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Year and a half owning beautiful 5 acres in Elmore county 3 miles from the redland school and all we’ve done is get a septic design. It’s a gorgeous lot 8 minutes from the grands but we still haven’t found a plan that we can afford to build. We want open floor plan with a 4/3 and I’d love a study for my hunting stuff. Enough porch to sit out and watch TV and deer and grill. I’d love to have a little more but 2600-2800 living is the max we can do. We don’t have land, lake place, or beach condo so we want to put a pool in to have something for grands to do. I did just join the hunting club that joins our land so that’s part of the dream that’s come true. Pretty much sucks right now trying to build. I get pissed off just thinking about it.

That's pre Covid prices . Mexican subs work cheap , but aren't free. I'd speculate she either doesn't know how to add or is untruthful.

How much are metal buildings?

She's probably both stupid and untruthful.

If the price is too good to be true...

Here's what happens when you select a contractor because their price was way lower than everyone else. You will either be left with an unfinished, shitty built house or a LOT of change orders you can't afford.

Then you end up in civil court.

Custom HVAC full system install with 16 SEER units...avg $4K a ton

When I built my house in Texas, we scaled down the house to a 3/2/2. Then I built a 24x30 (biggest one that could fit on the lot) metal shop using the savings from building a smaller house. We spent more family time in the shop than in the house. As far as septic, I would go back to the anaerobic septic system I had in Texas. The St Augustine grass loved that water.

Material Costs are down. But the residential contractor's price ain't.... go figure.

Get plans drawn up and 3 quotes to build... THEN call 84 and the other suppliers on some of the big numbers and confirm the prices are inline. These things cost what they cost they aren't random numbers someone pulls outa their arse to get to $200 sq.ft.

Offer 10% to the GC. If they don't take the job find one who will.

You'll be under $200sq ft. if you want to be but you are probably building $500 sq. ft. because you want this or that, custom cabinets, etc..... Moral of this story is that I see residential people get robbed daily. Concrete job is by the yard not random number = $35k or maybe $50k.... whatever someone wants to make up. It's got an actual price. What's the GC making on it? That's what most are missing here.

I just built 10,000 for around $70ft just the vertical obviously commercial.

YOU have to do this. You can't just get someone to just throw out a number because it WILL BE $200 sq ft. That's what "they" think they are owed. You don't "owe" then more than 10%.

A little louder for the people in the back!

if theres a way you can sub yourself, you can get way under $200 per sq ft. without land of course. i finished my house bout 10 months ago and i`m WAY under that. also, keep in mind some people say sq ft and theyre really talking foot print which is stupid but some do.

Dead nuts contractor's cost for what you are describing in south Baldwin or the panhandle is going to run between $155 and $175/SF heated and cooled (slab and vertical with 30' of concrete driveway/pad), depending on the plans. That's cost for B&B, vinyl soffits, solid surface counters, tile in the wet areas, LVP in the rest of the house, non-impact windows, shingled roof, single water tap and septic, RTA's on the cabinets, custom master bath with drop-in on the second, decent but limited trim, stainless appliances in the kitchen, and average L&P fixtures and hardware from Lowes or HD. This assumes pad is flat, semi-cleared and slab can be done mono with limited fill. SF number does not include the 200 yard driveway, landscaping, or any profit for the builder. This is simply what it will actually cost the builder to build what you are describing. There's not a licensed GC in south Baldwin that will even think about touching this project for 10%. Build time should be 5.5 to 7 months and total build "cost" will be $310-$350K (once again depends on your design and buildability) plus the builder's profit. 10%???? There's simply no builder around that will build your custom home with your custom plans for just $30-$35K in profit, general conditions and O/H. Do yourself a favor and dont even mention that 10% number to the builder if you are actually interested in a good, reputable GC, building you a quality built home.

100% Truth.

Builders HAVE to make good profit margins when market conditions allow it because when the music stops playing their profit margins go to zip.

where are you located?

