Anyone have a custom home built?

[SearchMaster]

$200/sf isn't outrageous for a custom home. That's (obviously) $400K for a 2000sf house which isn't out of line in many areas.

Our addition was $75/sf 16 years ago, but it did not include a kitchen and was pretty basic construction. My BIL typically charges $150-$350/sf but tends to work on 7 figure homes.

 

[rcpratt]

Where are you looking to move to? I seem to recall you're downriver-ish. Just curious.

We're building in Northville right now with Pulte. That's certainly not custom and it's coming in around $180/sqft (adjust for Northville prices...). But I can't imagine actually building a custom home. Our choices are relatively limited and I'm about ready to lose it with my wife over arguing over every little choice.

 

[zinfamous]

$200/sf isn't outrageous for a custom home. That's (obviously) $400K for a 2000sf house which isn't out of line in many areas.

Our addition was $75/sf 16 years ago, but it did not include a kitchen and was pretty basic construction. My BIL typically charges $150-$350/sf but tends to work on 7 figure homes.

any idea what your BIL charges for plumbing/moving plumping from one existing room to a newly-built room (i.e., a new bathroom?), on top of the flat $/sqft? Or is that kind of thing baked into the cost per square foot, depending on the job? Such questions are pertinent to my interests.

 

[boomerang]

He actually asked for the family rate on a loan. Sheesh.

In case anyone missed it, it's higher than his regular rate. I left feeling not one bit like family. There goes the TV series I had envisioned for all of us.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I've never done it, but my next house that's probably what I want to do, idealy semi off grid in a large wooded property that I can do what I want in, in front of a lake. That's pretty much my dream right there. I would want to go all out as far as structural integrity, insulation, air sealing, etc... and go well beyond code. I would want a contractor that is also willing to go the extra mile in that aspect and also willing to do something that's not a cookie cutter plan, as I'd like to design it myself. Probably need an architect too for the final stages of the design to produce an official blue print. It would also be kind of fun to design a house then see it come to life.

Really I should probably work on some designs whenever I'm bored, as if I actually ever have that oportunity I would not want to rush through it. This is something I could work on over the course of many years to perfect everything.

 

[highland145]

In case anyone missed it, it's higher than his regular rate. I left feeling not one bit like family. There goes the TV series I had envisioned for all of us.

It was supposed to be like the Soprano's.

 

[Exterous]

"Roombas were out of stock at Best Buy, better buy a new house"

Well my main maid is on vacation and my back-up maid is in the hospital so when Roombas were out of stock at BB what do you expect me to do? Do it myself?

Where are you looking to move to? I seem to recall you're downriver-ish. Just curious.

We're building in Northville right now with Pulte. That's certainly not custom and it's coming in around $180/sqft (adjust for Northville prices...). But I can't imagine actually building a custom home. Our choices are relatively limited and I'm about ready to lose it with my wife over arguing over every little choice.

We're actually not too far south of you. We're considering a few locations in Washtenaw County or South Lyon although some of that depends on my wife's job (We work in opposite directions from our current house) Good to know about the price - thanks. Did you choose from a set of floorplans for a sub and then decide (debate) on finishes? Fortunately the wife and I are on the same page about a lot of finish details.

 

[rcpratt]

We're actually not too far south of you. We're considering a few locations in Washtenaw County or South Lyon although some of that depends on my wife's job (We work in opposite directions from our current house) Good to know about the price - thanks. Did you choose from a set of floorplans for a sub and then decide (debate) on finishes? Fortunately the wife and I are on the same page about a lot of finish details.

Yeah, Pulte is developing this little subdivision - 50 homes or so. There were four floorplans available, then six exterior elevations, and then a pretty good assortment of a la carte options. The choices certainly aren't unlimited, but there's all sorts of different levels and designs of cabinets, carpet, flooring, granite/quartz, brick/siding, hardware, tiling, etc. The prices started at ~$160/sqft, but by the time you add a lot premium and maybe half the options that the model homes have, you're up to $180/sqft. I believe the base did include granite in the kitchen/bathroom(s) although I think we had to upgrade from laminate to tile.

