Cost to build new house

[brian6715]

Hey guys, I am just curious if anyone here has built a new house in the country. I am looking for basic cost estimates, obviously a really rough ballpark type figure. My wife and I are trying to decide if we can afford to build on a lot in Rice County, or if it just isn't even in our budget at all. I have worked in the construction field for a long time, so I would like to roof, side, tile, and finish the basement myself. Has anyone here acted as the general contractor on their own house build? 

 

Do these ballpark numbers sound reasonable for a starting point? We would be building a really simple rambler with about 1200 sq ft on the main level and an attached two car garage.

 

Septic: 15,000 (mound system for sure, seems like that's all that the county allows now)

Well: 10,000 (average wells around here seem to be 100-300' deep)

Foundation: 8,000 (about 1,200 sq ft, block, lot has a slight slope to it) 

 

With the price of the property and the three main things mentioned above, I am wondering what the actual framing, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and permit fees would look like. We would be doing this on a budget, so nothing fancy, a basic forced air furnace and central air.

 

Anything you have knowledge of I would appreciate, like the cost of a furnace install or the cost to wire an average sized house (not these new starter mansions). Obviously I understand these numbers are ballpark figures and I have to take them with a grain of salt, but I just want to know if it's worth trying to build our dream house now or if it's not even possible with our current financial situation. We have a good amount of equity in our current home that would be used to get this ball rolling (sell our house, live with a relative while this happens).

 

 

[BoxMN]

Here's quick numbers from my '08 build (when the price of oil was very high, and that did affect my price up by several thousand $$ due to excavating cost, siding and roofing - also we hit more rock than expected and that added some to that cost).

1220' house, 2 BR and one bath on main floor, unfinished walkout basement with wirsbo in basement (not including the duel fuel electric boiler which I put in later for $2900), high eff gas furnace, central A/C, gas fireplace with fake fieldstone and cedar mantle, pine ceiling with moderate vault, laminate floor in most, but carpet in two bedrooms and vinyl in bathroom and mudroom, new septic (not mound), well (near lake so needed an added $600 pumper collection truck), Marvin Integrity windows (10 windows of various sizes and two patio doors), hickory kitchen custom cabinets (but not a lot of them) "good" .046 vinyl siding with a few gables having vinyl shake siding, 12x24 cedar deck with 12x12 of it under a gable end porch roof, some landscaping with the boulders that were dug up, and a decent amount of fill brought in, and a 28x28 with 10' walls attached garage, good/quiet chamberlain garage door opener installed , and a 40 step staircase to the lake, general contractor fee included. All new appliances as well, but I shopped and found deals on those, decent but not high end. Total cost for turn key ready was $175k. Add the boiler and it was $178k and change without me doing anything. Once we agreed on plans we didn't have any changes other than a 18'x8' insulated door instead of 16x8. It went very smooth for us and contractor, he was good and we didn't get in the way.

 

If you are interested in numbers that are that old, PM me and I can share specific costs and some pics. I am now finishing basement myself and it is turning out great. I built my own 28x36 garage, but I am not good enough or know enough to be contractor for a full house. I think his fee was $25,000, but only charged us $20,000 (included in the above cost) to help keep his 175k estimate accurate with actuals, plus we were good homeowners with no hassle to him  

 

Ha, those are some run on sentences   Good luck!

 

edit:

permit was 1150

excavation was 6500

septic was 7000

well was 5000 (I think it was 67')

drain tile was 650

 

Have more if you want, but can pm or email them.

Edited March 10, 2017 by BoxMN

[leech~~]

Well if it's just you and your wife? You could always go with the new lower cost fad for now. Small space homes!

[BoxMN]

Adding foundation.... wont let me edit anymore...

block foundation was 21,510

(original estimate was 16,000... it was a bit funky shaped footings and foundation as it wasn't plain old rectangle with added garage, and due to grade the east/lake side was mostly framed and east/north/south combo block framed)

drain tile was 650

 

Whoops sorry, you wanted other items here goes a few more:

plumbing 7900 (one full bath, one mudroom/laundry, one kitchen, stub in basement bath, two outside spigots only)

framing labor 12,000

heating cooling 9200

electric 9100

lumber 35,500 (we used "freespan" trusses, which made my current finishing of the basement a piece of cake!)

entry doors windows 6500

insulation 2300

waterproofing 800

landscaping 5500

fireplace and finish 3200

 

Anyway, not sure if I got screwed or got a deal, but everything was done very nicely and we have not had any problems since, and we are happy and Tim still has used our place as a reference for a few potential homeowner clients. Our goal was to build with quality but not high end, and make the most/best use of the space we could afford (hence only one bathroom on main floor, and now I put another in basement). Hope this helps some!

Edited March 10, 2017 by BoxMN

[Walleye Guy]

$150/square foot is a ballpark estimate that is frequently used.  The cost of the finishings will determine whether that number goes up or down.

[hoppe56307]

On 3/20/2017 at 4:25 PM, Walleye Guy said:

$150/square foot is a ballpark estimate that is frequently used.  The cost of the finishings will determine whether that number goes up or down.

 

When we built in central mn 3 yrs ago, our builder used $120.

We did a 4br 2.5 bath split level, cause the high water table, with car 3 car garage, I think the total was 179k, add another 20k for the finished lower level.

[Wanderer]

$120/sq ft is what I was quoted for a house with "medium" finishes in central MN as well.  

[terrywatkins]

I agree with leech.

[terrywatkins]

It depends that what are your requirements.

[DonnaSanders]

On 2017/03/11 at 3:56 AM, leech~~ said:

Well if it's just you and your wife? You could always go with the new lower cost fad for now. Small space homes!

Wow!!

Amazing house!!

I liked It.

[Big Dave2]

On 1/27/2018 at 4:34 AM, BradfordCampbell said:

 I agree with leech~~.

 

This is how you know a post is nothing but mumbo jumbo.......