I need ball park allowance figures for a custom home

[Cheryl C.]

We are doing a tear down of our long time weekend place and working with a builder on a decent sized home.. His numbers keep going up for the construction and I think his allowances are very low. This is a mid to upper level custom home. The area is somewhat rural -75 miles South of DC. The Builder is down there (15 miles further). He told us that he couldn't believe how cheap it is to build down there.

On 500K (excluding lot and utilities), what would you builders expect for lighting allowance, interior carpentry(built-ins,crown molding, closet system), sound system, appliances, landscaping, tile, cabinet grade, granite, hardware,etc? We are getting hardiplank shingles, sanding seam roof, stacked stone water table, main level hardwoods (sanded in place), etc.

He has no allowance for master closet system, landscaping, $600 for lighting,11K for appliances, to include washer/dryer. He has listed molded plastic for the 3 guest baths.

Is there some sort of percentage for these items?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. House is about 3K sq ft with a 1K basic finished basement.

[Liam Goble]

I'm a builder. Based on your numbers, you're going to blow through the $500kcap, unless you use the cheapest materials. If the $500k cap is firm, and you want to build the 3ksf house, then his allowances are probably ball park where you need to be. If you want a high end custom house, you have to pay for it.

A few points of reference:

1) Affordable housing as built by Habitat for Humanity, with donated labor and many donated materials generally costs about $75/sf to build (excluding land).

2) Our medium range non-custom houses cost between $125-$150/sf to build. That is off-the-shelf materials from your big box stores using the contractor discount. That's not Viking ranges, no induction cook tops, no custom cabinetry, certainly no sound system.

3) Our high end custom houses that DO install the high end equipment, including sound systems, Hardi board, custom cabinetry generally cost $200+/sf.

If you force your GC to meet the $500k price and build a 3ksf house, he'll find ways to cut costs. And you don't want him to do that because you'll end up paying for it later.