South Lyon is definitely a lot more affordable and there's tons of development going on right now. I just can't justify the drive (I work in the city).

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Between $150 and $600 a square foot.

As a former custom home builder I'm a little disappointed in the initial question asking what type of counter tops or tile would be included. So many people (understandably) focus on the visible finishes but, for example, insist on the cheapest roof without a second thought. This hurts me inside.

True, but anyone doing a custom build should be focused on Tesla's Solar roof and not bothering with the cheapest shingle product in the first place. Unfortnately most builders are about a decade behind on everything when it comes to choices beyond the visible.

But I will add that I am seeing some small custom builds going up around the corner from me and the builder chose to use trusses instead of I-joists. While not SIPs, I do appreciate the ability to hide all mechanicals in the truss system with ease for mechanical subs to get their components in without taking a hammer to crudely knock out holes in the I-joist webbing.

 

[SearchMaster]

any idea what your BIL charges for plumbing/moving plumping from one existing room to a newly-built room (i.e., a new bathroom?), on top of the flat $/sqft? Or is that kind of thing baked into the cost per square foot, depending on the job? Such questions are pertinent to my interests.

No idea...I've not discussed that type of thing in that level of detail, but we have had the general cost/sf discussion before. He's on the higher end cost-wise, because he is very proud of his reputation and works hard to preserve it. He has no issue with making his subs do things twice or more if they don't do it to his standards. As a result, the word-of-mouth amongst local executive-types has spread and he does a LOT of very high-end renos.

 

[Humpy]

True, but anyone doing a custom build should be focused on Tesla's Solar roof and not bothering with the cheapest shingle product in the first place. Unfortnately most builders are about a decade behind on everything when it comes to choices beyond the visible.

But I will add that I am seeing some small custom builds going up around the corner from me and the builder chose to use trusses instead of I-joists. While not SIPs, I do appreciate the ability to hide all mechanicals in the truss system with ease for mechanical subs to get their components in without taking a hammer to crudely knock out holes in the I-joist webbing.

Designing for installation and maintenance of mechanical systems is important for sure.

I absolutely disagree with incorporating technology into the structure of a house that isn't a necessity or widely standardized. I get a bit of a giggle at the built-in AM/FM radios and cassette players you still see in kitchens sometimes. Tech is great but it changes far too fast to design houses around other than to include some capability to adapt.

 

[JimKiler]

BIL and his bride are looking to move out of Wayne County too. Same reasons you're giving. Myself, I moved just last week from Oakland County to Collier County in Florida. Stopped and saw highland145 along the way.

As far as the custom home, the definition can get a little blurry. Some would classify a home built by a developer in a community with several floor plans available where one could pick out cabinetry, flooring, counter tops and the like as a custom home. To me, a custom home is one where you hire an architect to design what you want with the finishes you want and you have it built on a piece of property. We went from the latter to the former.

That is what my wife and I did. We went with a builder and picked a layout, but we moved walls, added walls, added extra cabinets, etc. The builder sat us down and went through options e.g., water heater size and what kind of supports, i-beams versus trusses but of course there are always more I wish I would have done more changes. But thanks to the builder I have CAT 6 cable all over the place in addition to what i installed and they even let us paint rooms before carpet and trim went it, which made it so much faster to complete.

I wish I would have done spray foam insulation for the entire house. We did it in the basement later and it creates a vapor barrier and strengthens the walls.

 

[Darwin333]

Between $150 and $600 a square foot.

As a former custom home builder I'm a little disappointed in the initial question asking what type of counter tops or tile would be included. So many people (understandably) focus on the visible finishes but, for example, insist on the cheapest roof without a second thought. This hurts me inside.

As a person with over a decade experience as a professional roofing PM/estimator, I can't tell you how very true that statement is. Even in the commercial world on buildings that have full-time maintenance staff we can't get them to clean the roof drains on a flat roof once a year. We have a saying "no one knows that they have a roof until it starts fucking up" and when it does they want the absolute cheapest band-aid of a fix possible or the absolute cheapest new roof possible.

