The Owner/Builder System
I have worked for 2 different companies that are for the DIY Home Builders. Some of the numbers you have seen are correct based on retail costss and are estimates used all the time by Realtors and Contractors to reflect finished cost for the lumber materials and labor + land. $100+ is typical, for bare bones simple finished house construction. If you want all the fancy bells and whistles, it will go up from there.
Now my POINT.
DIY HOME BUILDING.
One site to look at is
www.hbnsales.com it is a company I worked for, for several years and they have had homes built all over the nation. In essence, they will let you be your own General Contractor. They will provide all the money for land, materials and labor and put it all together into a mortgage at the end. With their help and guidence and the reduced cost of labor by DIY as much as possible, it is possible to save huge amounts of money.
My wife and I have in the past 8 years built 2 homes. One 2500 Sqft with basement same size on a $35,000 1 acre lot. Finished cost was $210,000 including the land. The basement was not finished. It was rough plumbed and rought electrical. All that was really neccessary was to hand the sheet rock. Finished apprailsal was $360,000, the second, where we live now is 1800 sqft, full basement un finished. On one acre of ground $25,000. Finished cost was $160,000 including the land. Finished appraisal was $260,000.
I hired all aspects of the home done by licensed contractors up to and including Dry In. Which means that he home looks finished from the out side. I also hired the electrical and HTG&AIR. Everything else on the interior was completed by my self and my wife and our two son-in-laws. I did all the plumbing and vent system. Whe sheet rocked our selves, installed all wood flooring, ceramic and marble tile in the whole house.
This picture show our house on day 5 after the foundation is poured and cured (approximately 30 days after closing on the construction loan)
This is a shot of the finished house as it looked 7 days after start of completion. The interior was not complete.
Some interior views after finish.
Done
Total time from close to occupation approximately 6 months.
If you calculate the finished cost $160,000 - Land $25,000 = $145,000, divide by 1800 equals cost to build. $80.55 per sq ft. Finished.
With the Owner/Builder Program, we earned in 6 months $100,000 in equity by the time we moved in. Our total out lay of cash from start to finishe was less than $1000. acutally it was Down payment for land $1.00 Finished appraisal fee. $225.00 and Doc pre fee. $225.00
This a real program and it really works.