When we give tours of Sarilia, people often ask us how much it will cost to build a home here. There’s no straightforward answer – it depends on a number of factors, including your personal tastes and the style of home you hope to build. Our friends at Lexis Homes get the same question from their clients, so they wrote a blog post to help point people in the right direction. With their permission, we’re happy to share their post below, written by Cam, the company’s owner.
As a custom homebuilder in Saskatoon, we’re often asked, “What does an average house cost,” or “What is the average cost per square foot for a new home?”
Those are some tough questions to answer. I liken it to a question along the lines of “What does a car cost?” — only 100 times more complex.
In order to develop any kind of budget estimate, at least three key factors need to be determined:
1. Size of the home
This one seems obvious, right? Larger homes will generally cost more money. However, not everyone realizes that cost per square foot typically decreases as the house gets bigger. This is because there are certain fixed costs (that don’t change much with house size) that exist in every home. Some examples of fixed costs are: the land cost, heating system, plumbing, electrical, etc.).
2. Style of the home
The style of home you select will have an impact on the house price. This is because different home styles have different costs to build. For example, a two-storey home is quite an efficient design. If you consider an 1,800 sq. foot home, there would be 900 sq. feet of basement, 900 sq. feet on each of the upper levels, and 900 sq. feet for the roof to cover. When looking at the same square footage on a bungalow you would have 1,800 sq. feet of basement, 1,800 on the main, and 1,800 sq. feet of roofing.
In this example, you can see how an 1,800 sq. foot bungalow would likely cost more to build than an 1,800 sq. foot two-storey. The only caveat is that you also need to consider how much house you get in both scenarios (not just how much house above grade). If the 1,800 sq. foot bungalow was fully developed, there would be 3,600 sq. feet of living space. The 1,800 sq. foot two-storey home would provide a maximum of 2,700 sq. feet of living space when a finished basement is factored in.
3. Finishing level
The final key factor in the cost of a home is the level of finishing you prefer. Two houses can be built to the exact same size and style but have dramatically different price points due to the level of finishing. Some examples of details that need to be determined are exterior finishing (stucco, siding), flooring types (hardwood, tile, carpet), kitchen materials and the approximate size, countertop surfaces (quartz, granite, laminate), etc. The list goes on.
This should provide some insight into some of the general factors that affect the price of a custom home in Saskatoon.
Lexis Homes is one of Sarilia’s suggested home builders. If you have questions about building your home in Sarilia’s river valley, give us a call.