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Old 10-05-2015, 07:55 AM
 
3,972 posts, read 12,608,507 times
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I am not sure where you would find a buildable lot, not in a new subdivision, in Roswell. And most subdivisions have limited builders from whom you can choose, as well as designs, floorplans etc.

If you could afford to buy a home and tear it down and build new, that might work. But, I have heard that Roswell makes that hard to do through zoning and tree ordinances. (plus your price point isn't likely to work for a tear down, rebuild.)
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Old 10-05-2015, 04:23 PM
 
2,613 posts, read 4,120,610 times
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The difficulty is the cost of the land. A 1/3 acre lot may cost you. Try to find a teardown foreclosure in Roswell and go from there. Foreclosures exist. Also look for houses sold as part of an estate and tear down and re-build.

You could also try a school district further out where land is cheaper that is a good school district. Maybe Forsyth or Oconee counties?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mj86 View Post
Thanks for the feedback.

$170-190/sf would definitely be out of our price range, especially if that does not include the land. I'm fine with renovating an existing mid century modern house, but my husband prefers a newer house. Most of the homes in good locations in Roswell have been there for a while. We definitely are not willing to sacrifice location, as that's the most important thing to me.

I don't understand how builders can build these giant monstrosities for cheap, but can't build a smaller, more modern and aesthetically pleasing house for $300k!

(See attachments for what I DO want vs. what I do NOT want).
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Old 10-05-2015, 05:24 PM
 
2,813 posts, read 2,099,268 times
Reputation: 6129
Quote:
Originally Posted by mj86 View Post
I don't understand how builders can build these giant monstrosities for cheap, but can't build a smaller, more modern and aesthetically pleasing house for $300k!

(See attachments for what I DO want vs. what I do NOT want).
Well, part of the problem is you're comparing apples and oranges. The brick house you posted isn't a new build--it was probably built in the 80s or early 90s. And it's not $300K. Houses in that neighborhood are in the $500s.

The other house you posted doesn't exist, but if it did, it would cost more than $300K, too. New houses close in just cost more than $300K. Regardless of style.

If you want "modern" style however, there are plenty around your price range. They're just older.

4977 Mcpherson Dr NE,
Roswell, GA 30075
4 beds · 4 baths · 2,676 sqft
$337,876
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Old 10-05-2015, 08:09 PM
 
4,120 posts, read 6,576,358 times
Reputation: 2289
Quote:
Originally Posted by mj86 View Post
Thanks for the feedback.

$170-190/sf would definitely be out of our price range, especially if that does not include the land. I'm fine with renovating an existing mid century modern house, but my husband prefers a newer house. Most of the homes in good locations in Roswell have been there for a while. We definitely are not willing to sacrifice location, as that's the most important thing to me.

I don't understand how builders can build these giant monstrosities for cheap, but can't build a smaller, more modern and aesthetically pleasing house for $300k!

(See attachments for what I DO want vs. what I do NOT want).
Before the crash someone who worked for both Ryland and Lennar homes told me they made between 40 to 45% profit on every home they build.

Have you ever heard the term builder grade? It's the cheapest of the cheapest material you can buy. They may not even sell certain builder grade materials at Home Depot that's how cheap it is. You want hardwood? You pay 2x the retail rate for it, want tile in the wet areas that's $15 a square foot for the cheap stuff. This is how they can build for under a $100 per foot. Also when they do a development the big builders pay cash, harvest the timber, strip mine the top soil and sell it, grade the land level, and then build over it. They take a risk doing this but build huge developments and crank out the homes.
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Old 10-05-2015, 08:41 PM
 
4,120 posts, read 6,576,358 times
Reputation: 2289
Quote:
Originally Posted by LovelySummer View Post
They are probably including the land. I put it separate, if you include the land then you are at $170 to 190...
I don't understand. I was told 170-190 just to renovate AFTER you purchase a tear down. Are you saying you have a builder that will build and provide the land at 170 per square foot? Please DM me. My interest would be land in Buckhead or Sandy Springs itp if that matters.[/quote]

Have you ever heard the saying location, location, location? Buckhead and Sandy Springs have much higher land costs than Gwinnet county does. Also how is the grade of the land?

