Does anyone have a ball-park estimate of new construction costs in Atlanta, GA? I'm looking for a per square foot cost of a 2200 to 2400 sq/ft bungalow, like the bungalow plans at www.thebungalowcompany.com. I had understood the costs to be somewhere between 90 and 100 per square foot but then a developer claimed costs were closer to $75 per square foot.

If you are building a custom home look for a builder who bids the project not by the square foot but by what is being put in the house or you may end up with the cheap stuff.

I'm not in the Atlanta area, but part of my job involves knowing about how construction costs differ from one area to another.

$75 per square foot is ridiculously cheap. Yes, it is possible to build a home for that little. A cookie cutter tract house that takes advantage of an economy of scale and looks like every other ugly house.

I guess the key here is that a developer told you that number. Most developers are exactly building character into their investments.

Figuring cost by square foot is an imperfect means of divining value. It represents the antithesis of the idea of the not-so-big house. But sometimes it's what we're stuck with.

To build a custom, true-to-form bungalow of the type that thebungalowcompany.com is promoting, I would estimate that you are looking at around $150 per square foot. A traditional bungalow is going to have a lot of quality built-ins that could easily push the price up well beyond that if you aren't careful.

If a builder offers to build you a classic arts and crafts bungalow in any major metropolitan area for $75 a square foot, run screaming. You'll see one 'change order' after another throughout the project, escalating far beyond what you were promised or had budgeted for. Better to go with the honest builder who gives you the expensive news up-front.

I have to agree with Jack. The area we work in is small town Oklahoma, and even here $75 is bare bones. A 'nice' custom home generally runs $100-$125 sq.ft., but that can, of course, go much higher, depending on how its finished out.

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Originally posted by JennieNina:
Does anyone have a ball-park estimate of new construction costs in Atlanta, GA? I'm looking for a per square foot cost of a 2200 to 2400 sq/ft bungalow, like the bungalow plans at http://www.thebungalowcompany.com. I had understood the costs to be somewhere between 90 and 100 per square foot but then a developer claimed costs were closer to $75 per square foot.

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dcreinvestor@walla.com

Hi Jennie,

Thanks so much for posting your question regarding bungalow style homes. I fell instantly in love with them, infact I have loved this style of house for many years, just didn't know what it was called.

Regarding building cost. Will you share what sort of quotes you have found so far. I am in the Northern Virginia area and want to build this style; however, the plans are so expensive. I would have to purchase the plans only to discover I can't afford (or get financial approval) to build.

I haven't had a chance to read Not So Big House yet, however, are the bungalow style houses keeping in line with Sarah's concepts?

Thanks

As a wholesale insurance broker specializing in high-end homes, I deal with estimating replacement cost for homes like that every week in Northern Virginia (among other areas).

You're looking at between $150 - $175 per square foot for an authentic bungalow-style home built in your area. There's just so much construction going on everywhere within commuting distance from DC right now that the costs of skilled construction labor and good GCs are very high.

See if you can get study plans (for less money) for a bungalow that you like. Something that you can take to a builder for a ballpark estimate just to find out if there is even the possibility of moving ahead.

Keep cost in mind when you are looking at plans to begin with. Remember things like the fact that an extra bathroom, even just a powder room, will add at least $15,000 to the cost of the house. Having plumbing located at widely different points around the floorplan increases costs. A house with hallways as opposed to rooms directly connected to one another will tend to cost more in terms of what usable space you get, since hallways are practically dead space that still cost money to build. Non-standard ceiling heights will cost you more money because the most commonly available sizes of studs and sheet goods can't be used. There are a lot of little rules of thumb like this that you can learn which will help you to quickly differentiate between plans that could come within your budget and plans that are going to break it.

Think about things that are relatively easily upgraded in the future that you can save money on initially. It might make sense to get wall-to-wall carpeting as opposed to wood floors if that will bring the house into your budget. That's not a difficult improvement to make on your own in a few years. Wheras getting a cheap slab foundation instead of a crawlspace is something that you will always have to live with (along with any plumbing problems that are entombed forever in 6 inches of concrete).

Another good source of bungalow plans is http://www.robinsonplans.com/ .

Good luck!

-Jack

I'm just finishing a NSB "ranch" 60 miles from New York City. Cedar Shingles, fieldstone fireplace, exposed oak refters, full basement, full attic, 2-car garage, 5 built-ins, lots of craftsman details. Price tag: $200 per square foot of living space.

Just finished most of the construction on a 40x42 home with a steep pitch (12/10) roof that worked out for another house-like space upstairs. It is a pier & beam and not a slab. I would put in more piers if I had it to do over. The standard recommendation is 1 pier every 8 ft. Every 6 ft. is better. One can save money by buying building materials at the large salvage building materials yards and the contractor can check out the prices. I bought 2 beautiful bathroom sinks at a church auction for $10 each and an antique dresser for both vanities in the bathrooms. The dressers were all wood and well made- for $30 each, not $400 each. It pays to shop very wisely for materials. Pex plumbing makes the plumber's job go much easier and quicker which cuts down on the $25/hr cost. I bought the Dow Corning laminated shingles at $25 per sq. at the Haliburton salvage instead of the $100/sq (100 sq. ft. is a square). They were still in their factory wrappings and I needed a LOT of squares. I bought tons of Porcelin floor tile for 25 cents a foot from the same place and they had oodles to choose from. That would be my advice to you----shop,shop,shop for price comparisons. Call lots and lots of places and take lots of notes. Then, talk to the contractor. You can have your bungalow exactly like you want by shopping super large flea markets and such for all of the interior decor you want---and save tons of money.
Tony
thannisch@sbcglobal.net

With 7064 views thus far, it would seem this particular topic is what most people want to see more of in this forum! Cost is indeed a very big issue to most people, including myself, in planning and building our homes.

But cost should not be the only issue that concerns us, lest we become cynical of what this industry would have us build. As Oscar Wilde put it, "a cynic is one who knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing."

We are all striving to make affordable choices in our home building, yet we all are also struggling to maximize the value of those choices. Sarah's quote by Einstein on p.7 of TNSBH is good to keep in mind, along with chap. 5 of that book! There are long-term consequences to consider in our short-term choices.

There really is so much mediocrity and sameness in the homebuilding industry, one would almost suspect a conspiracy, a campaign to force us into choices we would never even consider if cost were no object. That is why we must fight for what we want, but first we must want what is worth fighting for! That, I believe, is the ultimate message of Sarah's books.

Christopher Alexander warns us to stay away from "developer-images of middle class homogeneity and what the neighbors might think". Instead he says, "the essence of life has always been a sober awareness that we cannot have everything, and that a worthwhile life will be lived if some of the things around us are precious, while others are very ordinary, even cheap. It is then that we shall be practically able to afford what we want. And it is then that we shall be made alive by our awareness of the common and ordinary, mingled with the supremely beautiful."

Along these lines, he offers some suggestions for controlling costs without sacrificing value: "Think of a marble floor combined with roughly painted wooded shelving. Think of luxurious big windows and a gleaming polished walnut counter top, combined with old appliances and cheap utility shelves. Think of a very roughly painted concrete floor but a beautiful table surrounded by beautiful glass enclosed shelves, and bare light bulbs."

So let's use this forum as a way of teaming together in finding and sharing more practical ways to achieve the Not So Big House with a Not So Big Mortgage. Let's discuss value per square foot from now on!