How Much Will My New House Cost To Build?
By Marc Mathis
f you’re currently in the process of searching for that “perfect” house plan, you’ll already know that there are many home plan options available. Whether your searching online or looking through magazines and plan books, the chances are that you can find a stock house plan that closely fits your needs.
If you find a floor plan that is “close” to what you need, you can almost always have that plan modified by the designer or by a local design professional to fit your specific needs..in your specific area…for your specific lot.
If so, then you’ve just saved thousands of dollars over the cost of having a fully-custom designed set of house plans developed. Stock house plans offer a tremendous value for most families, and its always a good idea to take a look at whats available before having a custom set designed.
After you find a house plan, the first thing most people need to know is “how much will THIS particular house plan cost to build in MY local area”? Well, this can be a difficult number to ascertain, due to many factors such as: local labor rates, local materials prices, type of foundation used, types of materials used, finish level, local/state/regional building fees, etc.
In most cases, the designer of a plan will be able to provide you with a dollar range, which will be from $X to $X, based on total living square footage of the house and regional cost data. This type of information is usually adequate but fairly inaccurate, especially if you’re building in a particularly expensive/inexpensive area of the country.
In addition, these estimates are ONLY based on the total “living” square footage of the house, and do not take into account many other items such as:
- Site preparation of any kind
- Removal of existing structures
- Purchase of the lot
- Preparation of the lot
- Flatwork (like driveways)
- Detached garages or other structures
- Landscaping
- Modifications to the house plan
- Cost to build any unheated space (i.e. carports, patios, porches, any other unheated space)
- Any other miscellaneous permits, fees, or associated costs related to obtaining a building permit
- Other misc. costs
As such, you may want to look into obtaining a low-cost “Home Building Cost Estimate” from a leading provider like Cost-To-Build.net to better understand how much YOUR particular house (or one that you’re considering) would cost to build in your LOCAL area.
Having a customized cost report like this, is always a good investment, and may save you many thousands as you begin to narrow down your house plan search.
To see examples of some of the most-popular Stock House Plans, visit http://www.HousePlanGallery.com
Mark Mathis is the president of House Plan Gallery, Inc, a residential home design firm specializing in the design of stock house plans and home plans with flexible floor plan layouts and all the most-popular home design features.
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