Your Building Cost Estimates vs Actual Outcome?

[mountaingal]

howdy all~

I'm curious to know how successful you have been at estimating your building costs from what you originally thought.  That includes well drilling, septic, grading, the entire shell, etc.  I am most interested in home sizes that range from 1000-1200 sq. feet, done within the last 3 years or so.   If you did a pretty good job at pre-construction estimation, tell me how it was you did so.  The online estimators seem pretty crazy. I've talked to a local builder and he too give me a crazy high number like $100 per square foot.  I'm looking to build a bare bones, 4-cornered barn house with gambrel roof.  

Can you share what the sq. foot size of your home was and if it was basic (bare bones, no frilly extra's), middle grade, or high end (fancy non-necessities), if you included a basement, etc.  Please specify your town, and state too, and if you did the majority of the work yourself,  so that I can get an idea of variation in materials across the states.  I myself am in Western NC.  Either share the total amount you spent or how much per square foot of the house.  Thanks much.  Any advice will be much appreciated.  

(By the way, if you have posted your house in the Gallery, if there is anyway to post how much you spent on it and it's sq. footage in the main description in the gallery, please do so.)  

[glenn kangiser]

Average houses in California not owner built are running around 110 to 150 PSF if not owner built.  DIY could run half of that.

[n74tg]

I used building-cost.net.  While I am in the dry and 99% finished on the outside of my 1700 sf house and just beginning the interior construction, there is not a single area where I have gone over budget yet.  In fact, I estimate for the roughly $24k that I have spent, I am probably $5k to $6k under budget.  One area (excavation) my estimate equaled the actual cost.

Lots of pics in the blog, address below.

[mountaingal]

Thanks so much for the feedback fellas   

[Beavers]

I thought I had a really good estimate on what the house would cost.  I didn't use an online calculator, just a materials list and multiple trips to the lumber yard.  

Turns out I'm terrible with estimating, either that or I change plans too much as I go.  

For me the perfect formula has turned out to be...

Everything costs twice as much, and takes twice as long to build.  

[MikeT]

You have inspired me to take the four years (!) of receipts, cancelled checks, and visa bills and run it into a spreadsheet.  I kind of roughed at the beginning, but was hoping to come it at around $50,000.  I know I have gone through more than that and it has taken longer, but how much I do not know...

mt

[ScottA]

$50 a square ft here in NE Oklahoma. That's materials only.

[considerations]

"Everything costs twice as much, and takes twice as long to build."

Yes....but its because most of us don't know what we don't know. 

It looks like about $40 sqft for me so far, there is some hired labor in there, and I'm lacking plumbing, drywall, and exterior siding, and probably a plethora of items I didn't know I needed.  I'm building a 14 x 24 - 1.5 stories.

Hope this helps.

[Beavers]

"Everything costs twice as much, and takes twice as long to build."

Yes....but its because most of us don't know what we don't know. 

Yep, kind of hard to estimate a cost for stuff you don't know you need.    Learning this stuff as I go, I'm always discovering something else that I need to buy.   

[n74tg]

I think if you use one of the online budget calculators, it may show you some of the "what you don't know you need yet" items.

I've been very happy with the building-cost.net calculator, even though, at least for me, it seems to have overestimated costs in most every area. 

[cabinfever]

Somehow I was thinking that I was going to come in at $60,000 (including $26,000 for land). Looks like it's actually gonna be closer to $90k for 750 sq ft. In fairness, I didn't do it all myself - I paid 2,000 to have the land cleared and graded, 6,000 for a cement crawlspace, and 2,500 to have someone roof the place...

[mountaingal]

Thanks again   Talked to another local builder and he gave me $ 85 per square foot if I do it most all myself.  All these guys seem to be out of whack in comparison to all of your guys' feedback.  Maybe they just want to discourage me from building it on my own.  Within the next few weeks I will begin getting quotes for various materials.  It will be interesting to see what I come up with. 

[MikeT]

I would love to hear your thoughts on this:

Should I just simply go through my receipts and lump them into broad categories or should I go through line by line and assign each item a listing and a category?  In other words, is there any value in listing 14/2 wire @ X, junction boxes @ X, etc. and have that part of the electrical category.  OR should I just take the receipt, call it Electrical and put in a number. 

I guess the question really has to do with your thoughts of the cost (time) benefit of detailed listings....

mt

[MikeT]

FYI, I went ahead and decided to be more precise than general.  I am listing each item on a given receipt individually and then assigning it a general category.  That way, it will still give me general areas of spending but I will not have to decide what sub categories something should go in.

This is probably more detail than is necessary, but it is easier to follow and then I do not have to remember my logic...

mt

[n74tg]

If you keep your eyes open and remain flexible there are lots of ways to save money on building a house. 

Example:  I am a member of Freecycle (a Yahoo based recycling group).  One woman, actually a neighbor of mine remodeled her two bathrooms.  Then, one month later, had to have knee replacement surgery.  Long story short, she had to replace her new toilets with the "taller" models.  She put the one month old toilets up on Freecycle and I grabbed them.  So, I have two one month old toilets, essentially the same thing I would have paid $150 to $200 each for sitting in my garage waiting to be installed, net cost, the gas it took me to drive 1/2 mile up the road to pick them up (and I gained a new friend in the process).

Example2:  I didn't get this deal, but my neighbor did.  His church was doing some significant remodeling.  They had beautiful hard wood doors on all the classrooms in their education building.  They offerred them to him if he would just come remove them.  He did, took them home, sanded and restained, and has beautiful doors in his house now.  Our local building supply charges about $80 for their cheapest prehung units.  You wouldn't get nice doors like these for $80 apiece.  What did he save, I figure about $800 minimum (10 doors).

Example3:  My window units, double hung, double pane, low E, argon filled, energy star approved in all 50 states; brand new, still in the wrapper, $50 each.  They were even the color I wanted (well close enough).

Example 4:  Just yesterday I got 300 linear feet of 1.5" black ABS flexible pipe.  The guy had to have the submersible pump in his water well replaced and they wouldn't warranty the job unless he replaced the pipe too.  So up in went on Freecycle.  I will use it when I put in my lawn and garden watering piping. 

Example 5,6,7:  I have lots more, but they would just be overkill.

Folks, there are deals like this all over the place.  Just keep your eyes and ears open, and be willing to take the time to go get something when it is available.  Getting things for FREE can do a lot towards keeping a house within budget or making it nicer at no additional cost.

[bayview]

  We built a 320 sq ft cabin on a concrete pad.   We did all the work ourselves, except the concrete foundation and sheetrock for $41.00 per sq ft.   (Minus property, water, septic)    We did have some extra expenses of an acrylic bathtub and engineered flooring.   We saved some money by building our own cabinets.

  Building-cost.net was over on materials by about $3500.   We had a labor savings of $13,622 and equipment rental of $640.  Minus contractor mark-up.   An additional $25,000 for our detached garage.  

  The garage is just about right on . . .    We have a couple of bids, installed on our property for about the $25,000.   We built it for less than half with electrical and cabinets installed.

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