custom home building cost

Custom = $1000+ per square foot, plus land costs.

Custom with no compromises = Let me see you bank account!

 

I'm a general & engineering contractor, a quality luxury custom is $1,000+/ft^2, possibly more (Potentially MUCH more, depending on appointments.) We are now working on subgrade for a 3000 ft^2 that is going to be in the $5mil range right now, and there's nothing particularily exotic in it, however all materials are quality.

Keep in mind the delta between land + const costs and a finished home includes the 3+ years that custom homebuilding can take, all the dust, stress, dealing with pain in the arse CGs , risk, constantly changing zoning and environmental restrictions, and rising permiting cost etc.

In Sonoma county, north of SF, it costs approximately $100k just to permit a new home! Absolutely inexcuseable!

Our liability insurance is over $25k every 6 months, and that's a great deal these days. (!) Attorneys in this state will rather sue you than pay you (we've luckily doged that bullet, but many colleauges have not.)

The cost of construction in CA is about to spike again, and hard. 2007/8 will see the CARB introduce emisions regulation for off-road construction equipment.

Only with no grandfather clauses like automobiles had.

Instead of having to replace your 10 year old $30k station wagon with a $50k sedan, contractors will have to replace their $250,000 bulldozers with $750,000 bulldozers. Portland cement and copper (up 700% in 3 years!) are at all time highs.

 

Don't get caught up in all the hype about the big $.

You can spend whatever you want, from $350 sq. ft. for a nice home to --- open your check book.

You really can't compair a $22M home in Atherton with the cost of a bare lot. Existing homes are normally in the prime locations where a vacant lot in a developed area ususally has some issues.

$1000+ a square foot is on the upper side of things unless you are planning on something way over the top.

Something that most people would consider really nice can be built for in the $500 sq. ft. range. (That's $2.5m for a 5000 sq. ft. house not counting the land.)

Now if you want an imported Italian hand made tile roof, then be ready.

 

I'd like to see how this breaks down. If costs real justify this sqft pricing I think it's nuts.

I really want to build my own house. I want to get on the bulldozer, pour the concrete, etc....

 

In Wisconsin, you can get a NICE home built for about $125 per square foot. Of course that includes the basement (unfinished) which gives you almost an extra 2000+ square feet (unfinished and not exposed) for free.

My buddy is building his golf-course home that is about 2500 sq feet with granite countertops for about $108 per square foot.

And there is NO way that the construction workers here are making more than in Wisconsin.

This is insanity.

 

Welcome to California.

 

Welcome to stupidity........

Builders are gouging if you pay this.

HOw much do you think the subs are paying their laborers?

 

if you can hack it in cali, you can hack it anywhere. deal with it.

--dan

 

Talk is easy!

If you can back that thought up, you can make a fortune for yourself.

So have at it, and let us know how you do!

 

if you are building for this cost you've got more $'s than sense; in this case you are looking to burn $. Retail sales prices and hard building costs are two distinctly different animals. A fantastic home can be built for $400-500 psf [hard building costs]- which would include high end marble counter-tops, mahogany cabinets, etc. Anyone getting charged more is being pushed by an out of control designer requiring ultra-high-end finishings that are meaningless to most.

The only way I can see this getting that out of hand is fabricating enormous exotic pools, tons of grading, importing 100 year old Italian roof tile and similar materials in the home finishings.

 

I would rather spend my hard-earned money buying $500 cars and racing them....

;-)

 

Same Chris with the black 430? if so I really would like to hear from both you and Anthony about the last couple projects/homes you guys have built... TIA!

 

Josh,

I just sent you a PM w/my email and contact info. Hope all is well.

Regards,

Chris

 

Welcome to California.

 

When did I post twice in this thread?? Weird.

 

If it were $1K per sq foot then nobody could make a living building and selling custom homes. My house is very nice and it's insured at $300/sq ft replacement cost with a land value of around $500K to $550K.

In speaking with builders around this area (and Monterey, CA is one of the prime/expensive places to live in the state), most builders will tell you that the average should comes in around $200 to $250/sq ft. If you want upscale, then figure $300 per sq foot.

If you need water falls and imported everything and super tricked out "it's gotta be exactly perfect because I'm a perfectionist" then $350 to $400 per sq foot. Even if your house is 10K sq ft, there are going to be plenty of common walls and that reduces cost. Anything much over $400-$450 psf is someone that doesn't know jack about building homes getting soaked by a dishonest builder/contractor.

Ray

 

SSSSSH!!! You gotta keep the image up!

--Dan

 

You should have no problem building a very nice home at $350 per sq foot. Of course, if you want to spend $500 or $1000 psf, there are plenty of people who will take your money I'm sure

Ray

 

Trying to compare costs of building in different municipalities, varying designs, materials, site differences, etc... by the square foot, is like comparing cars based on a price per pound.
Its silly!
Cheers,
Mark