I would get multiple bids from general contractors as a lot of the times they are going to be different. Have them break it down, you are also going to need to spend some time and find out what certain things cost. You can get hardwood installed for $2 to 3 dollars a foot if you pay cash, and you can buy some really high quality hardwood at lumber liquidators for under $6 a foot. But now a GC will throw a 30 to 40% up charge on that and charge $12 to $15 per square foot. Kitchens are also major money makers for them.

I don't build houses but have rental properties, this was my experience with the last bathroom I did, I still have one left to do in the unit but re-rented it before I got to it. I had two GC's give me an estimate for the bathroom, one was $5500 and the other was 7k. I knew i could do it cheaper and didn't have the money to spare and had the time to manage it. It took my 3 weeks which the GC's would have had done in less than 10 days.

Because I know what I am doing and had contacts to do some of the work I was able to do this. Here is my latest bathroom project I did in a rental. I knew a guy who had done work for me in the past that I had found on Craigslist, I paid him $300 for 2 days work to demo the bathroom and $125 to haul the material away. I knew he would be done quicker than 2 days and he was done in one 12 hour day, more than likely dumped the material in his own trash and kept the $125. I then paid a plumber who did it on the weekend $400 for the plumbing work, I had to reroute some copper pipes and clean some of the plumbing up. It took him about 4 hours and he also had to come back and finish up the fixtures after the tiling and furniture installation. I picked up all of the supplies that included the cement board, mirror, shower tub materials, tile, fixtures, toilet, and quick set myself and carried them into the unit. The cost on this was about $1,000. I installed the cement board in about 2 hours and prepped it. Next I found a guy on craigslist who did tile and paid him $800 to tile the entire bathroom, he was done in less than 2 days and did a good job. The bathroom only had a shower in it and tile guy did the shower with a tile floor, walls outside the shower up to 4 feet with white subway tile. I installed the toilet, the cabinet and sink, mirror, and hooked up the plumbing. All that was left was the shower door, I put in a seamless shower door as I want to flip this in a couple of years and want a high end look, It was $800 installed, ****s expensive. I was done.

So when you add it up I paid $3425 for a high end bathroom that looks like something out of house hunters but both quotes for the GC came out 2k to 3.5k higher, which is about 30 to 40% profit for the GC. Now something that every trade guy wants to hear is cash. I paid all of these guys cash, so I am pretty sure they didn't declare a dollar of it in taxes and they made out in the end. Most guys in trades will work for around $200 a 8 hour day in labor if you pay them cash, which comes out at around $25 per hour. I had to use a licensed plumber due to the permits with the inspections, I could have done the work myself as I have done plumbing work, my father and grandfather were both master plumbers and I had worked under them. This would have saved me $400 but I had to have a name on the permit, so I paid $100 an hour for the guys name.

Last edited by bellhead; 10-05-2015 at 08:50 PM..
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Old 10-06-2015, 07:39 AM
 
2,613 posts, read 4,120,610 times
Reputation: 1486
I think you confused my post for another poster's post because mine was jumbled in with his/hers due to
an issue with my post.

I was the person saying I had not heard of anything lower than 170-190 AFTER purchasing the teardown - the price of the land is already sunk. The 170-190 doesn't have anything to do with the land. It is the amount for the specific type of finishes that you see in the more upscale homes in Buckhead. it could be Gwinnett or Sandy Springs or Buckhead. That's what I was asking - is the poster able to find a builder that does these finishes for 150/square foot. The poster seems to be saying yes and I'm saying DM me the name of that builder.

I intend to get at least three quotes. Was taught that by Dad. Also, the reality is when renovating, it's hard to really know the full costs unless you have dang near the entire house speced out. Do you know of builders that will provide a not-to-exceed? My only focus in renovating is to be able to flip in two years with more than x amount of profit. I won't waste the time with it if I cannot make money off of it.

Your point about paying in cash is good but my question is...how else would someone pay a contractor? Don't they all get paid in cash?

I would need competitive bids for someone else to do the work. Taking time off from work costs me alot more than paying a GC generally. But your point about learning how much things cost is a very good point as well. This helps in the negotiations.