I've been on flat/metal roofs that were installed just horrendously, like you gave some teenagers a bunch of roofing material and beer and told them to install it and it's completely failing within a year. I would ask who installed it and they would rattle off some company that I've never heard of and they, and I'm oh so shocked by this, can't get in touch with. Then I'd ask if they got multiple quotes for the job and every time they would say yes "we got one for $120K, one for $115K, one for $122K and one for $60K", take a wild guess which one they went with. They ask me to give them a quote on how much to repair it and I laugh and say it's impossible to repair, it needs to be completely replaced and if I had to guess it's going to cost around $120K. The look on their face is priceless.

 

[Darwin333]

Designing for installation and maintenance of mechanical systems is important for sure.

I absolutely disagree with incorporating technology into the structure of a house that isn't a necessity or widely standardized. I get a bit of a giggle at the built-in AM/FM radios and cassette players you still see in kitchens sometimes. Tech is great but it changes far too fast to design houses around other than to include some capability to adapt.

Instead of thinking about it as "tech" you should think of it as a high-quality lifetime roof with a lifetime warranty to match. If it was from some new company or something I might be a bit more hesitant but I don't think Tesla is going out of business so I trust they will be around to honor the warranty should it be necessary. The fact that it will actually pay for itself over time is just a huge bonus. Will there be a better product in 20 years, of course there will but that is true of everything.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Designing for installation and maintenance of mechanical systems is important for sure.

I absolutely disagree with incorporating technology into the structure of a house that isn't a necessity or widely standardized. I get a bit of a giggle at the built-in AM/FM radios and cassette players you still see in kitchens sometimes. Tech is great but it changes far too fast to design houses around other than to include some capability to adapt.

Yeah I agree I would not design tech to be built in. I would run all the wiring for it, but make sure it's easily upgradeable. My vision would be to have everything wired such as fire, security, automation, etc and it would all lead to central Nema cabinets in a central area in the basement. Probably where electrical panel is. Have all that stuff in one area so if you need to cross connect anything you easily can. Basically have a huge wall of plywood where everything is mounted on all neat and tidy in one spot. Any solar stuff would go there too. Any kind of wiring that has potential to be controlled "smartly" would terminate in that area. Basically, have tech infrastructure built in, but not the tech itself.

 

[Humpy]

Instead of thinking about it as "tech" you should think of it as a high-quality lifetime roof with a lifetime warranty to match. If it was from some new company or something I might be a bit more hesitant but I don't think Tesla is going out of business so I trust they will be around to honor the warranty should it be necessary. The fact that it will actually pay for itself over time is just a huge bonus. Will there be a better product in 20 years, of course there will but that is true of everything.

When I think of high-quality lifetime roof I think of standing seam copper with a simple shed or gable design and a single purpose of shedding water. Tesla might be good but not that good.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Designing for installation and maintenance of mechanical systems is important for sure.

I absolutely disagree with incorporating technology into the structure of a house that isn't a necessity or widely standardized. I get a bit of a giggle at the built-in AM/FM radios and cassette players you still see in kitchens sometimes. Tech is great but it changes far too fast to design houses around other than to include some capability to adapt.

I don't see a power-generating device any different than an HVAC, or the mandated (1973? DOE) for insulation any different. PV solar wasn't discovered/developed yesterday--just ask NASA. Again, this is an example of unwilling to change. Unless it is required by code that is enforced, builders seldom entertain it.

 

[rcpratt]

I don't see a power-generating device any different than an HVAC, or the mandated (1973? DOE) for insulation any different. PV solar wasn't discovered/developed yesterday--just ask NASA. Again, this is an example of unwilling to change. Unless it is required by code that is enforced, builders seldom entertain it.

You do realize that discovering/developing/inventing something isn't the same as making it economically viable for consumers, right?

I just really don't understand your comment. Builders entertain all sorts of things that aren't required by code. If there was demand, builders would respond.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

You do realize that discovering/developing/inventing something isn't the same as making it economically viable for consumers, right?

