How much will it cost?

One of the first questions a prospective client asks us is "How much will it cost to build what we have in mind?" It's a hard question, but we'll try to answer it.

Contractors, not architects, actually price projects of course, but architects develop seat-of-the-pants estimates in order to get the design in the right general ballpark. And then there's a back and forth to arrive at a construction cost that works for the client.

Let me just say: It's a great time to build right now. For the first time in 17 years we are seeing construction costs decrease--by up to 30% under prices we were seeing a year and a half ago. Prices below reflect conditions as of January 2010.

Let's declare some general assumptions:

• For a new house, the site is relatively flat and soils are good. For a renovation, the existing foundation is in good shape and structurally sound.
• For a house (either new construction or renovation), total square footage is between 1,800 and 4,500, including the square footage of an unfinished basement and garage, if those are present. Cost per square foot is higher on smaller projects and on projects where all space is finished to the same degree.
• You hire an excellent, reliable, licensed and bonded contractor who carries appropriate levels of insurance and pays his or her (legal) workers decent wages (such as one of these companies). The prices below are median ranges quoted by those contractors in 2006, updated to reflect conditions in 2010.
• You implement a comprehensive yet sensible range of green building strategies such as those we mention in the techniques section of our manifesto. (Going green, by the way, does not have to cost more. For more on that subject, see the first question on our Green Building FAQ.)
• You do a project of a quality similar to what you see on our featured projects pages. Note that some of the projects were more expensive than  others, some less. 

In terms of features, the level of quality chosen by most of our clients includes:

• A nice level of detail in the interior and on the exterior of the building.
• High quality energy-efficient wood or fiberglass windows.
• Hardwood flooring in living, dining and bedrooms, cork or linoleum in the kitchen, ceramic or stone tile in baths and entry. (No carpeting.)
• Ceramic tile or art plaster shower surrounds. (Not fiberglass or acrylic inserts.)
• Custom cabinetry in the kitchen, as well as a few built-ins throughout the house. (Not Ikea or Home Depot cabinets.)
• Solid surface counter tops, such as granite, Silestone, or Richlite.
• High quality appliances from Dacor, Thermodor, Bosch et al. (Somewhere between Sub-Zero, Viking or Wolf on the high end and Kenmore or Whirlpool on the low but still decent end.)
• Highly efficient and comfortable heating, ventilation and filtration systems.
• Nice lighting, including good looking, high quality fixtures, with dimmers through-out.
• High quality paint in (often) different colors on the ceilings and walls.
• With the contractors we recommend, which means working with nice people on a project that is done on time, within 5% or so of the contractor's estimate, and conscientious follow-up with any problems in the work.

We're going to talk about construction cost only here. The following numbers do not include design or permit fees. OK. Now that that's out of the way, here's the bottom line:

Kitchen Renovation - Starting at $50,000. From scratch, down to the studs, all new cabinets, solid-surface countertops, nice lighting, plumbing fixtures and appliances, but without moving many walls inside or expanding into an addition. 

Second Story Addition - Starting at $175,000 for the typical two bedrooms and a modest shared bath upstairs, and a new stair up, if the main floor of the house remains more or less as it is. Figure $275,000 and up if you are remodeling kitchen and bath on the main floor, and upgrading house systems like plumbing, heating and electrical, at the same time.

New House or Whole House Renovation - starting at $185 per square foot, counting all square feet including basement and garage. To that, for a new house on an undeveloped site outside of the city, you would add a minimum of $50,000 to $80,000 for site work (septic system or sewer connection, gas and electric connection, a well or water hook-up, driveway, walkways) and a minimum of $20,000 for landscaping. A "real" landscape, including new plantings and trees, paths, garden walls, rain garden, small pond or water feature and so on is going to be $50,000 and up.

Garage or Outbuilding - $75 to $100 per square foot, for simple buildings that do not include plumbing or heating. For heated finished space square foot prices are similar to those for new house construction.

Is it possible to build for less? Absolutely! But you'll have to give up something in return. Fewer features, simpler design, less detail, and lower build quality are a few of the options. We're working on a couple prototype "Case Study Houses" with which we hope to demonstrate it is possible to build a nice house for less. See the posts on The More Affordable Green Home on our blog.

Program, Quality and Budget

There are three constellations in the galaxy of construction cost. Program, Quality and Budget.

• Program is the list of rooms and functions you want to include in your project. A simple program for a house would be "three bedrooms, two baths, a great room, and a two-car garage." The program typically also includes intentions for the feelings or style of the various spaces, and sometimes detailed requirements for the function. 
• Quality includes both the level of fit and finish and the kinds of materials and assemblies in the work. The difference between say granite and plastic laminate countertops, vinyl and wood windows, paint that lasts four years and paint that lasts fifteen years, etc. I would include some of the fancier green features in this category, such as photovoltaic and solar hot water panels, and rainwater collection.
• Budget, of course, is budget. It might also include your willingness to reduce costs by participating in the actual building process.

As the owner, you can pick any two of these three things to be fixed. The third must remain a variable that the architect or contractor "controls." That is, if you have a fixed budget and a fixed program, you have to allow the quality to be the variable. (That is, you may have to reduce the level of quality in order to reduce the cost. You might settle, for example, for less expensive appliances, use a lower quality contractor, have a comp roof instead of a metal roof, forced air instead of in-floor radiant heat, etc.) If you have a fixed budget and a fixed level of quality, you have to let the program be the variable. (That is, to meet your budget you may have to give up a bathroom or bedroom, or build a garage later, etc.) If you have a fixed program and fixed level of quality, the budget has to be flexible.

Getting a project built almost always involves a process of the owner choosing how they will balance all three areas. Giving up a some quality and a bit of program and increasing the budget is the way most of our clients go. There are limits to how much each of the three main components can affect the mix. "Program" can only be reduced so much--chances are you'll still need to retain most of the normal components of a house--someplace to relax, cook, eat, bathe and sleep that is. Leaving out the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous end of the spectrum, "Quality" can make about a 20% difference either way, from minus 20% for the least expensive approach possible with no fancy green features to plus 20% for very high quality and most or all the fancy green features you could ask for. (By "fancy green features" I mean things like a solar hot water system, or photovoltaic panels.) "Budget" of course is limited only at the bottom end--there is a bar, at this point in our economy and culture, that must be stepped over to build even the least expensive custom house.

There is no magic budget bullet. There are ways we can design a house to reduce the cost to build it, and we employ as many of them as our clients are willing to consider on their particular project, and we think are wise for the long term durability of the house. We believe there is a direct connection between construction cost and ecological consequence, so keeping costs down is part of our green approach. But, like virtually everything else, when building or renovating a house, you get what you pay for.