Building your new home is a very exciting moment for you and your family. This excitement often overshadows the more important aspects of the construction process which we all know is the cost. If you are building a home within a developer’s subdivision, it’s not such a big issue. The builder will offer one of their stock plans to build from. The cost to build the home is a known quantity. The builder has already determined pricing for materials, labor, and profit. When you request upgrades, the additional cost is applied to the base price. However, if you hire a builder to build your home from your own set of custom or stock house plans, then it is necessary that you engage in reducing the cost of home construction.
Ways to reducing the cost of home construction
There are many design and construction methods that you can use to reduce the cost to build a house. Below are a list of ideas and methods is which you can follow in order to lower home building costs on your project.
Simple Home Design
A rectangle or square-shaped traditional home is less expensive to build compared to an irregular-shaped design. This is not to say that you should build a generic square house, but consider the complexity of the home’s footprint and roof when developing your floor plan layout.
Other Design considerations
- In terms of the design, limit the amount of hall space, thereby providing more living space for the cost.
- Refrain from making design changes after construction begins. Change orders in the middle of construction can alter the schedule, and as a result, additional labor and material will increase the cost of home construction.
- Design the house for short plumbing lines. This can help in reducing the cost of home construction material as well as labor cost.
Land consideration
Expense is reduce significantly when building on flat or relatively flat land using a monolithic foundation. Sloping or hillside land may require cut and/or fill work to prep for a basement or crawlspace foundation. However, if a basement will be apart of the design, a hillside lot is appropriate. Digging a hole in a flat piece of land for a full basement will add the expense of extra labor cost in addition to the removal of unwanted dirt from the site.
Material selection
- Utilizing material and products that are locally produced will cut the cost of home construction a great deal.
- Take advantage of mass-production by building from stock materials and standard sizes for cost reductions.
- Using materials that are pre-finished also reduce labor fees in the cost of home construction.
Labor
- Cut labor cost by using material that can be quickly installed. Prefab sections or panels are quick examples.
- Keep all special jobs or custom-built projects to a minimum or eliminate altogether if you are not concerned with uniqueness.
Last Updated on July 23, 2024