New Home Construction
 

I am thinking of having a new home built in the Meredith area within the next couple years. What are builders getting per square foot these days? I know there are alot of variables. Just looking for a ball park figure. Approx. 2000 sq. Soup to nuts, Septic, and well. Nothing to fancy, 3 bedroom cape, with an attached 2 car garage, and 2 bathrooms. Thanks in advance!

For only very crude guesstimating purposes, you can look at the online property appraisal information for similar houses in your area. The replacement cost figure for a recently built, similar size and configured house might be close enough, while still very crude.

I certainly hope you won't pick a builder that quotes based on per square foot. No one buys a car by the pound, and any builder who quotes price by the square foot probably ought to be avoided. That is a derived number, total construction cost divided by some area. What area is used? Conditioned space, living space shown on the floor plans, but not garage? Is the garage then free?

Any competent builder can estimate total cost from the various parts that go into it (site prep, foundation, framing, roofing, windows, insulation, electrical, plumbing, flooring, kitchen cabinetry, landscaping, etc.). Some things scale directly by area, such as flooring. Some things scale by outside wall area, such as insulation and siding. Other things don't scale by area at all, such as the kitchen. Certain areas within a house are very expensive on a per square foot basis (bathrooms, kitchens), while others are much less so.

When cost/square foot is later calculated from final numbers, they can be all over the place. A lot depends on interior finishing, how complicated the roof line is, and even if the property is shorefront and the builder figured the owner could afford "high end."

But, you asked for a $/sqft estimate. How about $150, which could easily be too high or low.

Hi, You need to determine a possible figure of want you would like to spend, then have the contractor determine what you can build for that budget. From there you can increase your budget or decrease the home size from to arrive at an agreeable figure. Start possibly around 100/sf. Also there are some good prefab homes to look at.

Need to be carefull
 

I have a friend who is looking for a builder. Had about a dozen builders looking for his work. All of them with a different quote. Roughly $25,000 between the lowest and highest. And all of them have called back after their first quote and gave a lower figure.

One of my neighbor went with the lowest figure. Only to end up spending what the highest bid was.

It is important that you have a closed-end contract. If need be hire a lawyer. It will be cheaper than an exorbant over run.

Keep in Mind
 

Most builders sub-contract work which could vary in price from one plumber,sheetrocker,electrician etc. to another. I would also check with people in Meredith who have built a home from the ground up and get some opinions on the different options. We built our home from "scratch" so to speak. We were able to a lot of the work ourselves. The biggest cost was the framing and cost of materials at retail. We also hired an electrician. My husband is a master plumber and was able to do a lot of the work himself. He can/could purchase directly from a supplier. We have friends too who do foundations and they were the cost of a meal and some beer!! It was a lot of work on weekends and sacrifice but we saved so much money doing what we could and have a bigger house because of it. With the economy the way it is, you should be able to get some good workmanship at a lower price. Some of the best in the business won't lower their price though. You get what you pay for sometimes, good or bad.

If you have never built a new house get used to watching most of them put it up with particle board, glue, staples, and gypsum:) It's an eye-opener for sure.

And that would be the difference of $100-$150 for say a prefab- and $2-250 for a real quality home built by a quality builder.

Prefab quality
 

Although some prefabs are pretty high quality. This is usually up to the contractor that put the prefab together. Some prefab mfg hire reputable contractors that are inspected by factory reps during the building. I would not rule them out.

My neighbor's house was put up by a reputable builder. All staples, particle boards etc. It is sickening but the contractor says it is what it is today.

No wonder it is most of the newer homes that have roofs caving in due to snow/water weight in the winter. Builders just don't care after they get their last payments.

You can get a home owners warrantee from one to 10 years on a newly constructed home. You have to find a builder that will honor one.

I'm not a builder but I'm guessing by your post you believe these items are inferior.I do manufacture building components and will tell you that oriented strand board (osb),which I assume you were refering to,is more stable and stronger than regular plywood and many times that of solid wood.The glues that are used really help make connections between materials much stronger than the old nail only method.These materials really are better for the most part and in the case of osb,they use fast growth woods that are very sustainable.FWIW

I'm aware that some new construction methods are innovative, but overall I'm not impressed with the stuff I have seen that has been thrown up. I'll take a home built in the 1960s and earlier before new construction.

In response to PennyPenny
 

I did the exact same thing approx. 25 years ago. Me and my dad did the foundation, uncle did all the electrical work, cousin plumbed the whole house. Had a contractor friend of mine frame the house. I paid them all pretty much the going rate, and still saved myself alot of money being the gc. It was a pain in the but trying to line them all up as needed, and I'd swear I would never do it again. But I am actually thinking of doing it again. Thanks all for the recomendations, and am sure I will get in touch with a few when I am ready.

What?
 

Take a quick look at this link, http://www.advantechperforms.com/dar...e/Default.aspx I am aware this belongs to the manufacturer.

Being the owner of a 1960's built home I can tell you that 1x sheathing over improperly sized structural members does not a make a better house. There is absolutely no shear strength to resist twisting and the load placed on one member alone does not get transfered to the two next to it, I can go into further detail to explain this if you would like.

Anyone that tells you that they do not build them like they used to, has not been made fully aware of why the older building are still standing and it has nothing to do with the labor to assemble, it has everything to do with the old growth wood used to build them. If you were to build a house in the exact same fashion as the 1960's with 1x10 sheathing on the roof and walls and four toe nails per joint your home would not pass the current 90lb+ snow load rating that is required in NH.

My believe is that you may be partially right, but most, yes must over runs or higher prices are created by the homeowners themselves adding more and more and forgetting that it all adds to the final cost.

Correct, or they get more than one price and cannot determine without a doubt that they are for the same scope, so as the project moves along the contractor continually says "well we did not include that in the original price".

A good contract will list every item used including types of wood, model numbers of the different appliances including towel racks to nail sizes, type of window, door casings. Nothing should be left undone. Home owner should have done all their homework and given the contractor all pertinent information regarding what they want so all contracts can price apples for apples.
It really is way to early for a contractor to give a accurate estimate two years before construction.:)

new materials..................
 

Don't be affraid of many of todays new QUALITY building materials. eg. Advantec sheathing and I Level framing. But remember good stuff always cost more. Working with these type of products your assured a quailty and straight job. And as previously mentioned the plans and material list will outline what's required and the contract will cost out these items and labor required. A good contractor will write a proper contract and change of orders will happen as the homeowner sees the project evolve. Good luck