The housing issue for many people is a major concern. Some of them are looking for their dream house with the help of real estate agencies, some are remodeling their dwelling and a certain amount of people are constructing a house from scratch.
Aside from the obvious challenges of that project the main advantage outweighs – you can build a home exactly according to your requirements. However, as everything comes at a price, how much money it costs to build a house? Let’s clear that up!
Average Home Building Cost
The final cost of the custom home building in Chicago is determined by various factors. It’s important to choose professional custom home builders in Chicago, who can estimate the project on the basis of your preferences. However, on average you could construct your home in between $200 – $400 for square foot. As a result, a standard 2 300 square feet house for a single-family will be worth between $460 000 – $920 000. Speaking about Chicago and its metropolitan areas the price of the house from the ground up is about $550 000. Nonetheless, $400 for a square foot isn’t the limit. If you are planning to build a luxury custom home the cost could rise to $600 for square foot and even more.
No matter what kind of home you’ll choose, the average price per square foot will be distributed as follows:
• 42% goes to labor starting mostly from $40 for square foot;
• 35% of the build cost you’ll spend on materials;
• 23% contains other expenses such as building licenses and design.
Other price control factors
Except for the above-mentioned price modifiers, some other factors affect the total building budget.
• Home Project
Before starting the home construction you’ll need to have a house plan. Its price depends on the company/specialists you’ll invite and normally fluctuates between $1 500 and $8 000. Pay attention that the work of the custom home builders isn’t included in the average price for square foot mentioned above. For example, you may invite an architect to create a blueprint, building documentation, and generally to manage the building process. This service in Chicago will cost you about $6 000 for one project. However, your architect might have a different type of evaluation and has a tariff per square foot or as a percent from the overall cost of the project.
Consequently, you could invite a structural engineer to modify functional features of your dwelling such as doors/windows moving, solar panels attachment, second (third, etc.) floor adding, updating houses in the natural disasters zones, and so on. In Chicago, it’ll be worth between $400 and $800.
• Land lot price
The price of the plot where you’re going to build your home in Chicago varies from $15 000 to $250 000. Though, there are ground areas of the hire price. It relies on the location, ground quality, lot size, and available utilities. Unfinished land lots in rural areas are much cheaper starting from $5 000.
• Land clearing price
Normally, land for sale is ready for building, though you might need some additional preparation in leveled or rocky areas. For that purpose, you’ll need to hire a backhoe for $60 – $90 per hour.
• Connections
Ground areas that weren’t connected to the water lines, electric grid, and sewers were considered to be unfinished. Connection to the utilities will cost between $1 000 and $5 000.
• Size
Builders take their fee according to the square foot measure. So, the bigger house you want, the more you are going to pay. The most popular home size in the USA varies from 2 300 to 2 500 square feet. Though, Chicago dwellers according to statistics don’t like big homes. The average size of houses in Illinois is about 1 650 square feet.
• Shape and design
The shape and design of your home is probably the key factor that influences the number of materials, the complexity of an architect’s work and builders’ pay. It could also prolong the time of construction which affects the total cost as well. Additional design features such as a walkout basement, pool, the guest house add value to your real estate, but worth a pretty penny to build and maintain. For example, the above-ground pool construction will cost Chicagoans from $1 000 to $7 000 and its annual preservation will be at least $600.
• Foundation
Home construction with an already built foundation will cost roughly $150 per square foot in case it doesn’t require repairs.
The foundation renovation in Chicago will be worth from $300 to $6 500, which is much lower than a new cellar construction.
DIY to cut the price
As you can see labor is the main part of the home construction cost. So, the most obvious decision is to do-it-yourself option. People save up to $60 000 though they spend much more time. Plus not all work could be DIYed. And you need to know lots of things, such as building codes and different repair nuances.
On the other hand, you could build a home according to your schedule. As a result, you could embody your vision of the project. More than that, you won’t constantly think about budget cuts, as there are no workers who need to be constantly paid wages. You work for the result.
Nevertheless, building a house yourself sometimes adds problems, because you are lack skills. You could waste materials as you don’t know how to work with them or injure yourself since you don’t have assistance.
Brief Home Construction Guide
Building a home is a complicated process with lots of small tasks that shouldn’t be mixed up. Here are the main stages of home construction:
1. Establish a financial plan
Realizing your limits before you even buy land won’t give you chance to waste money on too expensive design.
2. Buy a lot
If you find a piece of land with a perfect location, though dreadful home – don’t rush to discard this option. The utility systems connection will be more expensive than home demolition.
3. Imagine your project and create a blueprint
At this stage, the architect would be at hand or you could buy a building plan online.
4. Put documentation in order
Don’t start any works without permits. Plus, you need to find a contractor with insurance that’ll cover the whole process of building. Insurance isn’t needed if you hire different contractors for different pieces of work.
5. Construction itself
As you can see the building home is only the fifth stage and requires thorough preparation.
6. Invite a specialist for a final inspection
Inspector confirms that the home you’ve built is safe and you can live in it.
FAQ
Does the Price Depend on the Home Type?
Yes. The home type you choose affects the building budget a lot. For example, a modern home with minimalistic design and big picture windows could cost up to $15 million. Victorian houses due to their exquisite features such as decorative trim, dormers, wraparound terraces, and pointy roofs will cost about $500 000. For saltbox houses construction, you’ll pay roughly $200 per square foot. As you can see, the price of your hose depends on its type as well.
Is it Cheaper to Buy a Ready-built Home?
Yes. You could save about $150 000 if you buy a ready-built home. However, it’s hard to find exactly what you want. So, often buying a finished home is a compromise between what you dream of and what you can afford.
What’s the Most pPricy Part?
Usually finishing part is the most costly stage of construction. Appliances, flooring, furniture, and various decorations could take about 20% of the building cost.