Discussion about how building footprint and finishes affect project cost.

maxwell_mcgee posted in General Questions on GBA.com: The Cost of Construction is Pricing Me Out of a House

More of a lamentation than a question, I suppose…

We’ve been in the design and permitting stage of our dream home for the last ~2 years. With delays caused by our architect (they were busy), the city (COVID-related backlogs) and ourselves (we were busy at stretches through this process), this process has dragged out way longer than we’d hoped.

I’m in Toronto, Canada and in that time since we first started talking to our builder, our cost of construction estimates have risen from C$550/sq. ft to C$825/sq. ft. This is before accounting for any contingency for time/cost overruns. And the vast vast majority of that spend is on the structure and envelope, not the interiors. And I get it that it’s more expensive to construct in a big city like Toronto than in some of the smaller towns across Canada and the US. But it’s at the point now where the cost of construction is way above the market value of purchasing a completed custom home. So if you build a custom home today, you’re essentially destroying rather than creating value.

After all this time and effort in planning and all this time spent dreaming about what this home would be like for our family, it feels like we have to walk away from this project.

I’m gutted.

Is this happening everywhere? For the builders on this board, are you seeing clients walk away from projects due to affordability? Is there any world where you can imagine costs coming down in 2024?

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