Pssssst: We finished the house and shared how much it actually cost to build here.
Ryan and I have been writing a lot of huge checks lately, so I thought it was worth talking about budget on a new construction home.
Obviously, our experience won’t be the same for everyone, but I thought some of you may be curious about how we plan to pay for the house and how the budget will be split up.
(Mostly because this is something Ryan and I are hugely interested in, and love perusing forums and blogs that are really transparent about home building costs.)
So, the bottom line is that right now, our goal is to spend $125,000 building this house from start to finish.
Here’s the break-down of where we see that budget going:
Ryan and I decided to share actual dollar amounts, because we think it just makes the most sense. I think that people are curious about what things really cost.
A few notes:
- Some of these prices should be very close from the estimates we received – lumberyard, windows/doors, foundation, kitchen and geothermal.
- Others are simply educated estimates based on what we’ve paid in the past. Things like insulation, electrical and plumbing are material costs we’ve dealt with in past renovations, so we made a best guess.
- Some things are split in strange ways. For example, the cost for the kitchen will include cabinetry and a few finish details (we plan to reuse the appliances in the barn and have hand-me-down granite countertops). But some of the plumbing and electrical and walls and building materials budgets will also go toward the kitchen cost. We just broke it out the way we thought would be simplest to keep track of.
- We’ve already accounted for the kickbacks we’re expecting for geothermal. So, we expect the initial cost to be higher and then be offset by rebates to get to the cost above.
We’ll try to share the budget breakdown throughout the coming months/year in order to stay transparent about where we’re at. I can’t promise how often this will happen or what it will look like, but we’re trying to keep track of everything and will do our best.
Here’s how our budget looks so far, based on our current expenditures.
A few other caveats:
- While we have hired out a few large jobs (foundation, geothermal), much will be done by us and our wonderful friends and family members. Which means that labor costs are minimal.
- We are paying for these costs using the proceeds of the sale of our last home, so price is a pretty large factor in our decisions. We obviously can’t afford to go crazy. We won’t be doing many major custom upgrades right away and are hoping to DIY as much as possible to keep costs down. For us, that means we’ll be keeping a close eye on things like lighting, millwork and kitchen/bathroom finishes. That doesn’t mean they will be crappy or “cheap,” but we won’t be going over the top or custom in these areas because we know they can be improved and DIYed over time.
- Although we want to save where we can, we are also being cautious to invest in (what we think is) the important stuff. These are things that are integral to our quality of life in the home and are long-term purchases (like heating/cooling, energy savings, structural integrity, windows). These type of purchases are something where we likely spend more than the “builder basic” in an effort to save costs and be happy with the purchases over time.
- The costs of the property itself, the barn, well, septic, and running electrical are not included in the costs outlined since they were finished last year. (We are still paying on the property, but the others were paid in cash and we consider them costs as part of finishing the barn.)
Honestly, $125,000 seems like a LOT of money to us. But when we’re looking at building our home on our dream area, it’s very affordable. And we know what new homes are being built for right now, so we’re comfortable with this cost.
Any questions about the budget?
(I’ll try to answer everything in the comments.)
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Elizabeth says
The other day I spent hours looking for your blog, today I found it by accident in Pinterest! I wanted to check on your house progress.
We have also built our own house in Texas. Still a work in progress.
It’s blogs like yours that gave us the courage to go for it and build our dream house for waaaaayyyyy less than anyone contractor quoted us! So thanks for sharing all this info!
Kim Woodward says
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you went for it – I hope you are making lots of progress.
Angie says
We are embarking on our first (hopefully only) home building journey and a dear friend of mine recommended I check out your blog. It is so helpful! Thanks for doing this! I read this post hoping to find a spreadsheet you used to create and manage your budget. Do you have anything you can share? We are blessed with a home building family and have lots of resources available…but managing the project as our own GC seems daunting and we’re trying to get organized and prepared.
