Unfortunately, the exact cost of the foundation will only be known after I purchase a lot and the soil/topography are taken into consideration. However, I will definitely know before pouring in the concrete.

PerSqf: $66/sqf

*The cost includes labour as well. Also, I have an idea of the construction process and will therefore be more confident supervising trades and labour.

The only way around this issue is to try and get as much of your stuff prefabricated and know exactly whats being delivered. By this I mean you gotta know up to a dot how much things are going to cost. I am planning on building this coming spring or summer of 2012. I have decided to go with a prefabricated modular type home.

This type of home is exactly like the site framed ones except all the framing is done in a factory and panels delivered to site, where they are then assembled in a just a few days. For me the major advantage is that I know exactly how much the shell of my house will cost me and there will be no materials wasted and no issues with framers not showing up e.t.c . I am leaning towards the packages from Cameron Manors: http://www.cameronmanors.com/View-Plans-Pricing.page
At least they let me know the upfront price of my home. Their package is up to lock up stage. Also, I will have zero architect fees – just drafting to match my lot, since the y supply me with plans.

I will have to do the interior finishes myself. Again, in keeping in line with my predictable and controllable costs principle, I am going with Ikea for my kitchen. Their kitchens are real bang for the buck and can offer a sophisticated champagne look on a beer budget. Their website has 3 dimensional software for planning your kitchen. They can also come to your house to do the actual measurements. When you buy kitchen cabinetry and appliances from them you also get 20% back in Ikea gift cards. Trust me this comes in handy when purchasing stuff like bathroom sinks, organization and lighting. All I will do is pay for installation labour as a factor of total material costs, if I do not get the time to install the Ikea kitchen myself. A caveat. My new home will just be middle class McMansion and more expensive finishing will not marginally increase the resale. If you are building in an upmarket area it could be a different game.

As for flooring and tiling. I will hire an uncle who does that for a living. He will still charge me but at least he will not try to gouge me.

As for landscaping, I will just hire some muscle off craigslist and supervise them.

I will be acting as my own general contractor. A lot of my subs will be moonlighting for me on weekends and to make sure they do a good job most payments will be made upon passing city inspections. I gotta cut as many corners as I can. Since I will be working, a lot of work will be done on weekends. That is why I would rather have the house built in a factory and just put together on site like a bunch of legos. Also, I would advise any prospective owner-GC to take up a weekend job as a construction labourer. You will be amazed at how much you can learn in just one month. Been doing it for almost 3 months know. Have seen concrete being poured, have seen floor joists put in place, know the difference between a 2×4 and a 2×6, have applied a membrane to a foundation e.t.c

Thanks. Please help :) This is a big undertaking

gta builder is bang on, by the way. You can add over $50/s.f. to your price simply by blowing the budget on kitchens and baths!

I heard that building permits cost ~$25 in the city, $10k seems pretty low. I guess that’s a good thing.

This past weekend, I visited a custom built home in Oakville, just to check out the finishes and talk to the company. The cost to build this ~3200 sq ft home is $600k (excl. land), it quoted $165/sq ft but the buyer also pays for building permits ($25k), demolition ($12-15k), landscaping, HST, etc.

That said, the cost to build is going up in a couple of months, I guess that’s the trend across all GTA.

Hopefully check out a few more over the coming months.

Anyway, the end result was that we couldn’t build our house on our property because of our SOB next door neighbour.

Back in the day, there was a walkway that went through our property and across a number of other properties that provided access to the river for neighbours who didn’t have their own.

Everybody has had their own access for many years now and everyone signed off on this “easement” back then except for our next door SOB.

To make a long story short, he’s stopping us from building our house, the way we wanted to build it, anyway. Part of our house and the 3 garages, would have been built on the easement.

We dropped over $10,000 on our house plans alone, plus building and demolition permits, the Conservation Authority permit and more, all lost money, due to the jealousy of this “man”.

We now have the property up for sale.

I take it that you went with Advantage homes at the end?

- roof plan, pitch of roof, height of roof, complexity of roof design
- Foundation size (as joe mentioned)
- ceiling heights
- amount of steel used in the structural design of your home
- exterior finished (stucco, brick, stone, wood, aluminum etc)
- overall size of your home, once you exceed a certain size you will require an additional furnace, a/c unit, larger water lines etc.

the above items have nothing to do with the finishing of your home, where you will be faced with the difficult choice of better vs. keeping your budget in check.

with all this said, in the GTA not including your land, with a finished basement, 2 car garage, solid maple or cherry cabinets, built-ins, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, plaster crown mouldings, 9-10 ft ceilings, brick and stone exterior etcetc…..a builder with a reputation (has built more then 1 house before) will not build your house for under $200/sq.ft PLUS your 13% HST

hope this helps

I just priced a cost to frame out a 2000 square foot home. Price for materials was $78,000. Includes windows, trims, roofing, siding and drywall, etc. Also includeds tax. Don’t care what you say, but drywall comes in one colou and it’s all the same price folks. Now you can also get siding at $500 a square, but I am being realitsitc here.

You can then add to all that labour (30-50K), price of land, foundation ($20K here or less for knee wall), electrical $10K, plumbing $10K, floors 5-20 per foot, lanscapring 5-20K, paint and plaster $10K driveway $1-15K.

With basic light and plumbing fixtures (not necessarily cheap, but not idioticcaly overpriced either), shopping around for good flooring prices, then no reason my finisdhed price here would be as follows.

$78000 (tax in)
$30000 labour
$15000 knee wall
$16000 flooring
$10000 electrical
$10000 plumbing
$10000 paint and plaster
$5000 landscsaping
$5000 Driveway

$179,000 Total. Now I know I have missed a few things (land price – miens cheap here), but that’s about $90 per square foot in Newfoundland. I know I can do better on labour and flooring prices at some good dealers and by finding my own crew.

Surely, you would think materials would be more competitive in Ontario. Can’t imagine what guys make to frame and plaster a home. I suggest that is where the Delat lies, as well as the land. $100K for a postage stamp lot in Ontario adds $55 per sq ft to build an 1800 square foot home.

Brent: Cell Phone 705 623-4877
http://www.advantage-homes.ca/

Another good builder up here is Father & Son.

Pat: Cell Phone 705 444-4306
http://www.fatherandsonconstruction.com/home.php