Thinking of building a house - what should I know?
 

My search for a home to buy hasn't been successful yet and based on market prices and what we're looking for we're starting to consider the option of hiring a builder to build a home for us. My parents built their own home but that was 20 years ago so I'm not really sure where to start so I thought I'd ask those of you who have built houses or are builders for some starter advice.

Some questions I have:
- How should I go about getting a property? Are there agents who specialize in this? I've identified about 20 lots/homes in the area we want live in that may be candidates for us.
- Beyond the cost of the property and the builder's cost what are the additional costs I need to consider? How much will a lawyer cost (do I need one)?
- What does the bank expect from me? I assume I need a construction mortgage (I don't have 1.5MM lying around).
- How involved/uninvolved should I expect to be with the building of the house? (I come from a project management background in tech so am familiar with time/scope/budget and fussy clients etc).
- Sounds like $200/sf is a reasonable budget for the typical home being built in East Van. Does that sound accurate?

thanks,

here is a custom builders site - hope it helps!

Fraser Valley Custom Home Builder - Sonbuilt Custom Homes, Langley BC

If your considering building your house yourself, I would suggest you not rely on your experience in project management in tech. Though I'm sure your experience in managing time, scope, budget and difficult clients (or in this case, sub-contractors) is relatively transferable from your industry to construction, your lack of general knowledge of home construction would become an issue. I speak from experience in saying this as I've seen this occur a number of times, including in a project I'm presently on. In short, go through a builder and they'll regulate your involvement.

Yup, though it may be slightly on the low side as Van and the North Shore are more expensive to build in than other areas of the Lower Mainland.

When you eventually need an insulation bid, send me a message.

I don't really understand this website.

They present themselves more like developers than custom home builders.

Thanks. I should be clearer about this - I'm considering hiring a builder to build the home. My reference to my PM background was to say that I understand what the builder and their team will need to deal with. I've edited my post to reflect this.

going through this very process myself with my brother and parents.

how involved you get depends on you, and your builder. if you are very specific in what you want and your builder listens to you, you can be less involved. since they know what you want and how you want it

check up on where you build every so often. anything that is wrong is easier to change earlier than in later stages. if you find that there are mistakes after mistakes everytime you visit, then you will be more involved with the builder.

as for obtaining a property, are you buying a lot with a house on it that you will just knock down and rebuild? if so, i believe any realtor you choose should be fine.

as for cost, it depends on what you and your builder agree on when building. if you get predetermined budget for predetermined materials, then it would cost you more for you to "upgrade" these materials. always plan for being over budget simply because shit happens.

What's the ballpark for building a house in Calgary/Edmonton now a days?

Or is the cost/sf nearly the same. And its just the price of the land that's cheaper?

Yeah, we'll be knocking down a house. The trick, I suppose, is that the area has been rezoned duplex for several years (Norquay) and I bet most of the homeowners have had agents/developers knocking on their doors for awhile. I think I need an agent who's pretty aggressive about chasing down the right piece of land for us - that's not really the style of the agent I have (so I think).

Expect to spend more than your budget.

$200/ft is on the low end.

The more PM you can do, the more you save, but it's a bitch to deal with. However, a builder will try to maximize profits wherever possible whereas you will try to maximize savings.

Building a home is stressful no matter which path you choose.

Others have provided some good information already. But I'll touch on a few things that others haven't:

I only needed a lawyer to help with the documents associated with buying the property. Didn't need a lawyer during or after the construction process.

A contractor will make you pay in stages (maybe 3 stages?), and a construction mortgage allows you to draw funds in stages as well. I could be wrong, but interest rates for construction mortgages might be higher because there is a bit more risk for the bank. Once the construction is complete, your construction mortgage will be converted into a regular mortgage.

Do you need money just to pay for the construction? Or do you need money to pay for the lot + construction? In my case, I only needed money for the costs of construction. So I went to the bank, showed them I owned a old house, and they qualified me for a regular mortgage. I didn't tell them I demolished the old house and used that money to build. :)

Here's my thread from 2012: http://www.revscene.net/forums/66623...new-house.html

And here's another thread from 2014: http://www.revscene.net/forums/69263...ouse-tips.html

Thanks all for the help.

Found an agent that has a piece of land on the street I want to live on who's offering a build to order duplex for 968K a side (1900sf ea). The land was purchased for 1.088M last June so the profit margin sounds low for the builder unless he's building on the cheap (@$200sf that'd be less than 100K in profit which sounds low compared to what I'm seeing builders make in that area).

Any particular words of caution in this type of situation since it sounds like i'm locked into a specific builder?

