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C4 Tstat question


spl147

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^Quick Q, is building a home in these times been OK for you? I was just telling my wife that I'm glad we finished construction before the end of last year rather than now because of businesses folding. I was thinking that now might be better for material costs...

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We started the project a few months before the market started to tumble and the economy went south. I am not sure we would have started with things so bad, but I am glad we are building. We own our own software company and so far we have been able to avoid any issues related to the economy. Go figure we sell to banks and financial institutions. It is kind of our reward for the last 20 years of hard work. We are doing a pretty large Control4 system as part of the build.

Over they years we have found that if you wait for the perfect time to do something like build a house, take that dream vacation, or have that third kid, you will spend your life waiting instead of enjoying.

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My wife and just closed on our new home construction 1 month ago and prices have only gone up since we purchased. To purchase the exact same home with the same upgrades as we have would now cost around 700-750k from the same builder as opposed to the 630k we paid (for 7300 sq ft!) and they have reduced the quality of the build for that price as well (little things like single hung windows instead of double hung etc).

I think the bottom of the market was around when we signed, sometime in the last 3-4 months of 2008. We signed in September and no other homes in our development sold from September until January. In February 3 sold, and March a few more. (There are only about 15 lots left as it is near the end of the neighborhood build out).

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^Wow, $86 a square? I built for about $380 a square foot. That was full-custom and in CA. I wouldn't do it again but therer are some days when I think I'm going to rip-out the automation and start over :)

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Yeah, $86 per square foot sounds like a killer deal...I wish we could build a nice place for that price here.

We ended up around $125 or so per square foot not including the building lot :yikes:!

I guess it all depends on where you live and what goes into the house. Too many variables to make a very good comparison here.

We contracted to build in November of 2006 when the market here was still pretty dang strong.

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We contacted july 2008. We are sitting around $220 a sq ft. The house sits on a lake so that inflated the price a little. We live in Nebraska so the cost here are pretty reasonable. We are getting a fantastic home with a substantial amount of detail for that amount. I sure hope I do not want to rip out my automation system when all done. What makes you think that?

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We got really lucky... the builder was sitting on a bunch of lots that had just opened up in a developed neighborhood and since the market was bad nothing was selling. They started an incentive program of 50% off all options, unlimited, in order to attract buyers. Unfortunately for them, we were the first people to take advantage of it... built their largest available floorplan in that neighborhood with $320k in upgrades which only cost us $160k... finished attic (800-900 sq ft with a bathroom, common room, and bedroom) for $5k, finished walk out basement (2000+ sq ft including theater room, wet bar, bedroom, and huge common area as well as about 1000 sq ft of unfinished space) for around $35k. Basically when we looked at the fact that the upgrades were all like $20/sq ft we couldnt say no. They didnt expect anyone to just go to town on upgrades since people werent even buying the base houses in that market.

Apparently the builder did a cost analysis and sent an email to all of the sales associates saying they were building our house for 'practice' and had virtually no profit. The incentive plan was capped at 100k in upgrades the week after we signed the contract and then removed completely the week after that. Haha...

I was talking to the electrician one day and asking him to add a few things 'under the table' during the construction and he said he would just charge me the same amount for things as he charged the builder. For a recessed light he said it was $70, we paid $75 to the builder... definitely a money losing proposition when you factor in overhead for them.

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We contracted in March of 08 for $125 a sq. ft. in far NW Chicago Suburbs. If I had to do it again, I think I probably would have waited. We still got a killer deal, but the back end of things are starting to catch up with us (i.e. GC not paying subs.) General Contractors are notorious for robbing Peter to pay Paul, and there's just no one left for them to rob at the moment, so no one is getting paid.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Yeah, $86 per square foot sounds like a killer deal...I wish we could build a nice place for that price here.

We ended up around $125 or so per square foot not including the building lot :yikes:!

I guess it all depends on where you live and what goes into the house. Too many variables to make a very good comparison here.

We contracted to build in November of 2006 when the market here was still pretty dang strong.

Hi,

If you don't mind me asking what type of construction methods and materials are you getting for that kind of money in the US?

Over here in the UK I'm building solid concrete block, steel frame, (real) slate roof, solid timber bespoke window frames, and top end fixtures and fittings and working out around $180 a foot. That includes the Control 4 budget :D

^Wow, $86 a square? I built for about $380 a square foot. That was full-custom and in CA. I wouldn't do it again but therer are some days when I think I'm going to rip-out the automation and start over :)

What did you use Gold ingots for bricks? :lol:

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^No, full ocean view from three levels...

+pool on the roof :cool:

Pool on the roof? You gotta send me pics of that.....

That sounds awesome. I thought having a pool was cool, now you go and put one on your roof.

Looks like I gotta build another house.

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^No, full ocean view from three levels...

+pool on the roof :cool:

Does sound amazing. Sounds like construction labour and materials are especially high in CA. Then again with the pound 25% down against the greenback I suppose historical figures are distorted somewhat. Labour rates have certainly gone down a lot over here since real estate went down the crapper.

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Oh yes, I'm sure I could have built for less this year rather than last year. But, I'm finding vendors are slow to deliver goods this year. Some even went belly-up with my money. So, overall, glad it's over and in 5 years I'll be laughing over the price (I hope).

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630k for me was basically just a standard wood frame home, 1.3 acre lot with a creek in the back and on one side, walk out concrete basement, tiled bathrooms, GE Profile stainless steel appliances, washer dryer, recessed lights throughout the house, fan hookups in each room, Moen Eva fixtures, Control 4 system, large wet bar in the basement etc. Pretty basic, but I was paying for square footage more than anything. We do have a huge kitchen with just about the biggest island Ive ever seen:

http://www.ryanhomes.com/Bridgeport_8164.html (5th picture)

Since we've moved in we've put in tile in the majority of the first floor ($12k), granite in all of the vanities, the wet bar, and a new fixed stone dinette table with a 5'x5' granite top ($7k), and will soon replace all of the carpeting for around $14k (the builder wanted $27k for lower end carpet and pad).

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