Framing

[qaguy04]

Can someone give me a fair price that I should be charged for sq ft?

[Cole]

lol, broad question.

Do you have a set of prints you could post and then we need more details.

[geminz]

I want to build a home in Texas when I move in about two years. I'm in Hawaii and it's difficult to determine the cost of various types of construction over in Texas. I mean, the price difference between a manufactured, modular or stick build and is brick cheaper than wood in Texas. Can anyone help me?

[Cole]

What part of Texas?

And what style of home are you looking at?

[Big Builder]

we need details man!

[geminz]

A 3 bdrm 2 bath ranch type. Moderate cost for cabinets etc. Really, I just want to know what the average per sq ft cost is for home construction in Winnsboro, Texas.

[Cole]

For framing I am going to say $2.75-$3.75!!!

Its not a misprint!!

[Rich]

For labor and materials - 12-20 depending on materials used.

[11chaos]

You should be looking around $102 per square foot. That is for a house priced at $180,000.00. This is a overall price. I just paid $146 per sq ft for my house.

[David]

Chaos - Where are you getting those numbers from?

[11chaos]

This is a total price not a break down of rough framing. I should have been more specific. I do have a bad case of that, Sorry. I felt like qaguy04 was really asking for a total price not just a framing but maybe I misread it.

[David]

Housing tends to run cheaper here in TX! I paid $67/sf for my house, all total.

[Cole]

That is cheap.^^^^^^^

[David]

So is the quality, so I'm preparing to build my own.

[Cole]

Ahh, that sucks to hear about the quality.

[David]

The old addage usually holds true:
"You get what you pay for." I can't find anyone who's moved into our neighborhood who had a pleasant experience. Really, the house in't terrible, but I think I can do better.

[Cole]

No, you know you can do better.

[David]

OK, yes, I can do better in quality!

What I am happy about is the lesson I've learned. That is, the difference between the great builders and any other, is that the great builder can say: "You know what, I can see your point of view. That is a mistake, and give me a couple of days and I'll get back to you with how I plan to remedy that mistake." Really, is that such a hard thing to say?

Sorry to get off topic!

[11chaos]

Average house where I work is $600K for a starter home. Where I live it's about $350K and still going up. Quality is still a question because unless I build it I won't be happy as I should be. Yes, I can build a house myself except for the plumbing and electrical stuff.

[Roy J.]

Hadn't seen this post in the past. If you decide to build your own home--how will you get a loan to build your own house (unless you have all the cash) while listing yourself as the contractor? Ride under somebody else's contractor's license? Here in Texas I don't think the owner can be listed as the builder if a bank loan is involved.

[David]

Roy, I have heard the same thing. However, I think the owner can get around that by forming a 'company' to do it. Have you looked into it?

[Don_P]

I didn't think TX had licensing or it was quite easy to get one?
Banks tend to frown on owner builds but we've had good luck with small town institutions. I often work as a sub on owner GC'ed projects.

[Roy J.]

Dave, I haven't dug very deeply into the process however I used to work for a large builder here and when he built his personal home he used one of his supervisor's independant licenses to get a bank loan. Forming a company though, that might be something I check into. Thank you for the tip. I'm hoping to build my own home if I can get around this somehow. Maybe somebody else will chime in with some more ideas.


Don, yes it's fairly easy to get a local/county license here. The state ones are a more expensive but most of the guys I've worked for/with use a local license.

[David]

Don - Yeah, it's easy to get a license. Even bankrupted businesses can easily reform a new business and start building again. If the company screws up, they just close the doors and reopen under a new name.

Roy - I was told that in order to get a state GC license I just need to send Austin about $50 and the right form. No test. Nothing else. I don't have mine yet because I first want to start a company and put the license in the company name.

Too bad Cole disappeared. He knows a lot about building in Texas.