$50/ft
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anyone know of modern home plans that can be built in the southeast for $50/foot.
i am thinking slab, very open and simple, 3/2, and around 1600 sq. ft.
the 50/foot would just cover the materials and labor, not the land.
or has anyone built a house for around this price?
thanks...
The current issue of Fine Homebuilding is touting that exact cost for a simple home.
Is it possible in real life for a non-professional GC? No.
I am in Florida and a few people I know have come in between $50-$57 sq/ft. They all went the owner builder route and hired subcontractors themselves.
They all a good job on finding excellent prices on materials. The homes are not skimpy looking either.
$60sqft is possible. I just got a friend , a GC, to price my plan. 3/2 1530 sqft. 24X40 square footprint w/ raised slab (sloping lot) 2X6 walls and either loft upstairs or roofdeck (havent nailed down price on EPDM). He came in @ $59 sqft. That includes 12% GC fee. That is a deal on this small of a job.
I ran out and picked up the new FineHomebuilding before posting to see what they said. They went up to 1824 liv and 1056 basement (2880 total)to get to $50/sqft. Nothing too surprising: Simple shape -square box, vinyl siding, off the shelf materials.
But can someone help me here? It looks like they are not using sheathing on the outside of framing except in corners? Only 1/2in Rigid Foam boards for sheathing? Is that considered Fine Homebuilding? I understand the foam w/ taped seams over OSB, but will this fly?:zz:
Just read the article in FHB. Impressive. Not the most modern of houses, but certainly contemporary in terms of layout.
ModWalt...looking at their illustrations, it looks like they're using 1/2 ply sheathing with a layer of rigid foam board on the outside of that.
Not sure how price compares, but you'd think SIPS would be more energy efficient and cheaper to frame the house with (in terms of labour costs).
I take that back...you are right, it's only at the corners you see the plywood sheathing. I suppose the rigid foams adds some rigidity to the rest of the house.
While it's not the norm these days, sheathing only the corners is certainly not unheard of. With a simple rectangular plan and not too many openings, that's usually enough to confer the required amount of shear strength. Don't forget that before the days of plywood and OSB, corners were braced with nothing more than diagonal 1x4s, and the board sheathing used at that time added very little in terms of rigidity.
I think including a partially finished basement as part of the $50/sq ft number is a bit of a cheat, however.
-Steve
I guess this applies to this thread. Question:
Anyone know which roof is more affordable a shed with OSB I-beams (at least 12 deep and 28' long)or a prefabbed truss roof (24ft wide w/4/12 slope)? Both will have metal roofing. Keep in mind I will save about 100 sqft of SIP wall panel @ roughly $4/sqft and drywall with trusses (no high shed wall).
Any thoughts?
More info needed.
Do you have vaulted space with the shed, and not with the pre-manufactured trusses?
Is the truss a gable truss? Scissor truss?
As a generality, pre-manufactured trusses are cheaper than hand stacking a roof system. You are talking about a mono-pitch roof though, so it may come down to vault, no vault.
Another thing to consider, you can get more R-value out of blown in insulation in the truss than you can get pink fluffy into the I-joists.
That was off topic
As far as $50/s.f.......like Kevin said you couldn't pay anyone to do it for $50/s.f. but you could do it yourself for that not counting the year it takes out of your life.
In rural areas you may be able to get someone to do it for that price. This past weekend I saw a brick home for $103,000 (including land). It was really nice with an open floor plan and high ceilings in the living room. It was around 1,500 sq/ft. Without the price of the land, it came to about $55 sq/ft.
C'mon its kinda on topic...
I'm trying to stay as close to $50 as i can. But thanks for the input.
And I agree with the year it would take. I thought about it, but being self-employed and counting my time invested would actually make the cost much more.
Being a Realtor in a 50% rural market you find developers who buy large parcels and can sell @ $55/sqft because the cost of individual lots end up being negligible. The trade off is you have see your exact house (maybe different color brick and shingle) across the street, around the corner, and about five other places on your drive home. Closer in town $80-100 sqft minimum for new const even in Mobile, AL. (Among lowest property taxes in the Nation)
Please excuse the punchy sarcasm, but it is Friday and I just built in the bay area (hard to build for less than 225.00/sqft). Note, CA workmans comp for carpenters runs between 18-50%..just one of the many screwed up reasons it costs so much here.
Anyhow, why not pitch a tent on a lot and use an outhouse? That would be the only way I could build in the bay area for that price. I found this tent on the Eureka website (just under 1000 sqft).
You may be interested in checking out information on House S here in Atlanta at 943 Bruce Circle (near Grant Park). CHRC accomplished building this house for under $50/ square foot. It is a private residence, so unfortunately it cannot be toured but the people at CHRC are very nice and do offer design services. My husband and I are currently researching lower cost building methods for a lake home. Best of luck and keep us posted on your project! Link to: http://www.chrcatlanta.org/designbuild_feaprojects.html
I'm pretty sure the Bruce Circle house was featured in Dwell (and on the cover) some months ago. Not at home near my stack, otherwise I'd tell ya what issue.
Mod, I just happen to have some of my dwells next to my computer. The Bruce Circle house is one of my favorites! It was featured in the 9/03 issue. Hmm, wonder how it has held up through the recent weather that has pounded the area?
Yes, I know that house, but i was not aware it was built for under $50/ft. thanks for all the input... i am starting my project in a couple weeks, and there will be a website with my progress. i'll keep ya posted...
That house is actually $83/sqft when counting only heated and cooled living space. Surfingpanama, are you going to blog here or have a different site?
Do you have a contractor that is flexible about what he builds with? SIPs are initialy more money but they go together very fast and save labor and waste. From everyone I've talked, on a smaller house like this the walls should go up in 1 day! If you are planning to build yourself SIPs might be the way to go. They compare to stick framing like legos compare to an old balsa modele airplane. Many of the companies will send a person to act as forman while the panels go up. As for the roof SIPs don't normally need truses and are supported only by the walls and usually a laminated beam or two dependidng on your design. This leaves you much more leeway for interior layout. No supporting wall needed down the middle. Also, since the shell is the strength some of the panel companies will draw up the plans if you send them as much as a drawing on a napkin. They are also greener as they don't need old growth trees to get straight walls. Try some of these sites.
http://www.sips.org/
http://www.thermocore.com/
http://www.murus.com/
http://www.fischersips.com/ This one is in Kentucky so you'd have less freight.
I am about to build in Myrtle Beach, SC. In point of fact, I am going to be posting a question on another thread later tonite.
I am budgeting $55 a sg ft for labor and material on this house. I do have a small advantage-I work for a building supplies company and will be able to get almost all of my material(except foundation) at slightly over cost. My brother in law is a GC who will do the framing,siding,flooring etc. Also, I do have quite a few relationships with various local tradespeople.
The plan is for Hardie siding-aluminum windows-crawlspace foundation-laminate flooring-Ikea cabinets.I guess time will tell if I pull it off.
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