Budget

[Shamrock76]

Hello all!  I've been lurking around these forums for a couple years now.  I've found the owner builder's projects to be very inspiring.  My wife and I have been dreaming for years of building our own place.  We are still in the planning and saving stages though and have been going back and forth for the last year on the dimensions.(wants vs. needs)  We plan on building next summer in Northern Michigan, somewhere south of Traverse City and will have a lot of help from family. We want to do as much as we can ourselves.  We want to be able to stand there when it's finished and say "We built this" not "We hired Bob to build this for us."  This will be our homestead, and eventually everything from the cabinets and counter tops to the doors and furniture will be handmade.  Our budget for the initial project will be $20,000 our only goal for the 1st year is making the cabin weather tight, but from that budget we'll need to put in a water source (preferably a well), tools (luckily my dad will be close by and he'll have a lot we can borrow.) Basic appliances (we're thinking salvaged RV appliances) Wood stove, very basic corner shower.  Sawdust bucket toilet for our Humanure composting.  The plumbing will just be a gray water system from the shower and kitchen sink.  We'll be off grid and over time we'll work our way up to solar panels and a windmill.  If we had our way we would go with the plans for the 20 x 30 1.5 story with a half loft.  If getting this cabin weather tight would exceed our budget, then we would go with a 16 x 24 with a half loft and add a 20x ? off the end (to form a T) later on down the road.  I need some advice here as to what our budget will afford us.  Thank you for your time.

[John_M]

Well....welcome to the forum!!

As with most budget questions, a lot will depend on you as the buyer/builder.  Are you going to find the cheapest used building materials on craigslist or are you going to Lowes or Home Depot and buying everything brand new?  There is a huge difference in price right there!

Other things to consider are:

1.  What is your foundation going to be?

2.  Do you need a driveway or site grading?

3.  Siding choices? Cedar, pine, vinyl, Hardieboard

4.  Roofing material? asphalt, metal

5.  Interior finishes (drywall vs T & G pine)

6.  What is the cost of the well?

7.  Do permits need to be purchased and do inspections need to be made?

All of these factors have a direct impact on the price of your structure.  I come from the mindset that I refuse to cut corners and will find a way to pay for it!  Maybe that's why it's taken me three years so far and I'm not finished?

Anyways......you have to decide how you want to build this structure and what compromises you are willing to make to stick to your budget.  Make a list of non-negotiables and then go from there?  

You definitely need to be organized and thrifty and you can save a lot of money that way!!  Good luck!!

[Shamrock76]

Thanks for the reply John, I agree with you about cutting corners.  I would rather have a 16x24 cabin build right than a 20x30 build half-assed.  As far as the foundation we are going to go with concrete piers (sonotubes) sunk 48". The driveway or site grading will be unknown, as we are still searching for the perfect property.  The siding will be either cedar or pine (but I don't mind if the outside says Typar until the following spring.)  We want to go with a metal roof.  For the interior we want T&G pine and wide plank flooring. Again we don't mind if it's plywood till the following spring.  We've heard estimates for wells in the area in the range of $3-5,000.  We'll be spending this year collecting as much as we can for building materials.  I know there are a lot of variables to this equation, I'm just hoping for some examples and people's personal experience with what they've done.  Would a 20 x 30 even be in the realm of possibility? Or do I just need to dig a hole in the ground and throw a tarp over it and hang my Home Sweet Home sign?

[MikeOnBike]

We will start a 20x32 1 1/2 story this year.  My initial budget shows about $10K to dry it in with concrete pier foundation, fiber cement siding and a metal roof.  That includes doors/windows but doesn't include any insulation but the floor.  No lights, plumbing, flooring, just a shell.  I'll know in about six months how accurate my spreadsheet is.

[OlJarhead]

If I'm honest our 14x24 has run a good $4500 (includes gas and food)

That's $2900 in materials to get us framed but without the roof sheeted and the call outs done
The rest is travel expenses back and forth.

[Squirl]

My estimates are 10K for the shell as are mikes. 

Do you have a truck/trailer/suv to haul materials or tools?

Does the $20,000 include the land purchase?  If so the estimate seems to low.  In my calculations, the cost in Materials between the 20x30 and the 16 x 24 is only a 2-3 thousand.  Many of the costs will be the ones fixed no matter what the size.  (Well, heat, bathroom, plumbing, appliances.) If inspections are required septic and electrical.

When purchasing the land, don't forget to budget in title insurance, a lawyer, and the first years taxes.

[Shamrock76]

Thank you very much for all your responses.  The land is not part of this budget, we have other funds devoted to that.  We'll be looking for about 20 acres or so and sharing it with my wife's brother and his family.  We'll be helping each other build, sharing the land cost and taxes, and starting a small permaculture farm together.

[poppy]

Sounds like a great project. 

I know it's family, but it's a good idea to have things in writing especially if you are sharing things like the well, major equipment like a tractor, etc.

There should be a provision for the case of one family backing away from the project, either in the short haul or long haul.

I love my brother and sisters, but I wouldn't want to share property with them. 

