How much to build a Craftsman-style bungalow in Austin? (mortgage, appliances)

[Aswyth]

I'll be calling builders, but I'd like to have some sense of where to start, cost-wise, on building a Craftsman-style, Arts and Crafts-type bungalow in central Austin, *excluding* land.

Ideally, I'd like a two-story house, with the bedrooms and two full baths. Room size can be quite small, and there's no need for a garage or carport. As with most of these places, I'd like a realistically usable front porch. No carpets - wood or bamboo or even that fake-but-realistic wood stuff for bathroom. No bathtubs, just spacious showers. Reasonable closet space. Nothing too cheap, but not totally top-of-the line, either. Lot is ready-to-build and level and accessible. Total square footage of the house would be 1600 square feet or so.

Does anyone have any estimates on cost-per-square foot? Any builders who specialize ithis sort of thing, or any recommendations?

Thanks a million, helpful answers will get invitations to the first party

[ITO]

Craftsman style?

A custom home in that style, I would budget $200+ a square foot.

This is a SWAG, but the builders are getting about half that, for cookie cutter houses, and you will have to go with a custom builder with something that is not cookie cutter.

Go to the home and garden show in mid August and talk to some of the builders, and tell them you need square foot prices for budget purposes. This should give you a clue where to start.

[achtungpv]

David Weekley has a central Austin build on your lot program with some Craftsman-esque plans to choose from. Houses run around $280K-400K without the land.

[centralaustinite]

I live in Craftman style home in central Austin -- built new in 2000. I know people! DM for more information. Land is usually the constraint, if land cost isn't an issue, then it can be done for less than $200 a sq foot (and that is green built and with some nice amenities.)

[ITO]

You probably could do it for less than $200/square foot, but I would still budget that in the City of Austin.

[buffettjr]

Between $150 - $200 per square foot is a reasonable estimate, depending on how luxurious you want the build out. If you're really going to be in central Austin, you need to budget around $200,000 - $250,000 for a 0.16 acre lot. And remember, if you're going to buy something existing and tear it down, you can't just do that with a standard mortgage because the existing house is collateral for the loan. You'd need to jump through some hoops.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by Aswyth

I'll be calling builders, but I'd like to have some sense of where to start, cost-wise, on building a Craftsman-style, Arts and Crafts-type bungalow in central Austin, *excluding* land.

Ideally, I'd like a two-story house, with the bedrooms and two full baths. Room size can be quite small, and there's no need for a garage or carport. As with most of these places, I'd like a realistically usable front porch. No carpets - wood or bamboo or even that fake-but-realistic wood stuff for bathroom. No bathtubs, just spacious showers. Reasonable closet space. Nothing too cheap, but not totally top-of-the line, either. Lot is ready-to-build and level and accessible. Total square footage of the house would be 1600 square feet or so.

Does anyone have any estimates on cost-per-square foot? Any builders who specialize ithis sort of thing, or any recommendations?

Thanks a million, helpful answers will get invitations to the first party

basic dry in building costs are like $40/sq ft. This is just to build a structure with outside walls, windows and a roof. Basic construction with finish out is going to be like a total of 80/sq ft. As you start to use better materials the cost goes up fast. A cheap sink might be $100 a nice sink might be $1000. A cheap faucet might be $100, a nice faucet might be $1000. There is an order of magnitude cost difference in most materials. Labor will probably be 2-3x between cheap people and the really good people.

You can think in terms of cost for the special rooms. So at 80/sq ft for rock bottom finish out, if you upgrade the kitchen to be really nice that might add about 20K for granite, sink upgrade, appliances, etc

so 1600 * 80 = 128K
wood/tile whole house = 16000
20k upgraded kitchen
7K each upgraded bathroom (3 = 21K)
Use of accent materials like columns beams etc 5K
exterior stone - 15K
metal roof - 15K
upgraded windows - 8K
upgraded ac (increased seer) 5K
upgraded solid core doors = 5K
Front porch - 10K

Comes out to be about 145/sq ft.

I think 150/sq ft actually results in pretty nice construction and finish out. The 200/sq ft I think is super premium construction, with touches like $100 door knobs and hinges. A stove that alone probably costs 8K etc.

[ScoPro]

Then you can count on annual property taxes of $8,000-$10,000.

[clarksvillemom]

I sent you a PM, but to get even more detailed advice and pricing, I'd call Marsh Vorspan. two guys who run a design build firm and specialize in "old" styles. they've done countless homes in the NE, and have been in Austin for quite a while. They've remodeled several craftmans, bungelows, etc. in central austin

[BentBow]

Wow how times have changed... but labor cost have not.

In 1988 I was building nice homes for $38- $45 a sq.ft.
$90,000 bought a nice 2000sq.ft. home here in Austin.

By the mid 90's half of Silicon Valley moved here and the same home was $200,000

Labor cost didn't change and are still at, or very near 1988 prices.

Only thing I can figure is land and lot cost have freak'n gone through the roof.
There was a day in the 1960-70's, you couldn't give land away, out by Lake Travis.