Posted on 01/12/2014 8:42:03 PM PST by TurboZamboni
Big or small, contemporary or traditional, kit homes are an intriguing alternative for homebuyers today. Most kit homes are designed to be swiftly assembled by even novice do-it-yourselfers, and the price per square foot runs as low as $20 (and as high as $400). We've pulled together some of our favorite kit homes, and the tour starts here!
(Excerpt) Read more at bobvila.com ...
Tract builders are basically building kit homes. They build the same 8 to 10 plans over and over. After the first few they know the exact cost and there is little waste. And they typically have around a 30% mark up. Bear in mind their overhead is probably 15%.
By this time next year I hope to have a 1,300 s.f. home built for around $50 a s.f. Add $15,000 for a city lot (in a small Texas town) and my payments will be around $450 a month plus property taxes and insurance.
You can get high end custom for what some of those cost per square foot. And you can get an existing house with land in much of the country for what a lot of them tally. Four of them look like they might be cost effective for a get-away cabin.
Prices per square foot:
225-300
225-400
28-60
20 up
218.75 (shipping container)
75-150
75-100
125 up
165-200
$25,000 for a garden shed on wheels
49-174
34-65
100
?
40.62
I used to figure $70 a square foot for a nice finish out on a used home on a good lot; anything more was for location.
Bumping for later with mrs p6, thanks!
btt for later
Nice, I had a friend in Maine who lived in a dome. Domes are nice homes.
As I understand it—and I hope you will correct me if I’m wrong—the real problems with building something like this are first, that it’s very hard to get a construction loan, so you have to pay cash up front for everything, and second, that you have a prolonged construction process because you have to buy the land, contract to put in the utilities, well, septic, foundation, driveway, outbuildings, etc., and supervise the trades as your own general contractor. The regular tract-house builder can turn these houses out on an assembly-line basis but it is a little more exasperating and time-consuming for one or two guys. Still, it’s a good idea and very much worth considering.
Sounds like a nice setup.
I have a friend who started a company where he serves as the “builder of record”. He manages the job just like any other “builder”. So, the construction loan is easy to get.
That’s IF you qualify for a permanent mortgage. Bottom line is he’ll build the house for $6.15 above cost. With me, that won’t be charged because I’ll manage the job myself using his trade contractors.
The way it works is you get a 90% loan based on the appraised market value. With the first draw you pay off the land. Since I’m doing it myself I’ll save the builder’s overhead and builder profit. I’ll end up borrowing about 75% of the loan amount.
It always takes a little longer so you pay a little more in interim interest on the construction loan than a tract builder. His trades finish a job and move to the next lot. The trades I use will have to travel a little farther, and truthfully, they’ll put me off for a week if one of the bigger builders calls them.
Very charming!
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