Auction on two lots in WaterColor

[traderx]

Took me less than 2 minutes to find code issues w/ those plans and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. :roll:

Would you kindly share a few of the code issues with us?

 

[TooFarTampa]

Isn't this what I told you the other day when you asked me about building for you?

All of this said, you may want to look at Chris Clark, Brad Beauchamp, Doug Allen or Tony Martin. They have all built in JOE communities. I like the way their homes look and they might be priced well.

You seem to be pretty strange. I tried to help you with free information and asked nothing from you. What builder gives out the names of 4 competitors to someone considering hiring them?


I like Sowal.com I check it in the morning, sometimes at lunch and in the evening. We are living without TV and are getting our content from the web. Look for a steady stream of Posts from me in the future.

Brad Beauchamp has done cost plus contracts for some friends of ours. I've talked to him regarding other matters and he seems like a good guy. Are you or any other builders you know doing cost-plus contracts these days? If you have a solid plan that is well ironed out ahead of time, it seems like it would be a fairly transparent process and a win-win.

 

[AAbsolute]

Brad Beauchamp has done cost plus contracts for some friends of ours. I've talked to him regarding other matters and he seems like a good guy. Are you or any other builders you know doing cost-plus contracts these days? If you have a solid plan that is well ironed out ahead of time, it seems like it would be a fairly transparent process and a win-win.

I've never been lucky enough to find a customer willing to do cost plus. I guess I should be trying a different approach. My contracts are fixed price. If the Owner doesn't know what kind of light fixtures, plumbing, cabinets or other detail they want before they start we just have to give an allowance. We give them the option that we will guarantee they don't exceed the allowance if they will let us make the selection, other than that they use the allowances however they want. We've had some people who have had us add an allowance for decorating or other contingencies too so their bank will roll that into the construction loan. One customer in Rosemary performed a lot of his own finishes and wound up getting about $32,000 back at completion because he did not use up his allowances.

When that dude Chanster reached out to me I was happy to run through the exercise with him on pricing. I just told him the truth as I know it and recommended Brad and the other builders because their work looked good from what I saw. I still don't know what I did to upset him.

 

[traderx]

Brad Beauchamp has done cost plus contracts for some friends of ours. I've talked to him regarding other matters and he seems like a good guy. Are you or any other builders you know doing cost-plus contracts these days? If you have a solid plan that is well ironed out ahead of time, it seems like it would be a fairly transparent process and a win-win.

There are arguments pro and con for cost plus and fixed cost. I built two homes on a cost plus basis and will never do it again. On the second home, I was going through the invoices and on the invoice was a handwritten note by the cleaner who said: I added the extra amount as per our discussion.

Good thing I didn't have an AK-47 in my hands. Since cleaning was near the end of the building cycle, how many times and with how many subs had this happened? I guess the moral is: ensure that you trust your builder before signing the contract. I trusted mine but had no reason to do so.

 

[Matt J]

We put + or - $85,000 worth of custom impact widows and doors into a home with 4,900 square feet under roof. I think that's about $17 per sq. foot.

Those were custom built? Sounds cheap for all of it custom.

There is a guy on here on Sowal who can't be stumped on windows and doors. His handle is ASH. You just can't stump him. If you ever want to know anything about windows or opening protectives you should really save his name. For the record, I haven't bought anything from him and we're not partners or anything like that.

I chatted with ASH before and I know he's incredibly knowledgeably on the subject. The reason I made the comment is that South of the Bay or sowal for short requires doors and windows that would not be required in Atlanta. I believe the original question that started all this was why can a house be built in ATL for less than a house here. A difference in code would be one pretty good reason for the difference in cost.

 

[Matt J]

We are talking about building costs, not selling prices. Your example of $130k for 900SF only equates to $140 per SF--was that the builders cost or did it include land and markup. And, it sounds like the $300k is the current resale value, not building cost. Also, it almost always costs more to build in places like Telluride where it is much more difficult to get materials in and out, the weather wreaks havoc on building conditions for a good part of the year and labor is scarce. This is not the case with SoWal. So, it may cost more to build in Telluride, but I would guarantee you it does not cost anywhere near $400 per SF in Telluride.

Oh look Captain square footage is back.

Actually it equates to $144.44 per SF. John R clearly stated he purchased the home for $130k so the logical conclusion is that was the market price at the time. As to nit picking over the resale value who cares, in your world everything boils down to cost per SF anyway. I've watched you in numerous threads compare a new construction home to a resale using cost per SF and didn't bat .01 SF of eyelash.

 

[traderx]

I chatted with ASH before and I know he's incredibly knowledgeably on the subject. The reason I made the comment is that South of the Bay or sowal for short requires doors and windows that would not be required in Atlanta. I believe the original question that started all this was why can a house be built in ATL for less than a house here. A difference in code would be one pretty good reason for the difference in cost.

And I understand that even though I don't know all the requirements in SoWal. OTOH, they are more requirements or standard building items in Atlanta that you don't see in SoWal. For example, basements and the grading for basements. A poured ten foot wall is fairly expensive. Steep roof pitches are the norm in Atlanta and from what I have seen, roofs in SoWal are fairly shallow. Multiple fireplaces and volume ceilings galore. Another biggy in Atlanta are garages. I don't recall seeing many garages in WC, etc. When you net out all the differences, I cannot see how SoWal homes cost double what a home in Atlanta costs.

 

[Matt J]

And I understand that even though I don't know all the requirements in SoWal. OTOH, they are more requirements or standard building items in Atlanta that you don't see in SoWal. For example, basements and the grading for basements. A poured ten foot wall is fairly expensive. Steep roof pitches are the norm in Atlanta and from what I have seen, roofs in SoWal are fairly shallow. Multiple fireplaces and volume ceilings galore. Another biggy in Atlanta are garages. I don't recall seeing many garages in WC, etc. When you net out all the differences, I cannot see how SoWal homes cost double what a home in Atlanta costs.

Good points, I guess were just not a Home Depot hub.

 

[fisher]

Oh look Captain square footage is back.

Actually it equates to $144.44 per SF. John R clearly stated he purchased the home for $130k so the logical conclusion is that was the market price at the time. As to nit picking over the resale value who cares, in your world everything boils down to cost per SF anyway. I've watched you in numerous threads compare a new construction home to a resale using cost per SF and didn't bat .01 SF of eyelash.

If I had cared to be exact in my number, I too could have easily calculated the exact number. However, I assumed that rounding to the nearest large round figure would do fine for sake of example.

I do believe that cost per square foot is the way most builder price homes. That's how they determine the basis for the amount of wood, concrete, roofing material, etc that will go into a home. If you don't think building costs boil down to primarily cost per square foot (plus builder profit), you might not want to try negotiating a contract for the construction of a home for yourself. You will get taken to the cleaners.

And, I do believe this thread had been moving in the direction of discussing the cost to build per square foot when John R started mixing the discussion up between cost per square foot and market value. I was responding to his mixing of messages.

 

[John R]

We are talking about building costs, not selling prices. Your example of $130k for 900SF only equates to $140 per SF--was that the builders cost or did it include land and markup. And, it sounds like the $300k is the current resale value, not building cost. Also, it almost always costs more to build in places like Telluride where it is much more difficult to get materials in and out, the weather wreaks havoc on building conditions for a good part of the year and labor is scarce. This is not the case with SoWal. So, it may cost more to build in Telluride, but I would guarantee you it does not cost anywhere near $400 per SF in Telluride.

fisher, have you worked in Mountain Village? I am quite clear about costs in Telluride, and am fully aware about labor and freight. maybe you are using your standards about fixtures and finishes, etc, but there are different standards elsewhere.