As others said, unfortunately economies of scale and sunk costs make a bigger house cheaper to build dollar/sq ft. That's just the reality. Many builders won't even take jobs or bid on a build that's smaller than say 4k sq ft, simply because it's less money for them.

The way the market is these days, it's simply not cost effective to build smaller homes vs bigger homes.

My parents built a cape cid a few years ago in Arlington. It has a large main level master bedroom and bath and 3 bedrooms and one bath upstairs and unfinished basement. It is abot 2000 sq ft above grade. Every builder they talked to said they should build larger and would regret at resale. They hired a renovator who built their house. They loved it but are now moving back to Austria.

Putting word out through their church and neighborhood, they received five offers on the house and it sold for $53,000 above the appraised value. theoruce approached that if large new builds in their neighborhood.

Anonymous wrote:Any thoughts on the quality/value of Sekas?

Good quality and costs more for it.

Very stupid idea, build at least 3500sf or larger

Anonymous wrote:Merion is selling new builds in Pimmit Hills that are about 3,200 sqft for just over a million. This is your benchmark for size.

Why? Are you suggesting Pimmit Hills is as cheap/small as it gets? That’s only true for an area near Tysons.

Anonymous wrote:The extra SF. between 2,000 and say 3500 SF will be the cheapest part of the transaction.

You really need to look at this as a land deal - if you build a house that small, you will have problems later

what kind of problems does one get with a house that small?

Merion is selling new builds in Pimmit Hills that are about 3,200 sqft for just over a million. This is your benchmark for size.

Anonymous wrote:Bigger house means bigger taxes, bigger utility bills, bigger maintenance costs, bigger cost to furnish it, more time needed to clean it, etc.
It also means cheaper materials and finishes to keep within the same budget as a smaller house. And. depending on the lot size, it could also result iin having a undersized yard, which would likely result in a lower resale price.

You don't get it. There are sunk costs to building a house that will be the same whether it's 2000 sqft or 4000 sqft. The price of the house does not go up or down proportionally to its size. So if you build small, you will end up with a small expensive house. It won't appraise so you better pay cash because the bank doesn't care about the quality of finishes, it only cares about location and square footage. When time comes to sell, you will be competing against similarly priced bigger houses. Who would want to buy a smaller house when they can buy a larger house for the same price?

Any thoughts on the quality/value of Sekas?

Anonymous wrote:Bigger house means bigger taxes, bigger utility bills, bigger maintenance costs, bigger cost to furnish it, more time needed to clean it, etc.
It also means cheaper materials and finishes to keep within the same budget as a smaller house. And. depending on the lot size, it could also result iin having a undersized yard, which would likely result in a lower resale price.

I'msomeone who would prefer to build 2200 above ground with basement instead of 3500 above ground with basement, even if the additional building cost were say, a mere 50k extra.

Bigger house means bigger taxes, bigger utility bills, bigger maintenance costs, bigger cost to furnish it, more time needed to clean it, etc.
It also means cheaper materials and finishes to keep within the same budget as a smaller house. And. depending on the lot size, it could also result iin having a undersized yard, which would likely result in a lower resale price.

Smaller homes are better for the world.

You would lose money building smaller homes. Of course people want cheaper shacks but no one should build one unless they are prepared to lose money and depreciate the structure completely.

Anonymous wrote:The extra SF. between 2,000 and say 3500 SF will be the cheapest part of the transaction.

You really need to look at this as a land deal - if you build a house that small, you will have problems later

Why do you care so much if OP builds a smaller house? I don't understand why people (err, NDI?) get so worked up about this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Stanley martin, NDI and ANV prices don't include basement

Why would you build such a small house when a larger one is very little more.

Not everyone wants an over sized house. 2000 stft is plenty of room - especially if designed well.

True but if it's not your forever home then would be a mistake during sale time.
Even if you don't plan to leave. For another 10 years.

There is a shortage of newer, moderately-sized homes. I think it'd be in great demand if priced appropriately.

Nope

Yup