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Finances & Real Estate Construct a house

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Ad Vancouver, Sep 20, 2011.

  1. Ad Vancouver

    Ad Vancouver Guest

    Hi, does anybody have any idea how much it costs to build your own house in Vancouver? What is the average cost per sqft? If you already have a land of course.

    Thanks.
     
  2. Henry

    Henry Junior Member

    Houses in any Vancouver are generally very expensive. For around $800,000 you could would probably get 2,000 square feet, depending on the area, but If you move 30 minutes outside Vancouver you would get a way better house for that price, just the drive costs.
     
  3. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    ^Most of that is land cost though.
     
  4. steven

    steven Guest

    Hey Cheese,

    I have the same situation as you, own the lot and want to build the house. I have been doing a fair bit of research and the first quote I got was $200-250sqft depending on how nice you want your finishings etc.

    I have recently talked to a retired builder who said I could register myself and act as the prime contractor which would save me 35-50k right off the bat. Lots of questions depend on the city you'll be building in, certain cities have additional permits/inspections.

    I have done some additional research and feel confident that I can build my house for $100 - 150 a sqft.

    My questions is in regards to where should we look to raise a family? My wife and I currently own a lot/house in Coquitlam and are strongly considering selling it to move to an area with more young children (5 and under) around. We looked at census data from different cities but they are from 2007. Most young families we run into, have moved into the Cloverdale area. Any suggestions?
     
  5. APReal

    APReal Junior Member

    Steven, $100-$150 is very impressive if you can build a good house for that much. I don't mean to question your research as you've likely done more than me, but that seems surprisingly cheep to me on first glance. I was expecting over $200/sq foot.

    From my experience Cloverdale is a very good area for families, I've always liked it. I would expect a lot of young families in the South Surrey/Whiterock area as well.
     
  6. buildahome

    buildahome Guest

    $175-225 per square foot for a well finished home in Vancouver. The rule of thumb is that it is very easy to go above that, but very difficult to go below. With general contractors, you get what you pay for! There are some shady ones out there.
     
  7. plotophyte

    plotophyte Junior Member

    It depends on how you manage this job, you can always do it cheaper.
     
  8. mission

    mission Full Member

    What is the entire process like in contructing your own house?

    What are the tasks and costs involved in:

    • Buying the lot
    • Hiring the architecture
    • Getting the relevant permits
    • Hiring the builder
    • etc
     
  9. East Indian builders are $120 to $150 per sq. ft. but you do get what you pay for. Houses these days aren't built like they were in the 80s and 90s, workmanship is shit but it's masked by finishes like granite and stainless steel appliances because that's all people care about, so builders cheap out.

    The warranty on houses isn't reliable because there are so many fly by night home builders. The companies just close up shop and reopen under a new name so they don't have to be responsible for any problems down the road. Always look to see how long a company has been around for.
     
  10. vxx

    vxx Guest

    i'm in the business as a sub, my advice would be to avoid cheaping out. it's not just EI builders that cut corners. think about it this way, if you overpay, the consequence is that you've lost some money. if you underpay, you've adopted a huge list of potential costly problems down the road.

    i've seen some builders do some shady shit where you won't see it. they use cheap, low grade materials and even used materials. they will completely skip sections of attic insulation out of the inspector's sight. these are just some examples.

    hopefully with the real estate crash, people will start focusing on quality over cosmetic finishes.
     
  11. vxx

    vxx Guest

    to add, i would not suggest being your own general contractor unless you know what ur doing. you will be jerked around and taken for a ride, seen it happen too many times.

    hiring a reputable builder is the way to go
     
  12. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    So, do you have any recommendations?
     
  13. Joe

    Joe Full Member

    ...sounds like it's best to know how to do it yourself.

    Perhaps a person can't do the whole thing alone, needs some hired help or registered tradesman for various specialties (electrical, HVAC, plumbing/mechanical), but if you can do the framing, finishing, cabinetwork yourself, that could really shave corners quite a bit.

    btw, do you know percentage wise how much a person could save in labor and material costs by doing much of the basic functions of contracting by him or herself?

    Is it worth it?
     
  14. qualitybuilder

    qualitybuilder New Member

    Never trust an East Indian builder. I have been working in the trades for 8 years and they all compete on price. Quality is of no concern to them. They do mind boggling things. They have no ethics. No morals. They are the worst builders They are fast and only do garbage work. Not just bad work but work that is worse that a school kid would do. They do not care about the product or their customer. If they can get away with ANYTHING to save a buck, they WILL. I don't know why but ethics were never engrained into them. They will get an insulation inspection approval then go and remove half the insulation and cover it over. They will be told to reinforce the concrete floors with rebar and then do one room send a picture to the inspector get approval to cover... then not only will they not put rebar in the rest of the house but they will remove the rebar in the room they photographed and return it to Rona for a refund. They are doing third world work in our country and unsuspecting first time home buyers are being duped into buying their garbage. Please don't pay these guys a dime. Their mentality is so far different from a Canadian builders mentality. They are ruining our industry. This is not meant to be racist. This is my direct observation of 100's of experiences in the industry from Vancouver to Pemberton. Not one experience with an East Indian contractor has ever been good in any sort of way. They are nice people but be warned. I could go on and on and on.
     
  15. Henry

    Henry Junior Member

    You say.. "This is not meant to be racist.."
    but this is so wrong
     
  16. JohnMunint

    JohnMunint Guest

    When I first starting working in construction I thought what everyone was saying was wrong too. After eight years of seeing shotty work first hand I have concluded that there is a direct correlation between shorty work and race for whatever the confounding factor may be. This was mentioned above but I am just a bit more obvious.
     
  17. milquetoast

    milquetoast Senior Member

    What about Asian or Chinese builders?
     
  18. RMC

    RMC Guest

    wow what a racist!

    you get what you pay for in anything - sounds like some major sour grapes here, if they are all so bad they should be out of business? no sounds like many people are buying homes from these builders.

    i was ripped off by a Caucasian painter - took the deposit never showed back up?

    sounds like someone who just can't compete or wants to inflate prices on buyers.
     
  19. haha101

    haha101 Guest

    Stop complaining and start competing. There are good and bad in every race and every continent. Stop thinking that just because you are white and born in Canada, people should pay more for your work. In my opinion, anyone who generalizes based on their limited personal experience is not only narrow minded but lacks the skills and intellect to see beyond small bubble they they live in.
     
  20. just

    just Guest

    look. the guy is completely right. It has nothing to do with race, generally speaking the indian and asian carpenters will always cheap out. Ive ran into a lot of different carpenters, and ive never seen an asian or indian who knows what theyre doing (or potentially doesnt care).

    The reality of things is that most of the workers get hired by these companies because of a need for work and a language barrier. The people who run these companies hire east indians and asians because they are cheap, they could probably get away with paying most of them under $20 an hour. Which obviously means that the builder tries to profit as much as possible on every job. There are 3 ways of doing that: hiring cheap labour, buying cheap material, and reducing as much waste as possible. So these builders are hiring unqualified carpenters that are most likely immigrants and do not know the canadian building code in order to reduce costs. This is a byproduct of their lack of finance and own inability to transition to Canadian culture.

    If someone can do a job for you at a cost that is wayyy lower than any other offers, he most likely is garbage.
     

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