How Much Did the Practice House Cost to Build?

Short answer: $74,767. 

Long answer: that comes out to $178 per square foot, which is based on a floor area of 420 s.f., which needs a little explaining.  When measuring the area of loft space, my protocol is to count square footage wherever there is 3’ of headroom or more (since I need 3’ to sit up straight).  In the practice house, the loft measures 132 s.f., but that leaves 66 s.f. of uncounted space near the knee walls that is finished and heated/cooled.

Also, these costs and the $178 per s.f. don’t account for the value of my time.  If I was employed as a semi-skilled construction contractor and I made $20 per hour, my time would be worth $31,440 and the cost becomes $105,207 or $253 per s.f.  If I paid professionals to do what I did (let's assume they would take 3/4 as long to do the same amount of work), the cost works out to something like $129,000 or $307 per s.f.

It’s difficult to compare my cost to build to other homes, but here are a few relevant thoughts;

·       Professionally built tiny homes on wheels seem to run $75,000 to $80,000 for 350 s.f. with loft

·       I saw a premanufactured tiny home for sale in 2017 discounted to $60,000 not including transport and foundation

·       Conventional homes in MD seem to run about $150 per s.f. (or $63,000 for 420 s.f.) , but that is a tough comparison because the more expensive kitchen and bath areas make up a larger percentage of costs in a tiny home.  Also, my house has a high performance shell, with a higher up-front cost versus lower operating costs.

·       Two internet sources listed custom natural homes as costing roughly anywhere from $75 to $300 per s.f., so I guess I fall near the high end of that range.

There are of course, a few particular choices I made that drove up my costs as compared to the conventional construction that runs $150 per s.f..  The idea is that money spent upfront would save time and hassle over the long term, and my goal was to never have to touch the exterior for 50 years except to refresh the trim paint and recoat the shingles.  Collectively, these items probably added about $10,000  or 15% to the cost:

·       Metal roof rather than asphalt shingles

·       Cedar shake siding rather than cement board

·       Spray foam insulation rather than rockwool bats

·       TrueExterior trim rather than PVC (http://truexterior.com/)

·       Professionals to help with siding and light straw clay when I was time-constrained

Of course, none of the costs in this analysis include the price of land or utility extensions to the house, since those vary considerably by location.  And similar to what I noted in my “Time to Build” post, there will be a little more money spent when I enclose the porch.  I acted as my own architect and civil engineer, which probably saved me $6,000 or so.  I also spend about $1,800 on tools and equipment to supplement my existing arsenal so that I could do my own work.  

Overall, I was anticipating the costs to come in lower than they did, but I had zero prior experience with any sort of home-building, let alone natural home-building.  But on the flip side, I ended up with a better home than I expected, and it is by far the most comfortable and best suited to my lifestyle of anyplace I have ever lived.  As I try to answer the age-old question, “was it worth it?” I think the answer is yes, provided that the place turns out to be as low-maintenance as I expect it to be.