Can I get a cost estimate for my custom home and a bit of advice to make it more affordable?
Kidbooo
| Posted in Construction Techniques on
Hello everyone,
my wife and I are in the process of building our home in Houston TX. We currently own a lot and have a budget of 200k to build the house. We hired an architect who created these plans. but, when we approached a couple of builders, we got some crazy quotes ranging from 450k to 310k to build the house. This completely discouraged us and made us rethink our whole plan.
We decided to explore the option of buying a house and found similar houses at the 200k budget that we are aiming for. How are we able to find houses fully built with land at 200k yet we are getting quoted twice as much to do the same on a lot we already own? What would you estimate for the construction of this house? Do we just need to find more affordable builders or is the 310k to 450k a reasonable price for the plans? Also, what would you do to decrease the cost of the house?
Below are some of the things we are discussing with my architect to make the house more affordable:
(see the last picture for visualization):
Remove back entrance and porch
Remove the whole garage
Remove front porch
Remove office
decrease master room
Also: Is there a way I can be an owner builder instead of using a GC? My whole family is licensed in some form of trade and we want to build it ourselves but the bank requires a GC which will take a ~40k cut as their builder’s fee. I would rather save that 40k if I can.
Replies
If your family is talented, ask them this same question. What can we build for 200,000? Houston could still be busy recovering. How much would you lower your price if busy?
Economics and dreams often collide.
Best of luck
How hard is it to get a GC license in Texas? Maybe it's like LA used to be - all you needed to be a contractor was a pickup truck and a wheelbarrow.
If you want to reduce costs, do some value engineering. Do you really need 4500 SF? Do you really need a formal living room and a family room and a great room and a formal dining room?
Wife and I built our own home. Every nail, shovel full of dirt, etc. 100% diy.
No loans, we built as we had cash, main reason it took 2 years, cash flow.
My person rule of thumb, if you do not count your own labor as a cost AND you are very shopper conscious, use CL and surplus, your cost will be about 10% of hiring a GC.
In other words, if you have the skill, physical stamina and are not disabled, your can build your house for about twice what just the INTEREST on a loan would be.
I'll throw in a photo for DIY construction - built this ADU for under $10 square foot, and $3.50 of that was concrete, the flooring, and roof. For instance, the fancy window was a Lowes return originally priced $2200 I got for $190 after watchin them mark it down over a months time period.
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The kitchen cabinet upper and lower do not match, but all (including undercabinet uwave) were all 'free' from craigslist.
The bookcase under construction and counter below was all from old free pallets and shipping containers (did have to buy the formica countertop formica sheet)
attachments still not showing up!
tried to add using edit - the attachments show up under 'attachment' on the posting screen, hit update and ?
1st try adding pic with new system.
I was under the impression that there was no general contractor license requirement in Texas. Municipalities might have their own requirements. We are constructing our house using insurance money and savings on site of our Harvey flooded house (which we tore down). We set up a business to be able to get materials straight from wholesalers rather than head to Lowes for everything. Perhaps a trade family member could do this for you and be your GC on paper for the bank's purposes while you handle all the details? I will say though- I am GCing our build for the most part and it is an overwhelming 40 hr a week job. We are also doing a lot of the work ourselves. Worth it to save money, but be prepared for the time commitment.