[Shamrock76]

LOL thanks Poppy, yeah we will actually be splitting the land legally a little bit down the road, or having a contract which states the land can never be sold to anyone else but the other person should one family pull out. We will be building on our own pieces and we will also each have our own well.  Between my own sister and my wife's 4 siblings, this is the only one we could do this with.  We are very like-minded, plus all our kids are about the same age, and it will be great for them to live near their cousins.  The farms will be separate for the most part. My chickens and goats will be mine and his will be his, though we've talked about the possibility of splitting the costs on new ventures to keep our losses small should it not work.  i.e. If we decide to raise Heritage Turkeys to see how they would sell come the Holiday season.  You can't always choose your neighbors, but in this case we can.  I'm sure the situation will come with it's own set of...interesting circumstances, but it's still better to have a neighbor you can really count on in times of need.  A long time ago, if you got sick or busted your leg you could count on help from your neighbors. That would be difficult to find nowadays.

[Beavers]

I'm building a 12x16 with 10' walls and a loft.  To get dried in I spent $8500 (not including the labor I paid to have the roof framing finished up on the dormers, roof sheeted, and shingled)

$8500 works out to $44 a square foot dried in so, for me to build a 20x30 it would of cost $26,562.
I used new materials on everything, but used cheap new stuff.  Cheapest double pane windows, door on clearance ect. the only high dollar stuff was $1200 on log siding that was on sale.  FYI- the foundation is poured concrete footers with wooden posts on top, nothing expensive.  

When I first read your post, I thought no problem you could easily dry in a 20x30 for 20k, after running the numbers, I'm not so sure.  

[OlJarhead]

I'm building a 12x16 with 10' walls and a loft.  To get dried in I spent $8500 (not including the labor I paid to have the roof framing finished up on the dormers, roof sheeted, and shingled)

$8500 works out to $44 a square foot dried in so, for me to build a 20x30 it would of cost $26,562.
I used new materials on everything, but used cheap new stuff.  Cheapest double pane windows, door on clearance ect. the only high dollar stuff was $1200 on log siding that was on sale.  FYI- the foundation is poured concrete footers with wooden posts on top, nothing expensive.  

When I first read your post, I thought no problem you could easily dry in a 20x30 for 20k, after running the numbers, I'm not so sure.  

Define dried in?  To me it's exterior only -- in which case my 14x24 should run around $7k not including travel and food (I live 4 hours away)...I'm using a post and pier foundation though.

[Beavers]

Dried in for me= exterior completely done.  That number also includes money I spent on renting a post hole auger for the piers, and an excavator to dig a trench for the water line. (about $400)

I've got all my stuff at Menards and have saved every last receipt.  I'm not really sure I could of built any cheaper unless I used recycled materials.  

Edited to add:  When I started this project I figured that 10k would complete it.  If I've learned anything it's that, everything costs twice as much, and takes twice as long to build as you planned.  

[OlJarhead]

Dried in for me= exterior completely done.  That number also includes money I spent on renting a post hole auger for the piers, and an excavator to dig a trench for the water line. (about $400)

I've got all my stuff at Menards and have saved every last receipt.  I'm not really sure I could of built any cheaper unless I used recycled materials.  

Edited to add:  When I started this project I figured that 10k would complete it.  If I've learned anything it's that, everything costs twice as much, and takes twice as long to build as you planned.  

Interesting...might be cost differences from here to there maybe?  Roofing for me (tin) will run about $1200-$1400 if I've done the math right and my memory is correct (14x24).  So far we've spent under $3k for materials but we still need to finish the shell too -- I've got 9 sheets of 7/16" OSB waiting for half the roof but need to buy 9 more sheets for the roof and a half dozen or so for the gabled end walls - this after ripping 10'x24' of sheeting off and destroying it becuase of impatience).

I still need to get windows ($1k-$1.2k) and door as well as siding but each time I calc siding I go back to T1-11 as the cheapest overall and even with batting will be less then $1k to side.

We've got everything else so drying in should be no more then $4k more then the roughly $3k we've spent.  Then it's wiring, insulation and interior walls, composting unit, solar power (we've already bought a wood stove) chimney and more...I figure we're going to be roughly $15K+ when done and that doesn't include porch/deck surrounding the cabin.

[Freeholdfarm]

We built a 20' X 22' garage, added onto the house (so really only three walls), with full foundation but mostly built by us (hired part of the excavation, and had the foundation poured but we did the work and the forms), and so far the total cost is around $5,000 for materials.  It's only a shell, not finished inside except for a few sheets of sheet rock that had to be put up before we could mount the garage door (which came with installation included in the price).  The floor is gravel.  So materials, purchased new, are expensive. 

Kathleen

[bayview]

   We built a garage on a concrete pad in 2004-05 . . . 22' X 24' with 2"x6" construction.  Built for 130 mph winds.  Hardi siding, 1/2 plywood throughout.  Architectural shingles.  Total expense was $9642.  Comparable construction at about $25,000 . . .  We saved about $15000 by doing it ourselves.

  I have found "roughing in" at about $20 per sq. ft. with conventional type construction.  And figure about an additional $20 per sq. ft. for completion.  We built a 16 X 20 "Mother-in-Law" type cabin for $41 per sq. ft.  You can read about its construction following the web page at the bottom of this post.

  In 2006 I installed electric service and 16' of base and wall cabinets.  That additional expense was about $1700.  

[Shamrock76]

Thanks guys!  I've been talking it over with the boss and we're going to go with the 20x30.  With our budget we'll make the cabin our 1st priority, and put off what we can't afford till the following spring.  Mama would rather have the bigger place and haul water till next spring than the smaller place with a well.  Who knows, maybe we'll be able to afford both.