New Construction Spreadsheet(s)

[Travis Smock]

I am looking at building a personal residence and plan to general it myself to ensure that I use clients from my day job (Real Estate Agent) and save a little. With that said, I have done plenty of flip projects and rental rehabs, but would like to find a spreadsheet or checklist to use while creating a budget and collecting bids to ensure I have all the details covered. Does anyone here have a suggestion for an excel spreadsheet or software to use? Thanks!

[Scott E.]

A budget from one of your flips is going to be close. You're spending money on a lot of the same stuff.

If I were in your shoes I'd be sharing my plans with a couple of local builders and getting some estimates from them. Rough estimates, they don't need to bid the whole job. But you should understand the range that other builders are in.

Out here in AZ for example, as a smaller builder you can build from $250/SF - $450/SF depending on who you hire, the lot conditions, how unique the architecture is, and the finish detail.

That's a big range. Shopping around is going to help you understand where your design falls within that range. It'll give you some good input on what should be in your budget. And who knows, maybe you'll end up deciding you don't want to be an owner/builder. Hiring a local GC who already has all the connections could end up saving you a lot of money.