Figuring out house plan square footage.

Jeese, looks like the denizens of TBN have moved on over to
CBN! [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img] Which is a good thing. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

As I read other peoples questions about building there own
house and problems with builders I just nod my head as I'm
having the same toughts and issues.

We have been talking to builders for 2.5 years. Found four
and after talking with them for awhile ran away quickly from
three. Found the fourth builders last summer and really liked
him. We have spent quite a few hours talking with him over
the last year and figured we had found a builder.

To make a long story shorter and getting to the Subject Line,
the builder gave us a qoute on a house sketch last winter.
Based on that price per square foot I drew up some blueprints
for the sketch. Decided the house was to big and redid the
the blue prints. The price per square foot we where given
from the sketch was $70. Now that is low and would go up.
Also the first floor of the house, close to 2/3s the s/f of the
house would be a finished concrete slab. That drove our
cost down since we have no basement or crawlspace.

We finally got a quote from the builder based on the
blueprints. The house had gone up by about 25%! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

I figured the s/f on the house at around 2400/2500. His was
3100ish. [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

I know HOW he got 3100ish. My house design class and my
book I used to draw up the blueprints showed the dimensions
of the house from wood frame to wood frame. What this
does it keep out the width of the brick from the house. This
save about 1 linear foot over the two x,y diminsions of the
house. That may not sound like alot but its big bucks. Has
anyone else seen the dimensions done like this?

The other thing he did that I really don't like is that there
is a space over the living room that is open to the second
floor ceiling. He counts this 300 s/f space in his bid. NOT!
I certainly can't sell open air as liviable space if I had to sell
the house. Has anyone seen this as well?

Thus I'm now thinking of building my own house.... And not
liking the idea at all. But I had similar problems when trying
to get work done on the property and ended up with a
tractor! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Thanks,
Dan McCarty

Dan,
I think your hitting on the difference in building square footage, and actual living space square footage. The builders deal with hsf since they apply material all the way to those points. Brick outside, drywall inside. Now your actual living space is a different story since it's inside dimensions. I have that "open space" the size of a small room in the foyer to the second floor. I thought of that this year during tax reassesment and mentioned it to the tax man...found out they don't cut any square footage breaks for that. They just consider the outside x by x dimension for square footage and base the tax on that. The only time it made a significant difference was when I built my log home and the second floor was lofted and was only half the first floor. Then the tax man reduced my sf down...but their figures were based on the outside 30 x 60 dimensions, not the actual interior living space sf.

Dan,

I've seen different ways of calculating the sq feet. The most common was:

std ceiling living areas 1:1 (as in 1 actual = 1 calculated)
cathedral ceiling 1:1 1/2
basement / garage / attic (unfinished) 1/2:1

This is used to get a "calculated" sq feet of the house to measure building costs against. Your actual sq feet will vary (especially with a full basement & attic)

Look on the bright side, that cathedral celing room is 25% cheaoper than if it had a second story.

Regarding including the walls, It doesn't make a large difference, maybe that's why he was cheap at $70 per sq/ft?

To evaluate your costs from different builders, simply calculate the total cost using their price per sq foot & their sq foot calculation.

rocky2,

I'm glad to hear this explanation. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

We <font color="blue"> REALLY </font color> like this builder and are trying
to figure out what is going on. If this is a standard way
to calculate the s/f then I'm ok.

Its still a big suprise to us and money wise is a no go.

I'm I'm going to get taxed on empty air space as well as
charged the same rate per s/f we ain't gonna have the
open area! [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Thanks,
Dan

Hey Hazmat,

We aren't sure why he went up so far in price. We think he
made a mistake or he is to busy and does not want to say
no.

I'm going to talk to him this week and see why the $/sf went
up so high.

The sketch that came in at $70/sf is pretty danged close in
square footage as the blueprints. So I'm not really TOO
concerned with the square foot issue other than the X * Y
gives us a number we can't afford! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] He is being
consistent in how he comes up with the numbers which is a
good thing.

Now the cost per SF is a big deal that he and I will have to
discuss.

That extra foot in the X and Y dimensions might not sound like
alot but it is dollar wise. For our house that adds between
10,000 and 13,000 dollars depending of the $/sf.

Another clue to the puzzle is that we had a neighbor house
that was about the s/f our builder is using. That house came
in at $72/sf. At the 70/sf mark our house was likely a bit
costly than the other house.

Thanks,
Dan