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Square peg gave you a good heads up. It's why I say you really need to do your homework when building. Get estimates for everything. Permits, site engineers, well, septic, clearing land, driveway, and utilities all can be very expensive even before you start the house.
We went underground with utilities, which I highly recommend, since you're less affected by trees and storms. We have a fire pond for insurance reasons. And don't be cheap on clearing your house site. It's way easier to take trees down or do earth forming before you build than after. We got lucky on septic as we didn't need a mound system, but that's not the norm these days. Our well was expensive as they had to go down 500 feet and we required an iron filter and particle filters as well. Our neighbor 100 yards away only had to go 100 feet, so you never know until they drill.
I don't mean to scare you or anyone from building. I just want you to be aware that it involves a lot of unknown expenses and you don't want to be on a super tight budget or you'll be stressed out to the max when you get hit with surprise costs.
Start a notebook as you do your research. Hit up builders and home centers and get pricing on things you want. The more you plan, the less stress involved.
Good luck!
Our well was expensive as they had to go down 500 feet and we required an iron filter and particle filters as well. Our neighbor 100 yards away only had to go 100 feet, so you never know until they drill.Good luck!
What was the ballpark price of your 500' well, if you can say?
It's been a while since we built so I'd have to ask. I know a few when out of business when building screeched to a halt around here.
I'd do a search in your area and ask around locally. We looked at a few underway and I was impressed with some. They couldn't do our house because of the size and some of the features. The best thing to do is to talk to actual customers and look at some of their builds. I know what to look for in construction , but if you don't, have a friend tag along that does.
Thx Joe. Huntington is on our list, as is Connor Homes (who I'm afraid will raise their prices now that they've been on This Old House!), Classic Home Vermont, Birdseye, and Vermont Vernacular. Among others! And there are some great architects out there too - Sheldon Pennoyer, for instance.
But I think that overall it's cheaper to work with a design-builder than an architect (and also more cash-flow friendly, as the architect will generally want their hefty fee early in the process, before you've lined up your construction loan).
I had 11 acres and subdivided it into 3 parcels. I gave my son 6 acres. I had to have the septic engineering done when I subdivided, so I paid for that, not in the $185,000. It cost somewhere around $2000 for the septic engineering. I built my own log house too. Although I foolishly cut all the trees myself and built it by hand. Don't try that. Anyway, the process of starting a house in Vermont goes like this...You walk out on the property and pick the spot you want your house to be. Flag the corners of imaginary house. Now assuming you have room, go round and pick a secondary or maybe even a third possible site and flag it. You need to now get in touch with a guy who has a backhoe, if there is no clear path trough the woods that a backhoe can get to your flags your going to have to rough clear a path for him, otherwise he will do it in short order for an extra fee. Now contact a state septic engineers near you , the state of Vermont has them on file. He needs to be there when the backhoe is there. Your going to have this backhoe dig some test holes for your septic. The engineer is going to be able to tell you immediately if the site is good, or not so good. If you hit ledge, or water and there is no usable septic site at your first choice, proceed to your second choice etc. You may find that the first site is usable but the engineer says it is going to be an expensive system, again go dig at the other locations and see how the soil is there. If you get a good spot you might have the backhoe guy just do a bit of exploratory digging where the house is planed. You can not really know whether a full foundation can go in, but if it is all ledge 1 ft down, he is going to find this immediately, You'll have to move the house site. Also pay close attention to the elevations. My house sits below where I had to put the septic. I have a pump that pumps the waste water up hill..try very hard not to do that.. This is the first step in doing anything with your land. You do not need to have the system engineered until your ready to roll, but at least you know what you have in terms of build-able spots and general septic costs. 30 years ago this cost me $300. Today? Maybe $1000? Yes, the $185,000 was very close to everything, as I said I paid for the septic engineering. He had one guy do the driveway, dig foundation, underground power, septic. This guy also did all the clearing and was given the wood in addition to his payment.
I think my son pays $5000 in property tax. Property tax in Vermont is income sensitive. If you make a lot of money you get killed, if you have a modest income your going to get a rebate. My tax is about $4500 but I get a rebate of about $2200 so it is reasonable. Insurance? I think he pays about $800 a year. I know I pay about $1200 but then I am getting screwed as they don't fancy insuring my place.
Oh and yes he did have to do all his own landscaping, grass and planting beds, lattice around porch.
One more thing, he had what was called a construction loan, they are hard to come by anymore. This is where the bank gives the land owner a line of credit to act as the contractor to build the house. They really hate doing that these days so you may find that challenging. When the construction loan is done, you have a specific time frame on this.... you then get the house appraised and roll over to a traditional mortgage.
Thank you so much for sharing Squarepeg, really excellent info.
Square peg gave you a good heads up. It's why I say you really need to do your homework when building. Get estimates for everything. Permits, site engineers, well, septic, clearing land, driveway, and utilities all can be very expensive even before you start the house.
We went underground with utilities, which I highly recommend, since you're less affected by trees and storms. We have a fire pond for insurance reasons. And don't be cheap on clearing your house site. It's way easier to take trees down or do earth forming before you build than after. We got lucky on septic as we didn't need a mound system, but that's not the norm these days. Our well was expensive as they had to go down 500 feet and we required an iron filter and particle filters as well. Our neighbor 100 yards away only had to go 100 feet, so you never know until they drill.
I don't mean to scare you or anyone from building. I just want you to be aware that it involves a lot of unknown expenses and you don't want to be on a super tight budget or you'll be stressed out to the max when you get hit with surprise costs.
