E. Tennessee building costs

[jguillot]

Originally Posted by BRAGOSTA

It seems as if some folks on this thread are speaking about flat building costs outside of land, excavation, wells, septic etc. and others are talking about finished cost including all of those items. I'm also interested in this topic and the same general area as the OP and would like clarification from those who would kindly continue to post here. The thought of paying nearly $200 a square foot for construction is utterly ridiculous to me and I hope that someone's signals are crossed.

Oh, nevermind. I see now that this is a very old thread that's recently been reborn.

In May of 2015, I asked 3 home building contractors in the Cookeville/Crossville area for a rough quote on the home I plan to build. I provided each with a copy of the floor plan. Out of the 3 contractors, one never did provide a quote, a second one did not provide a quote either, but he told me the going rate at that time was $100 per square foot. The third contractor did provide a quote and when I computed the cost per square feet of heated living space, it was approximately $85.00 per square foot. We will be building our retirement home in the Cumberland Cove development just outside of Monterey, TN. I hope this helps.

[BRAGOSTA]

It does help, thanks very much. $85-100 per square foot seems much more reasonable than the costs that some folks were posting, though as I suggested, I think some were considering their finished cost including land, improvements, etc.. It's also slightly more reasonable than my area up north, where I'd expect to get bids in the $100-120 range per square foot for a new home.

[Stone1]

My wife and I are about 2/3s of the way done with our new home just off I-75 near Cleveland TN; without the lot and clearing, we are going to be at about $133. per sq. ft. Some of the things we are doing has likely bumped the price up towards what we consider the high end. We did a full walkout basement with Superior Walls & 9 ft. ceilings. If it was finished off there would be about 1500 more sq. ft. of good living space. This would not include the mechanical room or storage room.

Our main level comes out at about 2100 sq. ft. with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, main floor laundry, 9ft ceilings and vaulted in the common areas, a large sun room with covered decks off both sides of the sun room. The master has dual sinks and a tile walk in shower and there is a door out to the smaller covered deck. There is a larger covered front porch and a 3 car garage, we are also doing the nice interior finish, like crown moldings, hardwood and tile floors and a direct vent fireplace which is designed to heat not just look nice.

When we started building we had hoped the worst would be $125. per sq. ft. but we are going over it. If we were to build again I think we would look more into doing a "turn key" built home as I think we could have saved a little. Hope this helps if anyone is still watching the thread.

[jguillot]

Originally Posted by Stone1

My wife and I are about 2/3s of the way done with our new home just off I-75 near Cleveland TN; without the lot and clearing, we are going to be at about $133. per sq. ft. Some of the things we are doing has likely bumped the price up towards what we consider the high end. We did a full walkout basement with Superior Walls & 9 ft. ceilings. If it was finished off there would be about 1500 more sq. ft. of good living space. This would not include the mechanical room or storage room.

Our main level comes out at about 2100 sq. ft. with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, main floor laundry, 9ft ceilings and vaulted in the common areas, a large sun room with covered decks off both sides of the sun room. The master has dual sinks and a tile walk in shower and there is a door out to the smaller covered deck. There is a larger covered front porch and a 3 car garage, we are also doing the nice interior finish, like crown moldings, hardwood and tile floors and a direct vent fireplace which is designed to heat not just look nice.

When we started building we had hoped the worst would be $125. per sq. ft. but we are going over it. If we were to build again I think we would look more into doing a "turn key" built home as I think we could have saved a little. Hope this helps if anyone is still watching the thread.

It sounds like a beautiful home. What is great about having your own plan built is that it is not someone else's plan that you have to live with. We've designed our own plan as well.

[Jakenjo]

Hi Stone1,

We are looking at a very similar project as you are about 25 miles west of Chattanooga. I went to a pretty detailed estimating website a while ago and plugged in our parameters which are similar to yours. Came up with around 130psf finished cost so your numbers sound about right to us.

We will also have a walkout finished with a rec room, 2 bedrooms and jack and jill bath. What are "Superior Walls" BTW?

Good luck wrapping up your project.

[Stone1]

Jakenjo, The Superior Walls, in our case, were used for the basement walls. They are pre-made to fit your home. Hopefully I say this correct, they are poured cement walls which have studs and foam framed in them. The cement is poured at 5000 psi or above so it is totally water proof and the R value in the wall is about R13 so you don't need to frame the inside of your basement in wood and then insulate. If you google Superior walls of East Tennessee you should find the web site and there are videos to look at on youtube. They supposedly cost a little more than other basements but based on our experience I think the cost came in very close to any other basement walls. I attached some photos of the front and back of ours.

[Whiskey Tango]

Excellent information on the Superior walls. I will retain that information for when we are ready to start the building process.