Cost of Building a New Home? Why isn't there a standard Price/SQFR

Cost Guide of Building your New Home

One of the most asked questions by prospective clients is, "What is your cost per square foot to build a new home?" Regretfully there is not a unique formula to determine this for every prospective home. Due to many different variables are included in pricing a home, it varies rarely; no two homes will cost the same. To learn more about a few of these expense drivers, resume reading below, and I will briefly go through a free of those details.  

Factors that Affect Home Pricing

Our estimators at Ridgeway Homes determine the price of your home based on a variety of factors that are specific to client choices:

• Size: The size and exterior wall layout of your home and the number of stories it contains are critical factors in home prices. Generally, the larger the house, the more you'll spend on building materials, worker safety costs, and material and labor sourcing. So, with the added time during the construction process, the cost of labor, and the regulatory laws and insurance requirements that we must comply with raise the price. 
• Lot Cost. Not only does the actual cost of the lot factor in, but the condition of the lot's location. Variables such as zoning by the local municipality, soil types, lot elevation, and accessibility all can raise or lower the total cost of construction.  

For example, if the local building codes do not allow for a certain type of soil to be unfit to build on, we have to incur the cost of excavation, removal, and installation, and compaction of new soil for the home’s foundation. Then issues such as elevation require either more earthmoving equipment work or the added cost of raising certain portions with foundation walls with fill dirt to make the home level.  

• Features: The more complex and detailed your design plan is, you will pay more. For, example, special order items, such as steel entry doors, Viking Appliances, custom light fixtures, and non-stock windows will cost more, along with the cost of the time lost waiting for them to be manufactured and delivered to your home site. 
• Upgrades: standard features or appliances or adding rooms will increase your cost. However, we at Ridgeway Homes, try to document and preorder all requested client upgraded and items to avoid the added cost of an upgrade via a Change Order, which can add $1,000 dollars depending on the situation.