Heather Aunspach says
I’m so glad I found your site. Most of the good ones I’ve found seem to be either “Do all the work yourself and build a house for $12,000” or “How we built our dream home for $450,000”. My plan is more like yours. We live in an inexpensive rural area (western South Dakota) and want to build a small-ish, sturdy, energy efficient house. I haven’t decided if I’m up for being my own general, yet. We are going to do a few things ourselves, like running the wiring, painting, and install the flooring, but we aren’t terribly handy or energetic. We have a large network of friends that we plan to call on for help and expertise. Your blog has really helped me make realistic plans. Thank you for all the hard work you put into it.
Joy says
Congratulations on your new build. We built our home as the GC for $65 a square foot (does not include the lot purchase cost) and it appraised for $115 a square foot. It can be done!
Farmer's Wife says
Hi Kim, I found your post through pinterest and then read through all the comments. excellent article! I love that you put the little bar graph in 🙂 My husband and I are owner building our own home in Washington State. The estimate for our 4,000 square foot home plus garage was a little over 1/2 million $$. I noticed a lot of people commenting that $125,000 is inexpensive so I wanted to leave a comment about that. People don’t realize the huge cost difference in hiring a general contractor to build your home vs being your own general contractor. Even if you don’t build the thing yourself, simply doing the planning, hiring, organizing, and managing can save 20-50% on a custom home. We are building our home for $300,000 which is $200,000 less then our quote. We aren’t finished yet, but our budget is on track. So I just wanted to give you an imaginary high five for taking on the huge project of building your own home and make sure that people realize when they are reading this, that your number is what is, because of your hard work in generaling your own house. Thank you for sharing your numbers, it is so helpful to people wanting to do what you are doing! I don’t mean to advertise really, but I do want to spread the knowledge … I have a website documenting everything we have done to build our own home including step by step instructions and prices on everything with purchased. The whole purpose is to help others who want to owner build, which I can see is obviously your intent too after reading this post. The website is farmhousefromscratch.com if anyone would like to take a look. I will be linking to your website as well because I think it is so helpful for people to see budgets on different styles and sizes of homes in order to get a better idea of what theirs will cost. No obligation really! I just like to spread the word that owner building is the way to go if you want to save hundreds of thousands on your custom home.
Thanks again Kim for your post! I will definitely be reading more of your stuff.
~Farmer’s Wife
Kim Woodward says
Thanks so much for the comment – and a virtual fist bump for all your hard work. It’s totally, 100 percent worth it. We did end up a little over budget – we actually just wrote the last big check so I need to work on an update after the new year. But it was still much more affordable than most people would realize. I actually came upon your site a while back (and I’m fairly sure I left a comment), but I’m glad you shared again. It’s always fun to connect with like-minded folks and I’m looking forward to reading about your progress. Thanks for stopping by.
Amy says
Kim,
Now that you’re in, do you might updating the budget/charts? I’m quite curious where you might have been over/under. I understand it may take some time to gather receipts and math it all out, but I bet you’re the super organized person that’s been keeping track this whole time (color me jealous).
We’re looking to build in about 2 yrs (also in IL, but in town, not rural). So any figures you have would be interesting to us. We hope to do a lot of it ourselves as well.
Thanks!
Amy
btw- I’m from your neck of the woods. Grew up in Wyoming, family in Galva, now in CU.
Kim Woodward says
Amy – this is totally on my list. I’m shamefully very behind on budgeting but I will definitely circle back to this when I get myself in order.
melody says
I noticed you did not include the cost of the land/property the house will sit on. Or the cost of it getting tested, perked for water etc. I would like to know how to do the math to figure out how much land/home we can afford before starting.
Melissa says
Did you mention if you were over/under budget? If so by how much? If you did mention this, I’m sorry- I missed it. Thank you for sharing. This is good insight as we begin the process of looking into building ourselves!
Kim Woodward says
Haven’t posted an update. Still waiting on a few final invoices, but I’ll try to update when I can.
John moore says
We are bout to build too would love to converse.
Where is your build. And how many sf of heated space?
Kim Woodward says
We are in rural Illinois. Our main living space is about 1540 square feet, but we have a full walkout basement that isn’t finished but is heated (another 700 sq feet or so).
Nancy says
I would like to know what was the size of the house you build?
Great article!