Quote:
Originally Posted by bellhead View Post
I don't understand. I was told 170-190 just to renovate AFTER you purchase a tear down. Are you saying you have a builder that will build and provide the land at 170 per square foot? Please DM me. My interest would be land in Buckhead or Sandy Springs itp if that matters.
Have you ever heard the saying location, location, location? Buckhead and Sandy Springs have much higher land costs than Gwinnet county does. Also how is the grade of the land?

I would get multiple bids from general contractors as a lot of the times they are going to be different. Have them break it down, you are also going to need to spend some time and find out what certain things cost. You can get hardwood installed for $2 to 3 dollars a foot if you pay cash, and you can buy some really high quality hardwood at lumber liquidators for under $6 a foot. But now a GC will throw a 30 to 40% up charge on that and charge $12 to $15 per square foot. Kitchens are also major money makers for them.

I don't build houses but have rental properties, this was my experience with the last bathroom I did, I still have one left to do in the unit but re-rented it before I got to it. I had two GC's give me an estimate for the bathroom, one was $5500 and the other was 7k. I knew i could do it cheaper and didn't have the money to spare and had the time to manage it. It took my 3 weeks which the GC's would have had done in less than 10 days.

Because I know what I am doing and had contacts to do some of the work I was able to do this. Here is my latest bathroom project I did in a rental. I knew a guy who had done work for me in the past that I had found on Craigslist, I paid him $300 for 2 days work to demo the bathroom and $125 to haul the material away. I knew he would be done quicker than 2 days and he was done in one 12 hour day, more than likely dumped the material in his own trash and kept the $125. I then paid a plumber who did it on the weekend $400 for the plumbing work, I had to reroute some copper pipes and clean some of the plumbing up. It took him about 4 hours and he also had to come back and finish up the fixtures after the tiling and furniture installation. I picked up all of the supplies that included the cement board, mirror, shower tub materials, tile, fixtures, toilet, and quick set myself and carried them into the unit. The cost on this was about $1,000. I installed the cement board in about 2 hours and prepped it. Next I found a guy on craigslist who did tile and paid him $800 to tile the entire bathroom, he was done in less than 2 days and did a good job. The bathroom only had a shower in it and tile guy did the shower with a tile floor, walls outside the shower up to 4 feet with white subway tile. I installed the toilet, the cabinet and sink, mirror, and hooked up the plumbing. All that was left was the shower door, I put in a seamless shower door as I want to flip this in a couple of years and want a high end look, It was $800 installed, ****s expensive. I was done.

So when you add it up I paid $3425 for a high end bathroom that looks like something out of house hunters but both quotes for the GC came out 2k to 3.5k higher, which is about 30 to 40% profit for the GC. Now something that every trade guy wants to hear is cash. I paid all of these guys cash, so I am pretty sure they didn't declare a dollar of it in taxes and they made out in the end. Most guys in trades will work for around $200 a 8 hour day in labor if you pay them cash, which comes out at around $25 per hour. I had to use a licensed plumber due to the permits with the inspections, I could have done the work myself as I have done plumbing work, my father and grandfather were both master plumbers and I had worked under them. This would have saved me $400 but I had to have a name on the permit, so I paid $100 an hour for the guys name.[/quote]
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Old 12-26-2015, 09:29 AM
 
2 posts, read 3,707 times
Reputation: 10
hi mj86, just read your message and wanted to see if you have been successful in your search. we are in a identical situation -looking to build 2000 sq ft. modern home in alpharetta/milton/johns creek due to good school district, have identified a builder that may be able to build a eco home in $115-125/sq ft range. but land is very expensive, please respond.
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Old 01-03-2016, 07:32 AM
 
5 posts, read 15,877 times
Reputation: 12
Quote:
Originally Posted by srivraman View Post
hi mj86, just read your message and wanted to see if you have been successful in your search. we are in a identical situation -looking to build 2000 sq ft. modern home in alpharetta/milton/johns creek due to good school district, have identified a builder that may be able to build a eco home in $115-125/sq ft range. but land is very expensive, please respond.
That's great! I've sent you a private message.
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Old 01-03-2016, 09:15 AM
 
2,289 posts, read 2,923,603 times
Reputation: 2286
I built homes in Atlanta for almost 20 years. I would be very leery of a builder who claims to be able to build you a custom home for $120/sqft plus land in N Fulton. Could it happen? Sure, but it's not likely. Ask to see a few houses that were built for that cost and talk to the homeowners.
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