New Construction Square Foot Costs

Every day someone asks me what is the average square foot cost for new home construction. Or they ask can you build me a house for $150 a square foot. The answer is, it depends! Trying to set a standard square foot cost for new home construction is like trying to say there is a standard price for vehicles.

Many things effect the cost of new construction. Local labor rates, local weather conditions, product availability, available labor/trades, fuel prices can all effect the cost. The best answer I can give people around here is somewhere from $125 to $250 a square foot.

The real answer depends mostly on the type of home and level of finishes. The other major factor is whether or not your home is a single story or multi-story home. The reason for this is quite simple. If you build a 1400 square foot single level home and you build a 2800 square foot two story home, they will both have the same footprint (foundation). In both cases the cost of the foundation is the same yet both costs would be divided by different square footage. Here’s an example:

Let’s say a foundation that is 28′x50′ costs $15,000. The cost per square foot (of finished home) would be $15,000/1400 = $10.71/SF for the smaller home and $15,000/2800 = $5.36 for the larger home. So this is just one example showing how the square foot costs for new construction are effected by many different aspects.

I would say around here the average 2000 square foot home that we build (average finishes) runs about $150 a square foot without land. The best way to find out what things cost in your area is to call a few contractors and ask them what their typically square foot costs are. It’s so much easier to tell a customer that figure. Then you can use the average square foot costs as a starting point in planning your project.

My biggest advice to customers that are working with a tight budget is this. SQUARE footage costs money, it’s as simple as that. If you need to cut costs then focus on the size of your home. Think about it, if you want to shave $10,000 off your project that’s only 67 square feet or roughly a 6×10 room. Closets aren’t much larger than that.

So if you’re planning on building a new home make sure you do some research. If you use the average square foot costs as a guide to choosing floor plans you should be able to come up with a house design that fits your budget.

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