Edit: putting in clearer math:

Property: 1.088M
Build costs @$200/sf: 780K (assumes 1950sf - I think FSR limits it to 1900sf actually)
Cost for builder: 1.868M

Purchase price for the whole duplex: 1.936M
Profit for builder: 68K.

thanks,

Edit. Re-read your post.. think I understand what you meant. Little confusing how it's laid out.

I think 100k is a decent profit for builders who average 3-4 homes per year.

The builder of the lot I'm interested in is C-Best Construction. Has anyone heard of them? Not much on them via Google - no working website. I drove to a few houses they've built - seems like fairly standard work (built to the customer's price).

I don't have personal experience with them, though I found their Facebook site through a Google search. Based on the pictures, their work looks to be standard, small scale developer quality, and though that's not too terrible it's not especially good. They'll be working with a budget of well-below $200/sf; I would suspect their budget is in the $16X/sf range.

Thanks, I got a walkthrough of a house they're just finishing and it looked alright but I can see where some corners were cut. Hard to see what's underneath the finishings though.

What's a $200-250sf house look like? Most of the ones I've seen at open houses look pretty comparable to what these guys have been doing (or worse - the 6 duplex unit on King Ed by Knight is pretty terrible).

Q: Where can I find out who the builders/agents are for houses that are under construction? I'm looking into the units that aren't complete yet and most don't have any signs outside saying who's building them.

Homeowner Protection Office | Homeowner Protection Office

You can find out by entering the address.

why are you locked in with a specific builder?

the finishing covers everything thats important. unfortunately, it is whats under the finishing that determines the quality of the build. i think that if you can see some corners cut, expect 10 others that you can't see.

see if you can take a tour of a house in progress. that should give you a better idea of the quality of the guys he hires.

This.

Maple cabinets, granite counter tops, brushed stainless Moen faucets... they may look pretty, but it's all lipstick and mascara. What's truly important is what sort of material was used beneath it all and how it was used.

I'm sure contractors hate people like this, but after the fiasco that was the build of our house in Salmon Arm, I'll never build a house without making sure I know exactly what's going on. Even if it means interrupting the workers so I can do a walk-through to see everything, so be it.

Why? One of the houses built on the property had the foundation laid 15* off. Doesn't sound like much, but it meant the difference between a view of the valley and mountains, and a view of the neighbour's house on the property below. Also, hollow concrete foundation. I've never heard a concrete floor echo until that day... :lol

Please tell me you aren't planing to build in City of Vancouver.
It is so f--k up right now with the new regulations & Bylaw changed since Jan. 1, 2015.
You are instantly tab on $50,000 from new house permit charge and the house demonstration rules.

For the specific property I'm looking at the builder owns the land so I'd be stuck with them if I wanted that spot. I'm looking at other lots but this one happened to be in my top 10

please elaborate.....i've been in construction for 12 years, hollow concrete isn't even possible




the major things you need to worry about as far as contractors "cutting corners" as everyone is saying is the things you don't see

most things are covered by code but it's going the step beyond that really make the difference

- 2x10 joist vs TGI
- plywood exterior sheathing vs particle board (i don't even know when this shit is still allowed at all)
- the type of insulation used (this is HUGE)......pay the premium and go with spray foam (and make sure it's a quality contractor)
- the types of windows used (quality company with good energy ratings, do your research)
- the type of roofing system
- subfloor prep prior to tile/hardwood
- heating cooling system installed (are all the ducts insulated?)
- foundation waterproofing (i have no idea what the code on single family houses is, but you want something decent, SBS or a good spray on
etc
etc
etc

anyone of these can add a ton of money but make the house that much more comfortable and worth it

little bit off topic but can someone in the industry clarify what exactly do you save if you rebuild a house using existing foundation instead of a new build?

From what I've heard, it's classified as a renovation thus less taxes/assessment. Or you don't need certain permits?

Thanks

well other than that maybe (i have no clue), there's the obvious savings of not having to demo the foundation and slab on grade concrete (removal and disposal), excavating the new layout, then pouring new footings and walls.....plus you'd have to redo all the below slab services as they'd all get fucked up during the demo

there's other things like the below grade foundation waterproofing that technically could be saved but depending on how old i'd excavate the walls and install new waterproofing and drain tile

another benefit would be able to build a larger square footage house on the existing foundation

are you saying that for you to rebuild on the land you MUST use the builder because he owns the land? and that is written down on contract when purchasing?

as far as i know, after you purchase the property, you can choose whoever you want to build on that property. after all, it is yours.