All Forum Posts by: Joshua Stewart

While I haven't done new construction as an investor, I've been involved with them on the design and construction side. $15-$20,000 seems like a very small profit on a $500,000 house. That's only 4%. All the investors I've worked with target 20% or more.

Just seems like a lot of risk for such a small profit. Maybe I am missing something? I would love to hear from investors who have done this before if this small of a profit % is normal?

I have designed and built several ADU's for real estate investors in the south. While there are key differences between an ADU and a Tiny House, there is at least one commonality to keep in mind: on these smaller builds the price per sqft is going to be higher than normal.

Kitchens and Bathrooms are generally the most expensive part of a home to build, while Bedrooms and Hallways are the cheapest. ADU's and Tiny Houses still have a Kitchen and Bathroom (albeit a little smaller than normal perhaps), but they skip the additional Bedrooms. So if you're simply going on price per sqft, an ADU or Tiny House will be more expensive solely based on that metric. Not an issue as long as you are aware going in.

I applaud your patience and desire to thoughtfully prepare and plan this out. There is a book called The Lean Builder, or something along those lines. It provides some great tips and mindset approach for running any construction company or project. There are also some good threads on BP where members have documented their projects start to finish.

Construction cost varies greatly from one part of the country to another. In Charlotte, where most of my ADU work has been done, $300/sqft is a fairly standard price for the contractors I work with. That gets you more than just cheap, builder-grade quality but also isn't in the neighborhood of fully custom either.

Also, many - but not all - contractors will break down their estimate into the categories you listed either by default or if you ask them to. However, if you search for the NAHB Cost to Build study, you can see the average % of each of these line items as it relates to the entire project. Keep in mind they are national averages and again costs vary in different locations.

@Jeremy Levine I am a designer based in North Carolina and work with a number of investors designing their projects.

@Shelby (Osborne) Johnson @Wyatt Wolff That sounds great, I look forward to coming and meeting everyone. Thank you!

When you say Upstairs, is there an elevator? I'm in a wheelchair but would like to come.

As previous replies have said, check zoning to see what the requirements are for parcel size, setbacks, lot coverage, etc. You need to know what you're allowed to build there based on what current zoning is.

I'm based in NC and design house plans for investors doing this type of work. I'm happy to help with that aspect when needed.

If by manufactured you mean modular, no. This has been the "future" for 60 years. There will always be a few success stories with them here and there, and believe me I am interested in doing them myself, but the reality is much of the pricing that gets tossed around with these are either target prices (meaning we'll get there if there is large demand and we can scale) or the price is misleading because it doesn't include things like delivery, site installation and sometimes doesn't even include interior finishes at all.

This is a popular YouTuber who built a shipping container house in Joshua Tree. This video is the last in his series, where he breaks out his costs...