Elevated or raised
foundations,
usually are made up of a perimeter footing and a raised concrete "stemwall".
Its upon the stemwall that your homes floor and walls will be constructed.
These types of foundation are great for flat terrain and areas with gentle to
moderate sloping lots where the footings and stemwall can be adjusted to take
in the angle of the land. Not as involved or complex as regular full basements
or daylight basements, the cost of form materials and excavation can average
between $800.00 and $1100.00 for a 2000 sq. ft. home. Materials and labor will
come in at around $7.00 to $10.00 per sq. ft. with some special situations
costing extra. Plan to budget for the added inclusions as mentioned above. And
don't forget to consider type and cost of your exterior covering for the
raised part of your foundation. This is where your will bid the cost on such
material as rock veneer or stylish river rock to cover your work. Wolf Creek
also provides log siding that enhances the "ground up" appearance of
your exterior log walls if you prefer.
CONSTRUCTION LABOR
The question of "how much
will my home cost to build" is a tuff inquiry to give an immediate answer
to. Ironically, there is no one basic figure that can be given to cover all
the different situations that could be faced in building a home. The range of
construction costs vary depending on such parameters as the building site,
area, complexity of the home, interior finish preferences, and even local area
labor costs and availability.
Some dealers suggest using a
basic mental rule that the cost of your home will be right around the cost of
an average, conventional, brick home of the same size and like design in
the same area. Others will tell you that it will run around one and a half to
two times the cost of your package price. Following in the foot steps of some
of the better organizations out there and within the same framework that we
discussed the other parameters of site preparation earlier on, we will use the
three tiered method of simple, to medium, to complex to help to explain
construction costs so that you will a good idea about where your budget is
going. Please keep in mind. however, the many different areas of construction
that can influence your "best Guesstimate" and always give yourself
a little flexibility. Its always better to have a little money left over than
to have to go out and find more!
As surely as you can learn the
difference between a framing carpenter and a finish carpenter you can divide
construction labor in to two camps. Rough labor and finish labor. Basically,
rough labor will build your home. Do the log walls, framed walls, flooring
systems, roof system, decking, and usually interface with your subcontractors
to work through installation of your plumbing, electrical wiring, and other
parameters of getting the home ready for the finish work. It is here that your
general contractor orchestrates all the subs and his or her own crews to put
up the home.
Finish labor is like getting a
makeover. Its the interior trim and finish flooring. The ceiling and wall
finishing, shelving, cabinets, and other final touches on your dream home.
Staircases, non-plumbing fixtures, railing and other cosmetic décor are added
at this point. The following formula isn't magic but it goes a long way to
helping you get a grip on the possible cost of construction. We use it, as do
others in our industry.
Remembering that a homes design
can be looked upon as being either simple, mid level, or complex decide on
which category your home fits. For example if you were building our Hideaway
on a Pad foundation your home could be looked upon as being fairly simple and
straight forward. If you chose to build our Jefferson with a raised parameter
foundation it might be considered a mid-level construction design and building
our Rosewood with a full basement would be a complex project with all of its
unique angles, dormers, and balconies.
