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CONSTRUCTION COSTS HAVE
COME WAY DOWN IN MICHIGAN!
In the last several months our building
construction cost have come down $15 to $25 dollars a square foot. Our new
construction custom building homes are hovering between$90 to $120 a square
foot range which in our case includes granite counter tops, Omega Dynasty
cabinets, 9 foot ceilings and many other features which you can see at the link
to the left called (Our Standard Building Package).
The larger custom homes over 6,000 sq. ft.
can be somewhat more expensive because of the designs and the special items
people want in their homes but the prices do not normally exceed another $20 to
$30 a sq. ft.
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Lumber and truss packages have come down
nearly $5.00 a sq. ft.
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Cabinet packages are easier to get a
quality cabinet with many extra's for free. Do to market changes one of
the problems that people don't see in cabinet selection is many company's have
lowered their standard on cabinet quality. Unless your knowledgeable in
the area of cabinet construction you can really lose out in quality of
construction and end product.
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Window costs have somewhat remained the
same. We have been using the Andersen 400 series and are quite satisfied
with the product and the price. On some of our higher end homes
customer's have opted for the Koelbe & Koelbe Windows.
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Excavation costs are down about $800 to
excavate and set up.
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9' to 10 basement walls are down nearly
$3000 a basement.
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We have always had block work at an
excellent price. We normally pay $5.00 a lineal foot.
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Grading work very reasonable now.
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Steel is still sort of the same because
its a world commodity and steel is in high demand so the steel company's here
still have to pay high dollars for their steel and the wages to the union
worker's are relatively the same.
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Great savings in roofing if you know who
you are hiring. Many roofers out there without insurance. Be careful who
you hire. We have our carpenters walk the roof after it is shingled.
Think about it for a minute. The building inspectors do not walk and
inspect the roof.
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Quality plumbing fixtures are in the
same price range but the plumbing labor has come down. My past problems
was finding good plumbers. I have excellent ones now but it took a
while.
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Electrical pricing on a home of 4000 sq.
ft. is down nearly $1500 a house.
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Carpentry costs are a huge savings.
We have went from $10 - $12 a sq. ft. to $5 - $8 a sq. ft. Unless you
know who you are hiring and what to look for the quality difference can be
HUGE.
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Heating and air conditioning for us has
stayed about the same. We still use the best furnaces money can buy and
the best air conditioners.
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Brick prices are quite a bargain now.
Most of our homes take between 30 & 40,000 brick and we can now purchase brick
around $50 per thousand savings. The difficulty for the homeowner
building on their own is who to hire to install the brick. We watch the
quality of brick installation with a very keen eye. If you don't have an
eye or talent for knowing what's good when it's going up you can get in
serious trouble with the quality of the work.
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Brick cleaning & caulking is less
expensive now but you have to very careful on the solution mix that the brick
cleaners use. If you put to heavy of a solution on and leave it to long
you can remove the face of the brick. The sad part about that is the
brick is already on the house. Brick and window caulking is an ART form.
If you use a 20 year warranty caulk and you have an artist as a brick caulker
great. If you don't than the caulking job can really be a potential
problem.
That's some useful information for you
people out there. Hope you use it wisely.
If you need to contract us for any project, give us a
call at 1 800 209-9992.
Thanks,
Bob Gerich
Builder
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