I did not include land, permits or utilities in the cost I quoted. That is just building costs for the home itself. A buddy of mine works for one of the major builders and is in charge of a couple of developments. The one he is just finishing up is running $44 sq/ft on average for construction costs (norcal). That’s a low end tract of SFR homes, nothing fancy. Another tract he is doing with nicer homes and more complex builds is running just over $60 sq.ft. The cost difference depends on how many bathrooms, windows, skylights or fancy walls, ceilings, alcoves etc. Even the nicer stuff, what we would consider high end tract homes are probably under $80 a sq/ft for construction costs. Now, custom builds or one-offs are going to be WAY more expensive. To build a single custom home is easily going to run you north of $150 sq/ft and probably more than $200 if it’s a nice home.
