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Cost of Building a New Home

Contract Price Quotes

There are three different ways you may be quoted when asking for a quote on your new home.

Fixed Price

With a fixed price, the builders fee is not declared but it is included in the price. The builder will take all the risks and will need to "pad" their price to protect their bottom line. This is the most expensive contract to build a new home, on the other hand it may give you piece of mind when it comes to your budget. The builder is obligated to build to the current BC Building Code but may make take every opportunity to cut corners to maximize their profit.

Cost-plus percentage

The Cost-plus Percentage covers the materials and labour to build your new home, you are entitled to see every invoice. The Builder will earn their fee by charging a percentage of the total cost to build, this can be 15%-20% of the total cost of your new home. Consequently, the more you spend the more the builder makes and the less likely he is to be concerned about your budget.

Cost-plus fixed fee

This is the most fair and transparent contract to build your new home. The contract will include all materials and labour to construct your new home, you are entitled to see every invoice. The builder will declare their builders fee prior to signing any contracts, so you know exactly how much you will be paying them for their work.

Hartley Homes and Consulting is a Cost-plus fixed fee builder

At Hartley Homes and Consulting our objective is to eliminate frustration and make the entire building process easy, joyful and rewarding, we do this by using a system of best practices and controls to deliver the look and function as promised. We also believe in transparent costing of the home, no hidden charges. Our builder's fees show as a separate line item on all estimates, budgets and invoices. All trade discounts earned by Hartley Homes are passed

directly to the homeowner with proof of the supplier's invoice. A "Progress Summary" comparing the budget to actual costs is presented with every invoice throughout the building progress.

Can I afford to build a new home

The owner needs to know the cost of a house before they invest in a building site or a set of construction plans.

The catch 22 for new owners

The builder requires a proper set of construction plans for the home and they need to see the building site before they can QUOTE the owner.

Consequently, most builders will tell you it's impossible to QUOTE the price of a house based on the style and square footage. They claim there are too many variables from excavation costs to interior and exterior specifications. And yes, they are right they can't QUOTE but they can give you a "Ball Park" price. At Hartley Homes, this is how we do a Ball Bark price.

Our average selections for our Ball Park price include; new home warranty, builder fees all taxes and permits, excavation, materials and labour to build the home plus, hardwood floors, tile floors in bathrooms and entrance areas, hard surface kitchen counter tops, stainless steel appliances, 2 ½ bath including custom tile master en-suite shower, finished basement, vinyl deck surfaces with glass railings and a 2-car attached garage. If you are comparing prices per sq ft then be sure you are comparing apples to apples.

Prices do not include the cost of the land, septic fields, retaining walls, fences, irrigation systems or landscaping.

To get a Ball Park cost of construction, we use this simple method. Add up all the square footage of the home including basement, main floor, second floor and garage then multiply the total by $210/ sq ft. It does not cost $210 / sq ft to build a garage and it doesn't cost $210 / sq ft to build kitchen complete with cabinets and hard surface counter tops. The $210 / sq ft is simply an average number for an average home to get a Ball Park price. Oddly enough, this price tends to be roughly plus or minus 10% of the actual building cost.

The Ball Park price will help you establish the size of the home relative to your available funding. Once you have the Ball Park price, then you can move forward with construction plans and have the builder quote on the cost of the home, a review of the building site by the builder will help them get a good idea of the costs for excavation and retaining walls. The Ball Park cost of construction changes with: excavation, exterior finishes, deck styles and sizes, counter top selections, electrical fixtures, plumbing fixtures, floor coverings, cabinetry, finishing styles etc.

The size and style of home also changes the Ball Park cost per sq ft.

Based on a 1575 sq ft home with a 576 sq ft garage

-Built with a 2' concrete frost wall and concrete slab is 2151 sq ft at $210 / sq ft.

-Built with a 5' crawl space, is 2151 sq ft at $235 / sq ft.

-Built with a fully developed walk out basement is 3728 sq ft at $220 / sq ft.

-Built with a walk out basement and a full second floor is 5301 sq ft at 190 / sq ft.

Please Note: Please add $60 / sq ft to the above prices for Big White resort area. The increased costs are primarily due to the construction costs and heavy snow loads etc.

Please Note: Depending on the specifications for the home, these prices can change down $20.00 per sq ft or up by $20.00 per sq ft. or more.

If you are considering a finished suite in the home, add an additional $40,000 to include the extra; bathroom, laundry facility, kitchen cabinets, sinks, faucets, appliances, closets, sound proofing and fireproofing.

Remember this is not a quote or estimate, it's a Ball Park price and Ball Park specifications!