NEW HOUSE COSTS

It’s funny how things works. At times I think “man, we’ll make a killing when we finish this remodel and sell in 10 years”. Then, I think about buying something and try to reconcile in my mind how that will work.

I’d like to just build a shop home somewhere. The problem will be finding the somewhere that is semi affordable.
 
I looked into building a timber frame cabin on some property I own outside of Park City. Found a plan I liked online - very basic rectangle 32’w X 38’d. With a single, straight roofline. 1,200 sqft with 500 sqft loft and full, unfinished based that was 50% garage. A local timber frame company quoted me $400,000 just for the dry-in. That didn’t include any site work or finish work. Simply putting a dried-in structure on top of the foundation that I’d be responsible for doing.

I sent the same plans to a timber company in NH. They quoted me $280,000 for the exact same thing! What’s even more amazing is that the NH company was sourcing the Douglas fir from the Pacific Northwest, shipping it all the way across the country to their mill in WVa, cutting and joining the timbers and then shipping it all the way back to UT with a a crew to install who would be here for 2 weeks. Where as the local company was sourcing everything local and using local crews. Yet they were nearly 50% higher price.

Just goes to show the power of supply and demand. Lots of multi-million dollar mansions going up here, and I think they just didn’t want to deal with my little project. Due to an easement dispute, I’ve still not built anything on that lot. Likely never will.
 
I was going to build a post & beam home/shop. The costs of materials solved that. Even the kits tripled. Concrete might as well be diamonds,insane cost. Settled for a life free & clear, a singlewide I am covering,with porches.
I just swung a deal for a roofer to come out & stand trusses,lay sleepers & facia, and roof....for a LO elk tag. Happy & retired,but I have last posts to raise,beams to place & materials to collect.
 
Care to elaborate?

Depending on how you detail the framing at the top of the ICF wall. If you set the edge of the sill plate flush with the face of insulation, and then set bearing studs on that you will spilt that plate and then split the studs. They make a tapper top block that tappers the insulation down from the typical 2-1/2" to about 1/4" or so. That gives you more concrete surface to bear on.

If you are setting your floor joists on top of the wall its not as big of a deal as if you were putting studs directly on the plate. In this situation, where the joists run parallel to the wall, just add joist blocking along the length of the wall at aprox 32" o.c.
 

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You obviously haven't looked in Denver lol. A 2500 so ft home here will probably run you 750k. Good luck

i was gonna say, you might be able to find a 1/6 acre lot next to the interstate for 400k around here
 
The cost of building new is insane right now. My wife and I have discussed it on multiple occasions and it’s honestly not so much the price but the insane property taxes on a new home in Pennsylvania. A good friend of mine recently built a beautiful new house on a few acres and his taxes are just over $10k per year. I’m not sure about most people but I personally don’t want to be on the hook for 10,000+ in taxes the rest of my life. Once I can retire someday I don’t want a huge chunk of my fixed income going into my property tax.
 
I'm with Mt Muley. I had never figured the cost till now- $28/sq ft. Just self built over 30 years under the steady by jerks plan. What else have you got to do when you are snowed in for 8 months per year.
 
Here in extreme coastal NC we are pretty much all built 10 feet above grade on pilings. For the most part $200/SqFt Is a good base number, because we have so much covered porch/exterior living space on most builds, extreme building codes due to flood/wind and material cost ( even though lumber is the worst I’ve ever seen🤦‍♂️)
 
Glad I got my new build started before all this lumber shortage and costs. I got my structure up and under roof in early December last year, I've been doing most all the work myself. It' been a long haul working a full time job and this project, but move in is looking to be in the next couple weeks!!!
 
The cost of building new is insane right now. My wife and I have discussed it on multiple occasions and it’s honestly not so much the price but the insane property taxes on a new home in Pennsylvania. A good friend of mine recently built a beautiful new house on a few acres and his taxes are just over $10k per year. I’m not sure about most people but I personally don’t want to be on the hook for 10,000+ in taxes the rest of my life. Once I can retire someday I don’t want a huge chunk of my fixed income going into my property tax.

that is my wife & I's fear of building. day to day we live cheap so we can save up and buy good stuff, same would go for a house but nervous about being punished for saving our money to build a nice place for the town & state to think "you built something nice you must have money we must take your money" just give us a flat tax per acre and per square foot of finished and unfinished space
 
We looked at a place in PA, nice house 300ishK with about an acre. Taxes were 10k a year for a pretty poor school district and no local police coverage. No thanks.
 
We looked at a place in PA, nice house 300ishK with about an acre. Taxes were 10k a year for a pretty poor school district and no local police coverage. No thanks.
That’s pretty common in PA anymore if it’s a newer house and the school district taxes are insane. The taxes only keep going up so I don’t think the future for building here is too bright
 
The cost of building new is insane right now. My wife and I have discussed it on multiple occasions and it’s honestly not so much the price but the insane property taxes on a new home in Pennsylvania. A good friend of mine recently built a beautiful new house on a few acres and his taxes are just over $10k per year. I’m not sure about most people but I personally don’t want to be on the hook for 10,000+ in taxes the rest of my life. Once I can retire someday I don’t want a huge chunk of my fixed income going into my property tax.

Makes me thankful to live in a State where the first 75,000 of value of a homestead is exempt from taxation.

Homestead Exemption is also why you often see a house on a small lot surrounded by acreage that both belong to the same owner.

My little old house on .9 acres isn’t costing me a dime in taxes. If I ever have to have a reassessment that will change.
 
The cost of building new is insane right now. My wife and I have discussed it on multiple occasions and it’s honestly not so much the price but the insane property taxes on a new home in Pennsylvania. A good friend of mine recently built a beautiful new house on a few acres and his taxes are just over $10k per year. I’m not sure about most people but I personally don’t want to be on the hook for 10,000+ in taxes the rest of my life. Once I can retire someday I don’t want a huge chunk of my fixed income going into my property tax.
This is what I think of people who buy into this crazyness.

 
that is my wife & I's fear of building. day to day we live cheap so we can save up and buy good stuff, same would go for a house but nervous about being punished for saving our money to build a nice place for the town & state to think "you built something nice you must have money we must take your money" just give us a flat tax per acre and per square foot of finished and unfinished space

I just fought a battle over tax assessment and while I got it lower, it's still much higher than it should be. One house sold for a high price for the neighborhood and we got penalized. We bought low because of work required but they won't include our sale in the comps so the expensive house benefits from our sale and we are penalized by theirs. The other house is fully renovated and ours has no renovations. When we purchased, we looked at the other house and the potential value if we renovated over time but the assessor said renovations are irrelevant for county assessments. Bizarro world where actual real estate value is irrelevant to tax value.

And if you go to the county website, the assessed square foot value is all over the place for our street with us at the high end.
 
We just bought more property that is adjacent to our primary residence. Part of this deal was I agreed to an addition on the house. We spec ed out plans for 1200-1500 sqf addition.with 500spr being a master bedroom sweet, plus an additional half bath with a home office. Right now its looking like 150-180 $ a square foot.
 
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