Construction is more expensive than you’d think – depending on finishes…
We are finishing building a detached companion unit. The first contractor did most of the grading before abandoning the job. (That was a nightmare!) The second contractor came in to a site that already had the slab poured and the bulk of the expensive grading done – so it’s comparable to a semi-tear down. We shopped contractors (trust me – I’ve talked to or gotten bids from over 30 contractors.)
The square footage price with the 2nd contractor was high – $275-300/sf. And, as I said, we shopped contractors!!!
It might be *slightly* lower for the scenario you describe since, theoretically, you would not have any utility trenching, or sewer/water connections. But that’s such a small part of a project.
A friend recently did what you describe – bought a lot that had already demolished the house, then built a custom home. They paid close to $300/sf.
I naively thought we’d get bids for $200/sf when we started this project. Our first round of bids (5 contractors) were closer to $400-450/sf. These were big name folks that you hear on the radio.