Kim Woodward says
The house is about 1500 square feet, not including a full basement (which is probably another 750 square feet). You can check out all the details on this section of our blog – https://newlywoodwards.com/building-house
April says
That’s amazing!! Location is definitely a factor… We are looking to build on 2 acres in Utah & those lots will be $500,000! We may need to move where you are!!!!
Kim Woodward says
Holy cow! That’s insanity.
nowayjose says
$150k for a new house… obviouisly you are doing 90% of the labor as that would be another $100k minimum… land where I live is about $150k per ACRE… enjoy the build… $150k would mean I could build new, move and have no mortgage… what a thought!
Kim Woodward says
Yeah, it’s certainly going to be different depending on your location. (And this doesn’t include the land – which we purchased a few years ago.
Colleen Evans says
Remember to include permitting and impact fees. These will obviously be specific to your area but some places have very high impact fees, upwards of $4 per square foot. It’s important to know the fees in your area so you don’t have any surprises.
Kim Woodward says
Great points – thanks for sharing your tips! As I mentioned, we don’t have any permitting or impact fees because we have a rural exemption.
Jennifer says
Hi Kim. Awesome blog!! We are north of you (west Michigan) and will be tackling our first owner-builder project as soon as the ground thaws, typically mid-April. I’m serving as the gen. contractor and lining up all of the subs and working this winter to get all my permits submitted. It is a lot of work with much more to come. I love the honesty you shared and really like the graph that presents budget amount and actual amounts. Please continue to add your ups nd downs of the process.
Kelly says
What part of the country are you in? That affects costs too.
Kim Woodward says
I’m in Illinois – and you are totally correct! As I tried to make clear in the post, our experience is strictly based on our own circumstances. But, with that said, I’ve read tons of accounts of people building their own house from coast to coast for about the same (and much less) that our budget. It’s totally doable.
Al says
Did you do this without permits? The permit alone to build a home start at $13,000 in my area.
Kim Woodward says
Yep – we live on 17 acres and received an ag exemption for a dwelling. Which means we don’t have to secure permits for any of the work. This is all outlined in the post – the costs will vary widely based on a variety of factors like this. But I’m just trying to be open about how much we personally budgeted.
Kirsten - Sweet Tea & Saving Grace says
I’m so glad I stumpled on your post from Pinterest! I’m anxious to see what else you’ve shared since this first post.
My husband and I recenly found property that we would love to buy, and slowly build our home there, so this is perfect. I appreciate your transparency. Looking forward to seeing your new home!!
Brandy says
It is refreshing to read something like this as we are finalizing the purchase of our land currently and will be building in the Spring of 2016! My fiance and his brothers will be doing a lot of the interior installation of cabinets, flooring, etc. which helps save on a lot of the labor costs!
If you don’t mind me asking, how many people did you go to for bids?
Kim Woodward says
Congrats on your land! We only contracted out a couple of things – for those, it varied on how many bids. We tried to get 4-5 when we could, but it didn’t always work out. We had a hard time getting people to get back to us and quote us – especially for roofing and insulation. But for the big ticket things (heating/cooling, concrete), we tried to get at least 4. Good luck!
Becca s says
Wow! That seems real inexpensive. I’m glad I stumbled on your blog via Pinterest. You have a lot of valuable information here!
Kim Woodward says
Thanks so much, Becca! I need to update this as there are some things we’ve missed. But we’re really trying to keep this affordable so we don’t have more than we can handle financially.
Becca sargent says
And I love that! It’s great to see that even I could afford to do this too. Thank you for sharing that.I feel like money is not the limited for our family, but time sure is for me! Looking forward to seeing more from you 🙂
Becca s says
Wow! That is really in expensive. I’m glad I stumbled on your blog via Pinterest. There seems to be a lot of valuable information here.
WendyP says
We are currently building on the east coast. Your numbers are a slight bit less than ours (we are not building ourselves). Another thing we are learning is there are costs that we did not take into consideration, and we’re not specifically told about such as surveying by an engineer, septic design (2 because the original design the township SEO suggested would not work according to the engineers), site plan, and dry well design. And I’m sure there will be more surprise costs before we are finished. Your approach to diy things later is smart. Put your money in the things that cannot easily, inexpensively be changed, Windows, roof, insulation, etc. it’s scary, stressful and will all be worth it when we are done. Good luck to you!
Kim Woodward says
Definitely a great point – stuff always pops up you aren’t expecting. Hope your build is going well!!
Peggy says
It’s great you are building your own home and your budget looks realistic although there’s a few things unaccounted for: building permits, excavation, driveway (gravel or paving material), garage door, floor coverings, closet shelving, mirrors and towel bars, dumpster fees for construction debris, temporary heat at job site (if your project is in a cold climate and you are building during the colder months you will need a portable heat source to complete drywall, paint, and wood flooring. Also, mailbox and house numbers, that may seem like a trivial cost but they add up to bottom line. Always smart to include a contingency fund, which you have.
Kim Woodward says
Thanks for the comment, Peggy. I think I covered this in the post, but it’s worth mentioning again that our estimated numbers are just that – an estimation and exclusive to our situation. Every single build will be different. But I think you’ve brought up a lot of great things to consider for others building.
I actually think I mentioned a lot of the things you say I missed, but not everything. Most notable, we don’t have to budget for building permits because we don’t have them. We have a farmland exemption. Excavation and driveway were already complete so they aren’t in our “building” budget. That is also the case for our well, septic and electricity. We are upcycling most of the flooring (and the rest was planning to be covered in our excess elsewhere), we already have the paint we’ll be using as part of a relationship with a paint company, dumpsters aren’t going to be needed, portable heat source won’t be needed, etc. We did miss the garage door in our budgeting (GAH!) and a several other things – especially those pesky trips to the hardware store that add up (nails, screws, etc.) And those little things have definitely upped our budget in several notable categories. And you are right about the little stuff like house numbers – it totally adds up!
Anyhow, I really appreciate you taking time to comment. These are all great things to consider!
Amber @ Wills Casa says
I think it’s super brave to be this honest about the build cost. The house is going to be incredible and that is a great price for a custom build. Y’all have been so planned and intentional on every detail of this process. You smarties!
Trina @ Let's Just Build a House blog says
I hope you can stick to budget! We were very close to ours, but stuff adds up QUICK especially when you have to run to menards here or there for dumb little things you didn’t account for!
Kim says
I meat to edit my comment about $125k being on the low end. Though it’s a lot lower than what I’m seeing out around my area, it’s definitely not a # to be scoffed at!! Sounds like you guys have a good handle on the cost of things and what you want and how to save. Really looking forward to seeing how it all comes together! (so I can convince my dear husband I’m not crazy for wanting to go this route!)
Kim says
It’ll be interesting to see how close we come to the budget – everyone tells me it’s really easy to go over and I can see how that could happen. (The window budget was WAY lower before we actually did the choosing.)
Dana says
We live in the QC area as well and are looking to buy in the next year. We haven’t considered building because we have no idea how much it costs to build. Do you mind sharing costs for the well, septic and running utilities? Also, how many bedrooms will it have? Thanks!
Kim Woodward says
It’s going to be a big variance in the QC if you are looking to build in a subdivision over acreage. We purchased 17 acres about 20 minutes from the center of the QC. The land, septic, electricity and well all added up to about $125,000, too. That doesn’t include the cost of the barn in any way, and I honestly am not sure what the final number for that way without looking into it a little more. So, the other costs just about double the cost of building the house. However, this would be very different if we were looking for a smaller lot in town. Hope this helps!
Kim says
Wow, the $125k number is definitely on the low end! Though I guess taking out the cost of the land helps that. I’m in Iowa, so you’d think it’d be cheaper. But some lots in my city are going for 99k!! A quarter acre lot is $65k! We’re still thinking of building somewhere – just waiting for the right lot. I can’t believe building costs today, though – absolutely insane. Thanks for sharing it all – so good to see the real side of it and not just the pretty finished product!
Kim says
Land can definitely be a zinger. I guess on the positive side, many builders allow you to roll that cost into a mortgage. That’s not something we could do for the amount of land we were purchasing. Best of luck!
Squatch says
Tell Woody to contract out mudding/taping the drywall. Not worth doing yourself in terms of speed and finished quality.
