New Construction

It's not a simple answer!

If you're buying a house in a builder's development, it takes out the steps of buying land, hiring an architect & builder, and other preparation steps, but you'll still want to do ample research to ensure you end up happy with the home. The costs can add up quickly, so customizing must be done carefully.

First step is buying a piece of land. With a buyer's agent, you'll have help figuring out which piece of land suits your needs and they'll also help you to negotiate the best deal. From zoning, utility hookups, and clearing & grading the land, this is an important consideration. Rural properties in particular will need to pass a perc test to ensure the ability to build on it is there.

The next step is to make plans. Once you have the perfect property, it's time to create your dream home vision. This is when a realistic budget comes into play.

Let's take a look at the major cost components:

Land

The price of the land you buy is going to vary widely depending on a number of different factors. Things like the location, access to utilities and amenities, the current market, and features of the property will all impact the price per acre.

Site Work

Once you have chosen a piece of land on which to build your house, the first costs you'll be facing are those of site work. Things like building plans, permits, and inspections will run you roughly $15,000 on average.

The biggest chunk of this cost is for sewer and water inspections, which will be about $5000 of your budget on average. In order to get a building permit, there will be roughly $4000 worth of fees.

Next, you'll need to pay for the engineering and architecture of your home. This will vary depending on the project. It's best to have your builder and your architect work on the plan together so that you can be sure to have both the form and function of your home be exactly as you want.

Another part of these costs is going to be the impact fee. What this means is that you'll have to pay something like $2000 for public services like water treatment, roads, and parks. 

Foundation

Are you wondering: "how much to build a house foundation?" Let's take a look.

It's finally time to break ground on your brand-new home. In order to start building the foundation, expert operators and heavy-duty equipment are necessary in order to create a level surface on which to lay your home's foundation. Excavation costs can vary greatly, and if your plot of land is covered in large rocks just under the surface, you might be facing a steeper bill than you anticipated.

Once the land has been excavated, it's time to lay the foundation for your home. If you're choosing to build a house with a basement, this will generally cost more than building a house without a basement. You could incur additional costs if it's necessary to install retaining walls to keep soil from falling onto your foundation.

On average, you should budget for $25,000 towards this foundation work. It's a good idea to set aside an extra $1000 to give yourself some wiggle room.

The foundation of your home is the last place that you want to cut corners. As they say, you want to be the person who built their house on stone and not sand.

Framing

One of the priciest aspects of building your home is the framing. This is when the skeleton of your house is put together. The framing of your house requires a lot of lumber, so you can expect, on average, this aspect of things to cost at least $36,000 if not more.

You also will want to budget and roughly $4000 in order to install the trusses that support the roof if this isn't included in the cost of building the roof. On top of the, you will have to pay for the sheathing. If you add steel or metal materials to your framing, the costs will get even higher.

Exterior Finishing

It requires a lot of material to cover the exterior walls of your home. In total, you can expect exterior finishes the cost, on average, $33,000. You'll want to budget roughly $15,000 just for the exterior wall.

You'll also need to install other important features such as windows, doorways, and the garage. This should cost you somewhere around $9000. Another $8000 will go towards finishes on the roof.

For this part of the building, you will also want to leave an extra $1000 space in your budget in case the costs sneak up on you.

Major Systems

Another $33,000, on average, will go towards installing major systems in your home. These include electricity, plumbing, and an HVAC system, each of which costs somewhere in the range of $10,000 to $11,000.

Important to understand that these costs don't include the fixtures, such as lights, toilets, and sinks, that hookup to these major systems. Those costs will be included in the budget for interior finishes. Plan to have an extra $1000 for this category as a cushion.

Interior Finishing

One of the most expensive steps, when you are building a house, is the interior finishes. How much this will cost you will have a lot to do with what features and materials you decide to use, but, on average, this will run you $68,000.

Even if you have particularly simple tastes, there is no getting around this being a pricey endeavor. On top of these interior finishes costs, you'll want to budget around $17,000 for things like the driveway, the landscaping, or building a deck, patio, or porch. Lastly, you'll want to budget roughly $3000 for the final cleanup.

Miscellaneous Costs

Even though you have built extra buffers into each category, you'll want to set aside a "miscellaneous construction costs" category." You'll want to plan for $4000 to go towards the overall construction cost.

Sales Price

Finally, we come to the largest part of your budget. This cost can include what is called the finished lot, as well as the sales commission for real estate agents, profits to the vendor and builder, marketing charges, financing charges, overhead, and general expenses. On average, this will run you roughly $190,000.