what does it cost to build a house?

[stealth]

I know this title sounds absurdly vague, so I'll elaborate....We are looking at either buying a new or custom building our own dream house on some waterfront property...Thats the key, wherever we move to next, its going to be on the water.
So when we look at say a newly built home (e.g. 2600 sq. ft, with all the stuff you'd expect like hardwood, granite counters etc), thats being sold for $850k, what are we most likely paying for the house vs. the cost of the land?

My uneducated guess is the house itself prob cost about $250k to build, and the rest would be land and profit for the seller/builder. Does this sound about right?

Knowing this will help us understand if we're better off buying a pre-built home from a builder vs. buying some land ourselves and custom building (the obvious downside to doing this would be the increased difficulty in financing).
Any constructive input (pun not intended) would be appreciated.

[Rehan]

The numbers mentioned in 3weddings' thread about a custom home (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=491426) were around $150/sq ft. For land, you'd be looking at at least $300k per acre...could be a lot more, depending on location.

[Bullseye]

For comparison, my mother just built a house, 1500 sq ft, nice finishes, she acted as general contractor, got deals because she works for an excavation company, and it cost about $80k.

The biggest savings here was in being her own contractor, way cheaper, but this entails massive headaches. She's done it twice now, and says she'll never do it again. Too much time wasted suing subs, for instance. :lol: Getting her excavation done for almost free was also a big savings.

I think you're a bit low on your $250k estimate, but I'm not sure.

[BuildingHomes]

This has a lot to do with location. If it's near the water is it going to be further away from a major population? If so, subs may charge a little more to get there and back.

If you need your home professionally wired for sight and sound, let me know :)

[Dustbunny]

Someone like a house appraiser or insurance broker could probably give you some /sq ft figures on building since they use those numbers all the time.

[realestateguy]

It will be over $200 per sqft with your upgrades plus the lot cost plus plus plus.

[3weddings]

Chatting with custom home builder friend of mine last week.

Building a 4000 square foot walkout, one and a half story home on a 3ac lot you are looking at 500k for construction, the 200k for the lot and $50k in the builder's pocket.

An easy way to save some $$ is to get the construction loan yourself, as the house is built. i.e. Start with 100k when it's ready for framing have the lender reassess, get more and so on. In the end your home has cost you at least 100k less, but will be worth much much more.

[jed]

Housing costs depends upon alot of factors - finishes, location (factors you may have to contend with like high water table, etc), area you are building in (economics of the trades - they're busy they charge more, etc, etc.

From the costs in our area, its easily $200-$250/sq ft. Waterfront properties are typically the highest lots to purchase - a lake about 1.5h from us has lots closing in on a million. POS shack on it, so really, its all about the land, in that case.

Better off talking to someone local to get a more accurate idea. Might try a few real estate agents as they typically have a pretty good idea of replacement costs.

[scotty01]

We just built a custom new home 1750 sq. ft with all the bells and whistles.. was about $275,000 for the home about another $85,000 for the 1 acre lot.

[stealth]

Thanks for the input everybody.

Quick question: When you buy a new house, do you pay GST and PST or just GST?