Start a notebook as you do your research. Hit up builders and home centers and get pricing on things you want. The more you plan, the less stress involved.
Good luck!
Very good info harpoonalt along with your other posts. I'm taking very close notes. I would also be interested in the cost of your well.
This is 10 years ago now, but if memory serves, it was around $8000. Not including the the various filters.
Architects can be very expensive. Find a house plan online and order the blueprints. Our prints were $350 and it was money well spent, There are thousands online to choose from. I've yet to see our house plan anywhere. It actually made it to a stock photo company and we've seen our house in a few ads. One was lending tree. Kind of made all the work worthwhile.
I had 11 acres and subdivided it into 3 parcels. I gave my son 6 acres. I had to have the septic engineering done when I subdivided, so I paid for that, not in the $185,000. It cost somewhere around $2000 for the septic engineering. I built my own log house too. Although I foolishly cut all the trees myself and built it by hand. Don't try that. Anyway, the process of starting a house in Vermont goes like this...You walk out on the property and pick the spot you want your house to be. Flag the corners of imaginary house. Now assuming you have room, go round and pick a secondary or maybe even a third possible site and flag it. You need to now get in touch with a guy who has a backhoe, if there is no clear path trough the woods that a backhoe can get to your flags your going to have to rough clear a path for him, otherwise he will do it in short order for an extra fee. Now contact a state septic engineers near you , the state of Vermont has them on file. He needs to be there when the backhoe is there. Your going to have this backhoe dig some test holes for your septic. The engineer is going to be able to tell you immediately if the site is good, or not so good. If you hit ledge, or water and there is no usable septic site at your first choice, proceed to your second choice etc. You may find that the first site is usable but the engineer says it is going to be an expensive system, again go dig at the other locations and see how the soil is there. If you get a good spot you might have the backhoe guy just do a bit of exploratory digging where the house is planed. You can not really know whether a full foundation can go in, but if it is all ledge 1 ft down, he is going to find this immediately, You'll have to move the house site. Also pay close attention to the elevations. My house sits below where I had to put the septic. I have a pump that pumps the waste water up hill..try very hard not to do that.. This is the first step in doing anything with your land. You do not need to have the system engineered until your ready to roll, but at least you know what you have in terms of build-able spots and general septic costs. 30 years ago this cost me $300. Today? Maybe $1000? Yes, the $185,000 was very close to everything, as I said I paid for the septic engineering. He had one guy do the driveway, dig foundation, underground power, septic. This guy also did all the clearing and was given the wood in addition to his payment.
I think my son pays $5000 in property tax. Property tax in Vermont is income sensitive. If you make a lot of money you get killed, if you have a modest income your going to get a rebate. My tax is about $4500 but I get a rebate of about $2200 so it is reasonable. Insurance? I think he pays about $800 a year. I know I pay about $1200 but then I am getting screwed as they don't fancy insuring my place.
Oh and yes he did have to do all his own landscaping, grass and planting beds, lattice around porch.
One more thing, he had what was called a construction loan, they are hard to come by anymore. This is where the bank gives the land owner a line of credit to act as the contractor to build the house. They really hate doing that these days so you may find that challenging. When the construction loan is done, you have a specific time frame on this.... you then get the house appraised and roll over to a traditional mortgage.
I also know a guy in VT who built with a log home kit on some raw land with a knock out view 20 years ago and is still very happy with his place. He just wished he went a little bigger and got a loft. I've been in his place, it is very nice and rustic feel. I will have to give him a call. I don't know if he used Coventry, I think he might have.
In regards to the well cost. There are lots and lots of variables. As pointed out by previous poster you can't count on your well being the same depth as your neighbors. That being said I live behind a small development of homes and of those 20 homes around me almost all came in at 110 - 150 ft. When the well people came out they offered me a certain price per foot or you could buy the "guaranteed well" for a specific price. Now I can not recall exactly but the "guaranteed well" was something equivalent to 350 feet of cost. I really can't recall but I am thinking it might have been around $4,000 so if you gave them that much up front if they had to drill 1,000ft you would be way ahead, if less then 350ft you lost out, but it was piece of mind, you did know your cost upfront. In my case I bet on finding water about where everyone else did and that is exactly what happened came in at 130ft I think with the pump and everything it was about $2500 but that was quite some time ago.
I found Manosh to be $$$ , probably paying for their radio ads.
For the whole package Manosh quoted $8000 for 225 ft. In fairness the price per foot goes down the deeper it is because the pump and tank package is a fixed cost but :
Chevalier quoted $8255 for 400 ft.
VT well and pump quoted $6500 for 300 ft
Also thought Chevalier and VT Well and Pump were very friendly and not so much on Manosh.
Any driller should give you a quote for any depth so you can try to get all 400 ft quotes to line them up better for comparison.
The latter two are close in price but I think VT well and pump quoted more well casing . That includes the pump and pressure tank and I think electrical work or at least running from a junction box out to the well. Some will quote more well casing, some less. Some use Goulds pumps some use something else.
My builder said budget 8k and mine ended up being 8k so 8-10 seems like a good bet. I figure if you budget 10k you should be good. that would be a pretty bad scenario.
Also i understand some people drill 500 ft and still don't hit water, then they have to do some hydro fracking stuff that gets expensive. I could see the "guaranteed well " package paying off there. That seems like good peace of mind.
Last edited by joe moving; 08-28-2016 at 12:43 PM..
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