How Many Square Feet?

Question

Okay, this question really isn't that important in the grand scheme of things, but I was thinking about it today, and I'm curious what other people in the business think...

I'm in the process of building my personal residence.  I have a lot of people ask what I'm paying per square foot to build in my area.   Well, while I'm in the process of nailing down the costs, I don't really know how to calculate a price/sf estimate using those costs.

Let me explain:

-  My house has 3 levels (basement, main level, second floor).  The *footprint* of each level is 1333 sf (about 12 sf bigger on the second level due to a bump-out).  So, you *could* say I'm building a 4000 sf house.

- BUT, the basement only has 700 square feet of finished space.  So, does that mean I'm actually building a 3300 sf house?

- AND WAIT, I'm building a 560 sf garage.  Does that count as part of the house?

- And what about the fact that my architect says that stairs only count towards the square footage of one level?  Given we have 50 sf of stairs going both up and down, does that mean we should or shouldn't count that 100 sf of space in the total?

Since we'd incur 50% of the cost even for unfinished space (grading, permits, foundation, framing, siding, roof, etc), I can't imagine we ignore that cost.  But given that unfinished space is a lot less costly than finished space, I can't imagine we give it the same amount of "clout" as finished space.

Yes, it certainly isn't a life-or-death concern...but given that I could argue that my square footage is under 3400 (only finished space, not including garage, not double counting stairs) or I could argue that my square footage is nearly 4500 square feet (including all space plus garage), it makes it pretty tough to analyze my price-per square foot building cost.

For example, if my true costs to build this house is $325K, that means my cost per square foot could range from $72/sf to $96/sf!  Not very helpful when someone asks...

So, how does everyone else who builds new construction calculate this out?

Steve K · Answer

I also calculate by sq footage under air.  No basements here and 99% of houses have an attached garage so the calculation is pretty straight forward and easy to estimate when building new plans.

Rob K. · Answer

The builders that I know use the liveable space as square footage. So yes, it would be $120 per sq ft. I can see how it's confusing. In my area, new construction without a basement and garage would not be very desirable unless it was on a lake or in a really trendy neighborhood.

Rob K. · Answer

In Michigan, square footage is usually determined by measuring the outside of the house. Garages never count towards square feet. A finished walk out basement can be included, but often make things confusing. I would say that your house is 2,678 sq ft. 1,333 x 2 + 12

It could be different in Maryland.

Steve Babiak · Answer

Appraisers don't count below grade space in the square footage, but they will give some additional value to finished below grade space (i.e. finished basement).  And for property tax purposes you will prefer it that way too :)

J Scott · Answer

But that seems a little misleading from a cost to build standpoint.  Using that definition, square footage could be exactly the same if I built a 2-story house on a crawl space without a garage.  But, my $/sf cost to build that would be almost half of what it is to build what I'm building, even with (technically) the same square footage.

In other words, using 2678 sf, my cost to build the house I'm planning to build would be $120/sf.  But, I could build another house that's 2678 square feet for about $70/ft if it didn't have a basement or garage (in the same location, using the exact same contractors and finishes).

So, is my building cost in this area $70/sf?  Or $120/sf?

Obviously, the answer is that you can't give a per-square-foot building cost without clarifying what exactly you're building, but when I ask someone what they build for, it would be nice if I could apply some meaning to the number without them detailing exactly what was built for that amount.

Btw, my framing crew charges per-square-foot...I wish I could convince them that the house is only 2678 sf...  :-)

Again, I'm not looking at this from an appraisal or a tax assessment or a  marketing standpoint...those definitions of square footage are well  defined (for most areas), but often unrelated to what it cost to actually build the  structure.  I'm more interested in the square footage in relationship to  the cost of building the house.

J Scott · Answer

That's good information...thank you...

I would have assumed that builders would hate to spend money on something they don't get credit for, but ultimately, this "square footage" number doesn't really mean anything outside of whatever meaning we choose to assign to it.

I guess if anyone is wondering, it's costs $120/sf to build in Maryland...maybe that number will scare off my competition...  :-)

J Scott · Answer

Thanks Steve...  Absolutely agreed...in fact, we tried out best to design the house in a way that would maximize appraisal while reducing building costs...mostly by playing around with the above grade versus the below grade square footage and finishing just enough of the basement to get appraisal credit.

The question was more from a "what do lay-people generally mean when they say/hear square footage" standpoint...or even what do builders mean when they use the term.

I'm fairly certain there's no "right" answer...everyone will have their own opinion...I'm just trying to form mine...  :-)

How Many Square Feet?

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