Of course I do. But I also recognize that the burden of cost is a lot more easy to handle in a construction loan or mortgage than a post home purchase secondary buy. I had been advocating tract builders to buy into PV solar as a philosophy in design and construction with suitable rewards back-feeding the builder and burdens suppressed into mortgages as a better means than expecting someone to pay for it post home sale. Until someone decides to use it nothing is commercially viable.

For instance, I bet if the builder, customer or tract, were incentized (ahem, $$$ from Elon), they would jump on board. Money trumps laziness.

 

[Humpy]

I don't see a power-generating device any different than an HVAC, or the mandated (1973? DOE) for insulation any different. PV solar wasn't discovered/developed yesterday--just ask NASA. Again, this is an example of unwilling to change. Unless it is required by code that is enforced, builders seldom entertain it.

It has to start with the willingness of consumers.

Along with the large number of dumbfucks, there is definitely a set of builders who are unwilling to step outside what they know to be profitable. That's a business decision though, not really laziness. There is also no shortage of those who are able and willing to build whatever the customer can dream of and can pay for.

 

[Humpy]

Of course I do. But I also recognize that the burden of cost is a lot more easy to handle in a construction loan or mortgage than a post home purchase secondary buy. I had been advocating tract builders to buy into PV solar as a philosophy in design and construction with suitable rewards back-feeding the builder and burdens suppressed into mortgages as a better means than expecting someone to pay for it post home sale. Until someone decides to use it nothing is commercially viable.

For instance, I bet if the builder, customer or tract, were incentized (ahem, $$$ from Elon), they would jump on board. Money trumps laziness.

The key to all of it is beginning with properly built, durable, and highly efficient structures, i.e. it would be silly to put a super efficient hybrid engine in a 1970's Pontiac.

Any available money is far better spent by minimizing energy needs rather than on sources.

 

[Yakk]

If you want to contact all the work yourself, careful buying, keep in mind discounts, and supervise properly. If you don't know what the contractor is doing you didn't inform yourself enough first. Ask.

And don't skimp on the architectural plans and think you'll modify them on the fly... Just don't... Make a plan & budget, and follow it.

 

[Darwin333]

When I think of high-quality lifetime roof I think of standing seam copper with a simple shed or gable design and a single purpose of shedding water. Tesla might be good but not that good.

Tile and slate are also considered lifetime roofing systems. I managed the reroof of the oldest apartment building in the country in New Orleans, the Pontalba Buildings, built in the 1840's and it had its original slate roof on it. They actually used big ass hand made "spikes" to nail them down, we have a few framed in our office. It's not unheard of in the least for slate roofs to last over a century and that one lasted over 150 years which is a few "lifetimes". You are correct though, standing seam copper is also another very good roofing system that will last your lifetime and more if properly installed and maintained.

IF the Tesla roof is as durable as natural tile it is indeed a lifetime roofing system but regardless if it's guaranteed to last your lifetime and the company is going to be around to honor the warranty then I would have no concern selling and installing it.

 

[Darwin333]

I don't see a power-generating device any different than an HVAC, or the mandated (1973? DOE) for insulation any different. PV solar wasn't discovered/developed yesterday--just ask NASA. Again, this is an example of unwilling to change. Unless it is required by code that is enforced, builders seldom entertain it.

In all fairness it's been very very recently that solar has truly come down in price to the point of being a viable investment for most people. Is the house building market, like tract homes and new subdivisions, doing very well right now? I would think there would still be a bit of glut of housing in most areas with room to build but I don't really follow that industry so it could very well be going like gangbusters for all I know.

 

[Red Squirrel]

For solar I'm still a fan of regular roof mount or ground mount systems so that it keeps both systems (shingle and solar) separate. In a custom home I would build it out so the roof is at an optimal angle for snow to slide off easily and that all penetrations are on the north side. Basically a church style roof with one side facing south, but maybe not quite as steep. I'd probably use metal roofing or something that is life time, then have regular mounted panels on it.