we also didn't spend like we were printing money ourselves.  I really wanted to do something similar to you: get them to put up a shell and then I would finish it entirely.  My wife shuddered at the idea.  For the sake of our marriage, I let the builder contract everything except for the jobs I thought I could do in a timely manner.  We also started with only the bottom story of a 2 story house finished -- leaving the upstairs entirely unfinished. 

What I ended up doing was:
* all trim work/closet build out
* interior paint
* tile work
* appliance restoration (our kitchen centerpiece is an antique stove)
* wood flooring
* some drywall (bonus room expansion)
* some electrical/plumbing fixture finish work
* fancy wood ceiling in one room

The builder was really awesome and worked around my slow pace.  He estimated that I added about 3 months to the total build time (not including the upstairs).

I can't comment on SIPs -- though I know what you're talking about.  It is a bit of a foreign material for me and having never worked with it, I'd probably want a GC that knew what he/she was doing to make sure the foundation and electric/plumbing plans were in order.  For example, you don't want to pour a slab, then decide on where the plumbing is.

[bacchi]

We're at $180 per square in a hot market and we're doing most of the finish out ourselves and getting materials from the local ReStore. It's also a smaller house, which increases the cost per. For example, a $600 fridge is an extra $1 per for a 600 foot space but only $0.50 per for a 1200 foot space. City fees are $1200 regardless, as is foundation engineering for $1500 (to a limit). Etc.

[dess1313]

are you wanting to build it yourself, or hire someone to do most of the work?

some places here build a house off site and move it onto a foundation for your chosen location.  they can build it cheaper as its all done at one communal work site and you can choose one of many plans usually, as well as request alterations.  they can do all the work, or do the major construction and leave finishing to you.  just depends on your preferences.  there is usually one or two of each model to walk through and see the layout in person

and the simpler your build, the simpler your roof line the better.  having lots of jutting corners and gables and such makes it harder to do, and more complicated to shingle, as well easier to have leaky places

make sure you get as much insulation in the walls as possible.  you can get layers of insulation under your siding, as well as insulation around the outside of your foundation and UNDER your foundation.  it makes a huge difference if you live in a cool/cold climate

[carloco]

here is link to their site,
http://www.greencabinkits.com/

the dogtrot has a very flat simple roof and the house is a rectangle....

[paddedhat]

here is link to their site,
http://www.greencabinkits.com/

the dogtrot has a very flat simple roof and the house is a rectangle....

Keep in mind that this outfit is offering to sell a set of plans and a stack of SIPs panels for WALLS and ROOF only, for the prices they quote. To put this in perspective, framing material for a simple 1200 ft. single story stick built home, here in NE PA. including all lumber to build the floor, interior and exterior walls, and roof structure runs me roughly $8K.  I could easily build a similar building, as a dried in shell, with quality windows and doors, and a metal roof for that $32K number, including subcontracted labor. They are offering very little for a whole lot of cash. A significant percentage of the "kit home" and alternative building strategies offer similar costs, that almost always exceed standard stick home prices. It's not unusual to see a company offering to sell you a plan, and incomplete pile of material, and a dream, for way more than a fairly priced local builder would do the job for. My hard costs for a modest, but well built stick home, with me doing the mechanical systems, tile work and deck building, runs me in the $65 to $75 range, including on-site well and septic. Retail in this economically depressed region would be $95 to $110 ish.

[Spork]

For what it's worth: Paddedhat has some good points.  I loved the idea of doing it myself (but didn't want to divorce over it when I was still framing 4 years later).  A good builder will give you a cost breakdown of everything.  Ours went down to pennies.  We knew *exactly* what his take was and what his costs were.  He was extremely patient to work with us and let me tackle what I wanted to tackle.  I was prepared for all sorts of upcharges every time we stumbled on something that needed changing.  But it was actual costs -- and when it didn't actually take more material, the cost was $0.

Not every builder was willing to do that and, in fact, one builder stopped returning my calls 2 months into the design/bid process when I kept pushing for him to write his bid with me doing some of the sub work.  (He knew that's the bid I wanted up front and drug it out never giving me a price with me doing some of the work.)

[carloco]

Thanks, Spork and paddedhat.

Another expense are the The tap fees for water and sewer. For this county are 17000. ouch!

[Spork]

Thanks, Spork and paddedhat.

Another expense are the The tap fees for water and sewer. For this county are 17000. ouch!

Jeezus.  I forget the actual cost of our septic, but it was less than 1/10 that cost.

[paddedhat]

Thanks, Spork and paddedhat.

Another expense are the The tap fees for water and sewer. For this county are 17000. ouch!

Damn near exactly what I typically spend on a drilled well, and elevated sand mound style septic system. If I were to build in a community that offers water or sewage in these parts, they typically price tap fees at, or in excess of, what it cost to do the same thing on site. One of the joys of building. Somebody is always around the next corner ready to bend you over AND empty your wallet, while providing little in return.

