Cost of building house in east Vancouver

[therubberguard]

i know there would be a lot of variables but does anyone how much it would cost to tear down a house and build a new one per sq feet. family currently own the property but the house is getting old and problematic.
Thanks

[kalekain]

It's roughly $150 per sq feet.

[MindBomber]

An average home would cost between $175-225 per square foot to build, but you could very easily go way above that budget. If the foundation is in good shape and you're happy with the basic lay out gutting the home to the studs and renovating would offer substantial savings over building from the ground up.

[ntan]

Lot's of East Indian builders build East Vancouver houses from $120-$150 per sqft

[Hondaracer]

where?

our company tore down and rebuilt a house just off main and 22nd, we're a management company and the total including our fee was probably around 450k for a typical but new Vancouver special 3 story with detached garage into the alley

[therubberguard]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

where?

our company tore down and rebuilt a house just off main and 22nd, we're a management company and the total including our fee was probably around 450k for a typical but new Vancouver special 3 story with detached garage into the alley

how many sq ft was the house that was built?

[Hondaracer]

hmm.. off the top of my head it was probably.. 2000? if that

my numbers may not be accruate though because ive got a bunch of figures for projects running through my head when i'm thinking of this one

[blkgsr]

Originally Posted by ntan

Lot's of East Indian builders build East Vancouver houses from $120-$150 per sqft

ya if you want it built shitty

[frost91]

i built my house from scratch and it costed me the lower 200k, however this was before rain screening came into effect and a few other things. if you don't know what you're doing the sub-trades are going to take you for a ride and you'll be spending double what you're supposed to be spending

i would say the $120-$150 a square feet is pretty fair/accurate estimate, however hondaracer saying 450k is not out of the normal either.

all lots in vancouver are different, if you get/have one that for ex. use to be swamp land, instead of buying golden toilets, you'll be BURNING money getting the foundation sustainable for development

if you have any questions just PM

[Hondaracer]

yea, fortunately we did not have to do any preloading etc. and no engineered fill either

but yea, if your building in a tight neighborhood typical of Vancouver and you dont do it right, you could potentially be looking at lawsuits etc. when your new build fucks up surrounding structures etc.

and as Frost said, it's all in who you know basically and the type of quality and finishing you want

[highfive]

$150-200 per sf sounds about right.

It really depends what your family wants.

Regular house - 1 Kitchen, bunch of rooms and washrooms etc.

Upstairs suite and downstairs suite for rentals. (legal or illegal).

Your foundation/ framing/ drywall / exterior/ insulation/ or basically the shell can cost only so much.

It's what you want inside, if you have 3 kitchens? then it starts to build up costs, instead of building gas pipes for 1 kitchen, now you have to extend it to the two other plus you gotta make sure your hot water is enough for so many ppl.

Plus, getting a permit at city already costs you $10k already.

[therubberguard]

thanks for the replies everyone,
another question is the cost of a laneway house, ive been hearing 100k-150k
can anyone give me some insight?

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by therubberguard

thanks for the replies everyone,
another question is the cost of a laneway house, ive been hearing 100k-150k
can anyone give me some insight?

That would be a fairly accurate price range.

The cost of building a lane way house with comparable finishing to a full size house is a bit higher per square foot, because of mechanical systems costs distributed over a lower square footage.

[ws6ta]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

where?

our company tore down and rebuilt a house just off main and 22nd, we're a management company and the total including our fee was probably around 450k for a typical but new Vancouver special 3 story with detached garage into the alley

don't mean to get into your business but I am curious what was your fee for doing this? how many sq ft? do you charge a fee based off of sq ft or a flat fee? I've never built for anyone but myself so unaware but curious. PM is cool too .

thanks

[cunninglinguist]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

That would be a fairly accurate price range.

The cost of building a lane way house with comparable finishing to a full size house is a bit higher per square foot, because of mechanical systems costs distributed over a lower square footage.

That's interesting. What does "mechanical systems costs" mean?

[highfive]

Mechanical systems costs

plumbing / heating & gas / electrical systems.

All the piping and wiring for you to have a running kitchen/ bathroom/ lights / outlets etc.... but less living space compared to a regular house

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by ws6ta

don't mean to get into your business but I am curious what was your fee for doing this? how many sq ft? do you charge a fee based off of sq ft or a flat fee? I've never built for anyone but myself so unaware but curious. PM is cool too .

thanks

I work as a sub for general contractors, so I'm not completely familiar with how complete projects are billed, but I'm somewhat familiar.

I've met contractors who do a flat fee and others who bill hourly, the flat fee seems most common with commercial contractors and custom home builders working on larger projects that are well laid out at the time of the bidding process. Custom home builders for example, mostly bill a flat fee that comes off the instalment payments throughout the project, and if the owners need to spend time with the contractor outside of what's allotted for in the bid they're billed additionally by the hour. The guys who bill entirely hourly have mostly been doing renovations and other small things, usually they do a component of the work themselves. That's just what I've gleamed in my experience as a sub.