Kim says
Ugh. I’m with you. But Ryan mentioned something about a friend in Iowa who would be a great help with finishing the walls. (Psst: That’s you. Mark your calendars.)
Rachel says
I love this! We are toying with the idea of buying land and building over the next year or so, and we’re having the hardest time figuring out how money needs to be spent. If you build in a big development, I’m sure the cost is different and structured differently than if you buy your own land and bring your own builder, so we can’t seem to figure out what things will cost if you don’t buy the land/building/builder as a bundle deal. So I’m really glad you’re sharing specific numbers, as it gives us an idea of what to expect and where to start.
Kim says
It’s really difficult to pin down a specific number. It just varies so much across the country and based on your particular house plan and decisions. For us, we tried really hard to draft a plan that would be less expensive to build and easier for us to do ourselves. The draftsman helped us do this in a way that made sense. As we started to get actual bids, we were amazed by the variation of costs from one vendor to another – I mean, bids for building materials varied by almost $20,000! Anyhoo, all that to say that I feel you! Buliding a house is not for the faint of heart (or wallet).
Brittaney says
Thank you for sharing this, I have always been interested in stuff like this. I know this means nothing to you, but that house with that land would go for at least 450,000 in the Boston area. So just wheel it on down, sell it here, make a ton of money and you’ll be all set! Haha I can’t wait to see how this all comes together. I love that you are being frugal too. My kind of woman!!
Kim says
Wheeling it down could be a bit of a challenge. 😉
But it’s definitely something that varies in different areas of the country. And it doesn’t include the land, which was another huge expense when it all comes down to it. Between the land, septic, well and electricity, it would more than double this cost.
But as far as structure goes, this is a pretty doable number, I think.
Stephanie @ Sandpaper and Glue says
I appreciate you sharing actual costs and being so transparent about the process– it’s so interesting to read about (and is wildlyyyy inexpensive compared to where I live, so that’s pretty fascinating too 🙂 ).
Antonella | Love Your Home Blog says
Where I’m from, $125,000 to build a new home is very, very cheap! I suppose this excludes the land cost? You are very lucky to do it for that budget. I think it will be fab! I always dreamed of building a cottage, so I’m excited for you.
What is the square footage of the new house?
Good luck with everything!
Kim Woodward says
These costs only include the breakdown above. It doesn’t include the acreage, well, septic or running new electricity. These are already costs we’ve completed (with the barn) so they aren’t in the total. That would obviously add a whole lot more. But, I think I was pretty open about what this does include – pretty much the structure from top to bottom.
The square footage is about 1,500 sq ft plus a fully-exposed basement (another 700+ sq ft).
Hope you get to build your cottage soon!
Brenda Scott says
This is a great post!
I’ll be building on acerage….and will need the well, septic & electric brought in. Can you share what those costs were approximately?
Thank you!
Kim Woodward says
Brenda – the costs are going to vary so widely that I almost hesitate to share. I did mention that our costs of our build were more than doubled with the cost of the land, well, septic, electricity, driveway, etc. Because of our specific property, the cost of the well and septic were both higher than our local average. (The well had to drill to over 200 feet. And since it costs by the foot, it’s a big expense. Similarly, the way they had to run the septic was a bit more complex because of our land and drainage.) If I remember correctly, we paid about $35,000 for all three. A few grand for the electric to be run to a new box on the property, about $10k for the septic and upwards of $20k for the well. Hope this helps!
Steve says
Building in Idaho currently.
Estimates are:
$7,100 for a 100 foot deep well (pump and filtration will be another $5K)
$21,000 for power. Understand I am on 40 acres so I had to drag power 1,000 feet. Went underground and had to pay the neighbor $4,000 for an easement (Power company wrote the easement)
$13,000 for the Mound septic system. (see Wisconsin Mound on-line you tube)
Propane I have not set up yet but I believe a purchased tank will be $1,000 to $2,000. (this was from another estimate on another property that fell through)
But as noted my place is different. On 1,000 ft of river frontage, 1/2 mile from access road with a water table at 5 feet down and I choose to run power underground. Cheaper to run pole to pole generally, $2,000 per pole, 325 ft span pole to pole then transformers etc;