 Don't even get me started on the privatization of a lot of these municipal services. In several regional communities here, the local governments got suckered into selling water systems to one particular national outfit. It was all puppies and rainbows until new construction slowed to a trickle since the contract called for mandatory tapping for all new homes in the entire municipality, and $14K tap fees. A buddy of mine was about to spend a huge chunk in a tired local community to rescue an abandoned school building, and turn it into roughly twenty apartments. The school was ALREADY supplied with municipal water. The water system was sold, and the new corporate water outfit reminded my buddy that he would need to pay $300K in tap fees before they would supply the building again. The deal died, and the building continued to rot.

[Syonyk]

1000 square feet?

Look at manufactured homes.

When I was house shopping, there was a 1200 sq ft double wide on sale for $50k - brand new, 2x6 exterior walls.  One with drywall & such (vs panel board) was $60k.

[Fishindude]

I'm presently building a very simple cabin.  Turn key costs including mechanical and electrical, sewer, water hook-ups, etc. is about $83 per square foot.
It's relatively unfinished compared to a house so I'd say in the midwest $100 per SF would be the very lowest end for a new house and $150 would probably be about average for mid-range, average quality new construction.

[carloco]

Thank for the suggestions. I may have to look for an old house instead.

[J Boogie]

A builder gave me a rough estimate of $180 per square.
I found a person that sells SIP (set in Place structural panels) (these are in essence two pieces of plywood with foam in the middle)  house kits for $30000.
 

I think $180/sq foot is probably realistic depending on how much of it you DIY.

I think SIP stands for Structurally Insulated Panel.  If I was building a new house, I'd go with SIPs.  Heat source would be solar hot water, provided I had good southern rooftop exposure.  No need to have a boiler/furnace but would need an HRV/ERV for circulation.

[kendallf]

These numbers reinforce that in our area, the market has not recovered from the crash, there is still an oversupply of houses, or both.  You can buy newer existing houses around here for ~$100 sqft, and I paid about $35/ sqft for the house I live in.  There is a huge swell of new builds starting though, so either prices will go up or the builders are resigned to that profit margin.

I am readying a house to go on the market, and I'd be very happy if it went for just over $100/sqft when it sells.  It is a brick house built in the 70s that will have all new roof, A/C, kitchen with granite countertops, new flooring, drywall refinished, etc..

[Fishindude]

I wouldn't go with SIP's.
A better, more economical solution to accomplish the same thing is to frame the home conventionally with stud walls and have an insulation contractor spray foam the stud cavities.  Attic can be very heavily insulated, quite economically with blown in or heavy fiberglass.

[J Boogie]

I wouldn't go with SIP's.
A better, more economical solution to accomplish the same thing is to frame the home conventionally with stud walls and have an insulation contractor spray foam the stud cavities.  Attic can be very heavily insulated, quite economically with blown in or heavy fiberglass.

How come you say it's better? 

I understand it's probably cheaper (might not be cheaper depending on how much the insulation contractor charges, but definitely cheaper if you DIY that part of it), and plumbing/mechanicals are probably quite a bit easier/cheaper to install in a stick built house.

However, SIPs are the clear winner of the insulation game.  There is no potential for thermal bridging like there is with studs.

No matter how well the foam in between the studs insulates, those studs will make up a significant part of your envelope and their R value is less than half that of foam.

[zolotiyeruki]

I wouldn't go with SIP's.
A better, more economical solution to accomplish the same thing is to frame the home conventionally with stud walls and have an insulation contractor spray foam the stud cavities.  Attic can be very heavily insulated, quite economically with blown in or heavy fiberglass.

How come you say it's better? 

I understand it's probably cheaper (might not be cheaper depending on how much the insulation contractor charges, but definitely cheaper if you DIY that part of it), and plumbing/mechanicals are probably quite a bit easier/cheaper to install in a stick built house.

However, SIPs are the clear winner of the insulation game.  There is no potential for thermal bridging like there is with studs.

No matter how well the foam in between the studs insulates, those studs will make up a significant part of your envelope and their R value is less than half that of foam.

I actually ran the calculations for our home, and the two biggest culprits for heat loss are 1) the attic, and 2) the windows.  Our exterior 2x6 walls with R-19 batts are a far less significant contributor, when you're looking at conduction losses, even with thermal bridging. Walls can, however, leak air, so you want to make sure you use a solution that seals the envelope of the building really well.  Both SIP and spray insulation will accomplish that, *and* insulate really well.

If you're really concerned about thermal bridging, you might also consider building a double wall, with the studs offset from each other.  Such an arrangement is typically used with (lots of) blown-in cellulose.

[bacchi]

If you're really concerned about thermal bridging, you might also consider building a double wall, with the studs offset from each other.  Such an arrangement is typically used with (lots of) blown-in cellulose.

Or use rigid foam external to the studs and sheathing.

[robartsd]

I think SIP stands for Structurally Insulated Panel.

Close - Structural Insulated Panel. The panel is designed to be used structurally and is also insulated - it is not insulated in a structural way. A primary advantage of SIPs is the efficient structural use of wood.

[Drifterrider]

I was wondering if some one has an idea how much would it cost to build a small house.  A builder gave me a rough estimate of $180 per square.  Any ideas and suggestions?

Have you considered a modular home?  They are built in sections, inside a building, then assembled on site.