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The Road Home
Most home buyers know up front what they can afford to pay for a house. By knowing their budget, buyers believe that if they can get a cost per square foot, then they can get an idea of what size house they can build.
So, one of the first questions a builder will get from a prospective custom home buyer is “how much per square foot”? It seems like a simple question, a builder should be able to answer without hesitation. However an honest builder can only answer with “I don’t know”. While that answer might disappoint the buyer, playing games and guessing without plans and specifications will probably produce even greater disappointment.
To understand the complexity of costing out a custom home, a buyer needs to have an understanding of why houses of similar size and room count can vary in their respective prices. Look at the two illustrations below. They represent two structures with the same amount of living area. While they are not to scale, you can see the exterior dimensions of the two structures.
Both of these structures contain 2,500 sq. ft. But, Structure A in this example has 250 linear feet of wall. Structure B has 200 linear feet of wall. Because of our design we managed to produce two structures of the same size, but structure A has 25 percent more lineal wall footage than Structure B. The cost to frame this additional wall length will be approximately $750 or $.30 per square foot.
Now picture both of these structures at the same height. Using 8 feet in our example we will cover the outside walls with brick. It will take approximately 13,000 bricks to cover structure A and 10,000 bricks to cover structure B. If it costs $1.50 per brick, then structure A will cost $4,500 more to build than Structure B. This translates into $1.80 per square foot more for Structure A; even though, it’s the same size as Structure A.
Let’s take this one step further. You don’t like 8 ft walls. You want 10 ft walls, and you like the Structure A floor plan better. Now you have to add 3,500 more brick at a cost of $5,250. Structure A now cost another $2.10 per square foot, and it is still not larger than Structure B.
In our example, seemingly simple choices managed to raise the price of the house we wanted by $10,500 or $4.20 a square foot. But brick and framing are not the only costs associated with an exterior wall. There is insulation, bracing, house wrap, windows, roof bracing, paint and other items we could list. We could add these costs and raise the square foot cost even more.
Production home builders understand these formulas and specifically design plans that are as cost effective as possible. That is why in their designs you will see lower ceiling heights, minimal halls, square designs and low pitched roofs. They also offer in their base plans less expensive materials to keep costs down. The result is usually a large neighborhood of boring, cloned houses one after another.
Families that seek out a custom builder are more focused on getting the floor plan and look they desire. Often, the decisions might not be the most efficient and cost effective home design. But just by understanding the above examples, you are already thinking about ideas that can help keep your cost down. And your builder can help you with even more ideas.
All of the decisions you have to make in building that custom home can become frustrating at times. Working with your builder and the right design team in the planning stage will eliminate most of the frustration. When your home is finished you will have the beautiful, comfortable home you desired; and within your budget.