My husband and I have been totally frustrated trying to find a home for over 2 years. We live in southern utah and the market is a mess. We are at the end of our rope renting and would really like to settle our family down. I search the mls everyday and have foreclosure list, but since I am very picky about schools and have a child with a disability I have found nothing in our price range.
My husband built a home in this area in 1997 for less the $50 a sq ft. He did almost all the work himself or with the help of family and friends, paid less then 5k for land, and since he was single he lived very cheap while building.
Now it is 11 years later. Can I build for $50 a sq ft?
I have found several lots in my dream schools area for my kids (my #1 prioirity) for 80k , and permits/impact fees are about 20k, so I am at 100k to start. All the lots around the good school have strict building requirements, min sq ft on each floor, exterior requirements, landscape requirments etc so I can’t always go with the least expensive options.
I have picked a 2 story 2500 sqaure ft plan + 300 sq ft bonus room over the garage. 1250 up 1250 down. It was the plan that would be accepted by the subdivision but seemed the least expensive to build. the house is a colonial rectangle, all plumbing in one area, no vaulted ceilings, no expensive trussess etc.
I decided to buy a materials list for the plan. My husband work can get him alot of materials at cost, The rest I got bids at HD and Lowes as well as a local lumber yard. The materials bids were much less then expected. Building is at a near halt in southern utah and the big box stores were willing great discounts in writing.
Now since there is not much building going on sub contractors are hungry. I have subs begging to give bids. labor is going for 60% off what it was a few years ago. I took 3 lowest bids from reputable subs in each contract and took the highest bid and when I get to the grand total for materials, lot, permits, labor I am coming up with 234k to build the home including finishing the bonus room, so it is very close to $50 a sq ft? I did include my husband who is a finish carpenter, installing the doors, trim, and roof but nothing else (even though he could do alot more work if necessary)
I am a little scared to startup a big stressful project because everyone says $100 a sq ft is average these days. If I have multiple low bids should I trust I can pull this off? I am not puting any fancy finshes inside the house except what I have been lucky for my husband to get at work.
A house this size in the neighborhood would sell 330k at foreclosure, and they are listed at 400kish if not bank owned. I can only afford 250kish so this would be the only way to get anything in this school area for our family.
I am very confident in the materials cost, it is the labor I am more concerned with. Because of my husband’s job I will have less then $1k total for all hardware, all doors (including garage, exterior interior) cabinets, baseboard , and molding. I have a 60 day quote from a big box store for all lumber, insulation, roof supplies, sheetrock, windows for 15k. Our concrete is from a family member who owns a a concrete business for 30 years, for 6k (includes slab, driveway, sidewalks, patio). I have all my applainces except stove ($600) already. I am fine with laminate floor and am not looking for fancy bathrooms. I have to have stucco exterior which 5-6k.
There are no handyman specials or foreclosures under 310k. 310k is the lowest sold house in this area in the last 120 days(almost every home is less then 4 years old). I also need a ceratin floor plan because of my child’s disability so remodeling anything could be very expensive.
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