Originally Posted by highfive

Mechanical systems costs

plumbing / heating & gas / electrical systems.

All the piping and wiring for you to have a running kitchen/ bathroom/ lights / outlets etc.... but less living space compared to a regular house

this.

To go into more detail: in a carriage house you still need a breaker panel, hot water heater, furnace and every other mechanical system, but downsizing those systems and installation costs for a lower square footage doesn't drop the price exponentially from a full sized house.

[Farfetched]

Originally Posted by therubberguard

thanks for the replies everyone,
another question is the cost of a laneway house, ive been hearing 100k-150k
can anyone give me some insight?

i have to double check things, but i believe i was quoted only an extra 75k more to build a laneway house rather than a standard garage. this was for a new home build. for non-new home, the cost was much much more.

[Gridlock]

Originally Posted by MindBomber

I work as a sub for general contractors, so I'm not completely familiar with how complete projects are billed, but I'm somewhat familiar.

I've met contractors who do a flat fee and others who bill hourly, the flat fee seems most common with commercial contractors and custom home builders working on larger projects that are well laid out at the time of the bidding process. Custom home builders for example, mostly bill a flat fee that comes off the instalment payments throughout the project, and if the owners need to spend time with the contractor outside of what's allotted for in the bid they're billed additionally by the hour. The guys who bill entirely hourly have mostly been doing renovations and other small things, usually they do a component of the work themselves. That's just what I've gleamed in my experience as a sub.



this.

To go into more detail: in a carriage house you still need a breaker panel, hot water heater, furnace and every other mechanical system, but downsizing those systems and installation costs for a lower square footage doesn't drop the price exponentially from a full sized house.

Yeah, I'm small fry in comparison to home builders...soon, soon

I do the same thing. I give you a quote on a job, go over what the quote includes, and what needs to be found to go over the quote. Anything extra is technically a change-order, but for my stuff I really don't get into doing it that officially, I just charge out hourly for extra work.

[Gridlock]

Oh...in fact, I had one guy that had a huge hump in the concrete where I was going to put down flooring. Was convinced that he needed a flat rate for the task. Told him that I can give him a flat rate, but it was going to have to cover any possible items that may come up.

Instead, he saw the wisdom in going hourly. I worked my ass off(goggles, respirator and ear plugs for 10 hours, I felt like I was cut off from the world) and still made money but didn't end up gouging him on extra time I would have included in a flat rate.

Sometimes you need to have a little faith in people.

[Death2Theft]

What i've always wondered is why more people dont build full concrete with concrete flat roofs, that way u get a sweet top deck that can be walked on and hopefully more durable than shingles. Plus with what people are charging to redo a roof..... 20-30k

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by Death2Theft

What i've always wondered is why more people dont build full concrete with concrete flat roofs, that way u get a sweet top deck that can be walked on and hopefully more durable than shingles. Plus with what people are charging to redo a roof..... 20-30k

Suspended concrete flooring is a pretty expensive addition to an ICF home build, which is already expensive compared to a wood framed structure. ICF is monumentally better and well worth the cost imo, but it's tough to sell a client on a tight budget the benefits of spending money on structure instead of finishing. I know one contractor whose got a talent for convincing clients to step up on structure, love that guy, he sold a client on spending $220K on insulation once.

[Death2Theft]

Sorry whats ICF? Something to do with concrete footings? Whats the cost of the last concrete roof house you've done of similar sqft as a standard house?
I dont think most people spend 220k on heating in the life of the house.

I hate tile as they never look the same once you replace one even if it's the same model the color will be slightly off. Wood is too delicate and if you get it wet your done. Polished concrete with rugs are my only option so far.

[MindBomber]

Originally Posted by Death2Theft

Sorry whats ICF? Something to do with concrete footings? Whats the cost of the last concrete roof house you've done of similar sqft as a standard house?
I dont think most people spend 220k on heating in the life of the house.

I hate tile as they never look the same once you replace one even if it's the same model the color will be slightly off. Wood is too delicate and if you get it wet your done. Polished concrete with rugs are my only option so far.

ICF is an acronym for insulated concrete form, should have included that in the initial post, it's probably the most common method for building concrete residential homes. Depending on where you live it would be 20-30% more to build with icf over wood frame, maybe a bit higher with concrete floors on the upper levels since a rough estimate would be $20-25 a square foot for those alone. I'm not a general contractor like Gridlock, just a sub, so I can only give rough estimates on specialities outside my own.

Here's a pic of an ICF home build.

[Matlock]

I can tell you that most of the time you really do get what you pay for. I've worked on high end homes to mid end to cookie cutter townhomes and sometimes home owners might cheap out and not want to hire the builder's warranted sub trades just to cut corners and save a few bucks. Then that's when problems start popping up and they may end up paying more in the long run.

One thing that will definitely save anyone money is for them to make up their fucking mind. You have no idea how much money is wasted because people constantly change their mind on things. Put it in, take it out, put it in, take it out.