I’ve built two houses. One in Tx and one in Al. I’m looking at land in Se Ga and SC. Wife says let’s build. I will never build another house. The house in Madison almost canceled our wedding.

I guess what gets me (and I’m a capitalist all the way) is that a lot of the materials costs have dropped a little but builders are still charging the client the difference like they were still up. I WANT my builder to make a profit. I just don’t want to pay for the addition to his lake house. The first builder we tried threw out a price that damn near threw me into a cardiac arrest. When my wife questioned him when she went to get our plans back (she used to be a home builder. Her and her ex built scores of homes around Montgomery so she knows her stuff) his response was “I charge what I want because people are paying it.” She just shakes her head and turns to leave and his parting shot was “Oh. And if y’all decide not to build, let me know. I’ll buy your land.”

So the A-hole prices us out of building our home and in the same breath offers to buy our lot. That flew all over her. It wasn’t so much about the price, it was his comment afterwards. He’s lucky my black belt degree holding wife didn’t give him a roundhouse kick to the jaw and knock his teeth down his throat. She don’t get riled up too often but I’ve never seen her that infuriated. She was still fuming that night.

It’s all good though. The Lord gave us the means to purchase that land outright so where He guides He provides. 🙏🏻ing for wisdom and guidance.

She’s been doing it awhile. About 20 years. Stained concrete floors though. Not LVP. Solid countertops. I’ve inspected a few of her houses for fortified and they seem to have good bones. She builds about 5-7 a year. Nothing huge and fancy but nice homes. Maybe she is lying I don’t know for sure. I don’t know why she would lie though.

Built one in 2020 at $110/sqft. That is me doing a ton of work myself. That same build and even me doing it myself would be right at $180/sqft. Basically, I would not be able to afford to to that again.

I’m building a 4/3 in Daphne with 2400sf for $308k. Mind you that is home only, not custom anything, but with a reputable builder. It’s a spec home we slightly modified (added garage and small porch).

Yeah, my son built in fall of 2019 , framed it in Sept. That was the cheapest framing lumber had been in about 10 years. I ran the job and most work was hired done . It's nothing real fancy , does have site finished hard wood, tile work , brick, good windows, 30 year shingles , nice trim . It came in at $101 sq ft counting drive way but not the cost of the lot. We finished it Spring of '20 when interest rates bottomed . He hit it lucky on the front end and back end. Couldn't touch it now in our area under $185 a ft now . The house next to him ( 2 years old) just sold for right at $200 a foot and it's not near as well appointed and well built as my son's. Your timing was perfect as well.

I finished up construction in December here in central Alabama. Total framing was 3896 Sq ft. 2300 living, 722 garage, and 874 porches on a slab. I sub contracted everything out myself, so I didn't use a GC. Took me a little longer, and learned a lot along the way. I was gifted the land from my grandmother, already had a road/driveway cut in. Luckily I had some friends/family cut me some pretty good deals. Also had some of the subs cut me a deal for paying in cash. Went nice in some areas, and cut where I could. Cabinet prices shocked me. Shelby County's inspection process is one of the toughest in the state, so I'm told, so that was fun. I was able to do mine for about $120/sq ft. Took a little over a year, and some long days and late nights on my part, but it was worth it to me. I did as much myself as I could. All the cleanup, most of the dirt work, fixtures, some painting, closet/pantry shelving, then of course going behind and fixing some small things that the county inspector found. Oh- and we welcomed our first born in the middle of this too.

My wife asked me recently if I would build another. I said yes without hesitation. It helps that I have some more free land, and we have over $350k in equity right now.

That’s the way to do it! I’m ready to build again and it ain’t been a year yet. Lots of weekends and late nights but I kinda enjoy it. My inspector was great. Easy to please and just a good guy to deal with. I gotta wait another 14 months so Uncle Sam doesn’t rip me a new arse hole but I been looking hard at a Barndo “style” house.