Building my first Rowhome in Philadelphia

[Greg Ressler]

Hey all, I've been buying and rehabbing older houses for a little while now and have really enjoyed it.  I'm working on some new adventures and would really like to build my own row home.  Although I'm excited, I am looking to learn about this process before just diving in.  So, I have a few things I'm trying to figure out...

-What is the average build per sq/ft for a row home in philly?

-How difficult is the process to do if you hire a contractor to handle it all?

-How much time should you plan from starting until finished?

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but this is the starting point that I'm looking at now.  I am also a licensed contractor in Philadelphia but have no experience working with the city, and I hear L&I can be tough to work with on projects like this.

Thanks for any input!

[Daniel Flesher]

Hi @Greg Ressler. I'm a Philly designer working at Cadre Design, an architecture firm based in Manayunk. We work with developers at working at various different paces and who want a variety of different row home products. 

The price per sf will vary a lot based on finish level. Interior finishes tend to make up ~30% of the total cost and can vary widely based on what you're looking for. New construction in Philly tends to be ~$125 per sf. for new construction. 

It's possible to hire a GC and let them do their thing, but you really want someone (other than the inspectors who only care about life safety), looking over their work. You can either do this yourself by showing up to the job site on a regular basis or by hiring a project manager. Some architects will do this, but it isn't a standard part of the contract and is something you'd have to request specifically and pay for. 

The timing for a project like this can vary a lot. A good architect should be able to have finished construction drawings in 2 months or less. From there you'll need to get building permits, which requires having a contractor hired already and which takes 30 days unless you get it accelerated. 

The plans may come back for revisions (for any number of reasons), which your architect will need to address and then resubmit to wait an additional 30 days (unless accelerated). 

Once you have your permits the construction process generally takes anywhere from six months to a year depending on the size of the project, your contractor's schedule, the schedules of the sub-contractors and any setbacks that will come up during construction. 

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions.