Factors Affecting Your Home Building Costs

Factors affecting your home building costs.. starts with the price of your land. Because your building lot is part of your building budget then this has to be considered.

The next thing that effects the cost is the size of the house. If we use a figure of 85.00 per sq. ft. to build..[Of heated living space]... you can see where the larger the house... the more it will cost to build. For example a 1000 sq. ft. home costing 85,000 to build...compared to a 1500 sq. ft. home..which would cost half as much again..at 127,500.

The exception to this would be where a two story home having...say..1000 sq. Ft. on the first floor and 500 sq. ft. on the second floor,could cost less per sq. ft than the 1500 sq. ft. home on one floor. This is because the more expensive foundation and roof area are smaller, and so the cost per sq. ft. would be less.

The type of construction you use will affect the cost of building your home. Today with new technology there are several ways to build. The most common one being the STICK FRAME method,the one that most of us are more familiar with.

There are two other methods that have gained acceptance;

SIP PANELS and

Insulated Cement Forms.[ICF]

Structural Insulated Panels {SIP} are panels made from a layer of foam (polystyrene or polyurethane) sandwiched between two layers of Oriented Strand Board (OSB).

Insulated Cement Forms [ICF] are Styrofoam forms that are put together like Lego blocks to form the frame of a house. Once put together they are filled with cement.

Click here for more information on SIP Panels

Home building costs are directly related to the cost of building materials and this is where you may have to spend a little time to check out prices.

When all was considered...I found it better to buy the bulk of my materials at one place. I would then shop around for the bigger ticketed items.. like plumbing fixtures..appliances...heating equipment etc.

Your cost to build will add up the fastest.. as you start to buy the finish items for your home. This is a area you may find you have to cut back... or if your over runs have been kept to a minimum, you may be able to go for that better kitchen,that dream bathroom or up grade to hardwood flooring.

How you decide to build your home will probably have the biggest effect on your home building costs.

If you are able to build your home yourself, you will save as much as 50% on the cost to build. If you feel you are unable to do the work yourself,then consider subcontracting it out this approach will also save you considerably.

There are certain aspects of building a house that require professional help or specialized equipment but the more you can do yourself the lower your home building costs will be.

If you live in New Zealand, Abacus Finance can help with mortgage loans. Experienced mortgage brokers offer current mortgage rates and a range of finance options.

For more information click on the links below

Building Estimates

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