Average sqft. cost for a new construction home in Florida

[Christian Requejo]

Hello everyone. We have an opportunity to tear-down a home and build a new home. We are looking to basically tear down the home and build a new home. The plan is to use the same perimeter of the existing home to  save money on impact fees and not have to deal with new construction Bull S***. Also we hope to be grand fathered in to existing low property taxes. We are still going to build it from the ground up with a new foundation like I mentioned just using existing perimeter. I have two questions. First, does anyone know the average cost right now to build a new construction home? I know a lot depends but we are thinking of just using contractor materials with a few upgrades in certain areas of the home. Second, does anyone forecast building material cost lowering, more expensive or stabilizing in the near future?

[Jeff Copeland]

Regardless of the footprint, it's still new construction. You will likely still have plenty of red tape to deal with between the architect and the City permitting process, etc. And I do not think you will be grandfathered into your property taxes (you'd possibly get to retain the save our homes cap if it's a homesteaded primary residence, but no such thing for an investment property). 

I'd say costs are around $150 per sq ft and rising, just like everything else.