Cost of building new in Arlington

[Anonymous]

I bought an excellent $2M very nice 6500 SF house from a well regarded builder at the edge of Arlington. He had to pay $800k for a house which he tore down. So I am guessing he could build that for $1.2M.

[Anonymous]

Builders don’t earn as much as we think. In the old days, builders were able to snap lots at below “retail” prices. Not anymore. There are far too many spec and “build on your lot” firms out there plus so msny “retail” buyers who want lots for custom build. Very different picture nowadays. The cost of land (of which land is a significant portion) along with materials and labor plus the competition continues to drive up selling prices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought an excellent $2M very nice 6500 SF house from a well regarded builder at the edge of Arlington. He had to pay $800k for a house which he tore down. So I am guessing he could build that for $1.2M.

What year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bought an excellent $2M very nice 6500 SF house from a well regarded builder at the edge of Arlington. He had to pay $800k for a house which he tore down. So I am guessing he could build that for $1.2M.

What year?

Not PP but if you look at new home listings in Arlington there are lots of examples like this. In south Arlington it’s pretty common to see land acquired for $700-$800k and the new build to cost $1.7 or 1.8. Land cost in north Arlington is now hovering a $850k-$900k with prices starting at $2.0.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are good custom builders who will build for their cost +30%, and you can build a home for $1M, but it definitely won’t look like a $2M home. If you want your home to look like a $2M home, you are going to have to spend upwards of $1.2-1.3M for 5000 sq feet.

If you use one of the premier builders in the area, expect to pay another 20% reputation premium.

Would you be able to drop some names? Initials?

Whitestone

Sagatov

John Joy

John Sloan

Great Jones

[Anonymous]

^^ I've heard of a couple of these builders, and I think they might laugh at you if you asked them to build a home for $1 million plus the cost of the land (which was the original question).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:here is a good place to get an idea before land and permit / teardown costs, scroll down to plans w/ pricing

https://focalpointhomes.com/semi-custom/

Has anyone used Focal Point? The prices on that website seem out of line with what everyone on here says someone should expect to pay.

[Anonymous]

We've built twice in Arlington with the same guy. He's great. We pay a fixed fee + actual cost. Everyone else we talked to adds like 30% on top of actual costs, so it makes a big difference if you can get a builder that does not charge that. Plus we trust him and he's a good guy in general.

[Anonymous]

To answer your actual question, when we first built 8 years ago we built around 4K sq ft (I am counting the basement) for 700K plus cost of land. Costs have gone WAY up since then. Now we are doing a renno which is move like $450K for 2K sq ft. I would assume AT LEAST $200 a sq ft and $250 is more realistic. Plus permits in Arlington take forever. And Arlington has stormwater guidelines that cost 50K or more to comply with. Arlington is an expensive place to build.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is well over $1M for a 5000 sq feet new construction. It's $275-$300 per sq feet. That puts you in the $1.4-$1.5M minimum range. Everything cost more now and demand is still really high in this area.

Don’t be ridiculous. It is about $1m if you own the lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bought an excellent $2M very nice 6500 SF house from a well regarded builder at the edge of Arlington. He had to pay $800k for a house which he tore down. So I am guessing he could build that for $1.2M.

What year?

Not PP but if you look at new home listings in Arlington there are lots of examples like this. In south Arlington it’s pretty common to see land acquired for $700-$800k and the new build to cost $1.7 or 1.8. Land cost in north Arlington is now hovering a $850k-$900k with prices starting at $2.0.

Y’all are forgetting builder profit. You can’t really get a new build for $2m in a nice part of Arlignton anymore, but let’s say you could, the builder would be making about $300k on that.

[Anonymous]

Are you asking for a friend with a cleared lot on a bike trail and near a soccer field?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've built twice in Arlington with the same guy. He's great. We pay a fixed fee + actual cost. Everyone else we talked to adds like 30% on top of actual costs, so it makes a big difference if you can get a builder that does not charge that. Plus we trust him and he's a good guy in general.

So - who is this great guy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've built twice in Arlington with the same guy. He's great. We pay a fixed fee + actual cost. Everyone else we talked to adds like 30% on top of actual costs, so it makes a big difference if you can get a builder that does not charge that. Plus we trust him and he's a good guy in general.

So - who is this great guy?

He's a small guy who does only a few projects a year so I am not sure if he would want his name in a forum like this or not. I can ask him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have tried to price out new builds but with lot acquisition, carrying costs, materials, and builder fee, we can’t seem to build any equity beyond what a new build costs which is in the $2.2-2.4. Lot is in the $900-1MM and building is about 1.2-1.4MM and up. So unless you have to want something specific in a new build, it wasn’t worth it to wait the 18 months for a new home.

I've not built from scratch, just did major renovations and in no way would I ever do it again.