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My husband and I recently bought a lot in N. Raleigh (3+ acres) and are researching custom home builders. The property is not in a subdivision; there are no restrictions on what we can build. We hired a local architect to draw plans and have a pretty solid base plan completed at this point. We're right around 3500 sf for a two-story home. We're also planning to do a basement (lot is suitable). It is a craftsman style home.
We're seeking recommendations for builders with a ballpark idea of costs, assuming moderate finishes. Homes we have seen (comparable recent sales and some currently in this year's Parade) with finishes we're looking for (hardwood, nice trim/crown, granite/quartz counters) seem to be in the range of $105-$125/sf, excluding land costs.
We've got a short list based on recommendations from our architect, some friends, and what we've seen and liked in the Parade. Would love any suggestions (or cautionary tales) from this group and would love to hear from anyone who recently built (who your builder was/rough costs, how was your experience). When trying to search this topic on these forums, it seemed rare to find builders mentioned by name, so feel free to send a message if you prefer.
..... Would love any suggestions (or cautionary tales) from this group and would love to hear from anyone who recently built (who your builder was/rough costs, how was your experience). When trying to search this topic on these forums, it seemed rare to find builders mentioned by name, so feel free to send a message if you prefer.
Please view the postings in the thread about the Parade of Homes. Funky Chicken has some specific recommendations.
IMHO you will never get a 3500 sq. ft.house built for the price you mentioned. You should be looking at a minimum of $200.
$200 seems an awfully high starting point. We've got a spreadsheet of 30 homes in this year's Parade by various builders... all under $170 (most easily under $150)/sf, excluding land cost. That's just a sample I pulled based on a max price of $800k total and considering locations/home size/certain builders. I understand that there will be trade-offs in finishes between a home at $130/sf and one at $200+/sf.
We also have to consider NOT overbuilding for the area where the home will be. Two recent new builds of comparable size by Imperial Homes clock in around $135/sf excluding land. So it's a matter of practicality as well. While we want a well-built home, our tastes are not extravagant.
$110 per sq.ft. for a custom home without land may be doable, but it will be a challenge. Be careful of builders low-balling you on the cost of items, like lights, fixtures, etc. It is really easy to give you a low price but not provide sufficient money to cover the items you will want/need, and you definitely don't want to be replacing them 4-5 years down the road.
$110 per sq.ft. for a custom home without land may be doable, but it will be a challenge. Be careful of builders low-balling you on the cost of items, like lights, fixtures, etc. It is really easy to give you a low price but not provide sufficient money to cover the items you will want/need, and you definitely don't want to be replacing them 4-5 years down the road.
How true, how true. Especially the ubiquitous fiberglass tub shower combo, the Home Depot toilets, the plastic doors throughout, the cheap ovens and cooktops, the really low quality carpet, light fixtures, outlets, and etc.
You really think you are going to get a concrete driveway, quality landscaping, a conditioned crawl space, a screened in porch, etc.
For the record, $110 isn't our goal... but neither is $200. The lot is large and wooded and that's why we bought it; we don't plan to clear any more than the minimum space needed to build. Hoping to minimize lawn space. I'm an avid gardener, I can handle much of the planting by adding things gradually (we'd like to live there a long time). I'd honestly rather do that than have horribly placed, bulk-purchased hollies and boxwoods, etc. The driveway has to be quite long due to the proposed septic and well layout and in order to catch the slope we need, so we've planned a gravel drive with a concrete pad outside the garage. Not planning a screened porch. But you both make great points and I definitely appreciate the input/reality checks. Thanks guys.
$200 seems an awfully high starting point. We've got a spreadsheet of 30 homes in this year's Parade by various builders... all under $170 (most easily under $150)/sf, excluding land cost. That's just a sample I pulled based on a max price of $800k total and considering locations/home size/certain builders. I understand that there will be trade-offs in finishes between a home at $130/sf and one at $200+/sf.
We also have to consider NOT overbuilding for the area where the home will be. Two recent new builds of comparable size by Imperial Homes clock in around $135/sf excluding land. So it's a matter of practicality as well. While we want a well-built home, our tastes are not extravagant.
Great point about not overbuilding. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. At some point in time you (or your heirs) will be selling.
We are currently building on a 10 acre lot. We are using Stanton Homes and the price per sf is around $135-140 for the home without the land. We do keep adding things, so it does keep going up. We have some extra site prep cost because we have a flag lot with a long driveway (about 900 feet). We are spec'ed for a gravel driveway with a concrete pad at the garage, like you said. However, just with visiting the house during the build the gravel driveway is already becoming annoying and we are considering paving it now instead. But anyway, we had a lot of extra site costs because of the long driveway and the clearing required to just get to the home site. Things are going well for us, though I will admit that the finish date keeps getting pushed back, but I hear that is very common. If you bring them your floorplan they will give you an estimate for building it. We started with a Frank Betz plan online and then had them modify it pretty substantially. We have added a good bit after the contract, and the plumbing and lighting allowances were definitely not enough for what we ended up choosing in those categories, so I would recommend adding to those allowances up front.
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