Construction costs-New build Investing

[Craig P.]

All- I am a experienced rehabber...I have renovated 50+ homes over the years. I now looking to get into new builds as our market in Denver is becoming really strong. Inventory is extremely low right now.

Curious what others are seeing for general price per sq foot cost? I understand each market is different; however I want to get a general idea.

My belief is that I can do it for around $125-140 per foot.

[Kevin Martin]

Jon,

We get our land from investors who have accumulated vacant lots from tax deeds over the years. This keeps our land costs very low. Once our due diligence (quiet title, title check, field explorations) is complete on the land we start the design and construction process. We do mostly everything in-house. I do all the engineering and plans, my dad builds it, installs solar, and lists it on the market. This is what keeps all our costs down. We have all the licenses to do it mostly in-house (P.E., G.C., Roofing Contractor, Solar Contractor, Real-estate broker.)

Obviously when you say "net zero" this is highly dependent on individual usage and other factors. We will educate all our future buyers on how to consume less which will help their home become "net zero". You give them the amount of energy that the solar is expected to produce over the year (pvwatts) and you compare it to an estimated usage. This is very approximate but you can get ballpark numbers.

We just started but our first house is about 90% complete and we have 2 more houses in the beginning of the construction phase with 18 more in the pre-design phase and on the drawing board.

This first house we haven't listed on MLS yet, but I put it on zillow a few weeks ago and we have received a swarm of attention. Depending on the area the house is built, we are shooting for around $80 to $90/sqft for sale. I understand this is a big range but we are just starting and should be able to narrow it down soon. Also, the $55/sqft cost to build is a little conservative based on the numbers so far for the first house. We are expecting to come in around $52 or $53/sqft including the solar and all the added energy efficient appliances, HVAC, and building materials.