Budget Update

At the start of the project, we were hoping to keep our budget to $350,000 for all costs other than land — this included engineering, surveys, architects, construction costs, permits, inspections, etc. While that was our goal, we were expecting closer to $360,000, which would be $90 per square foot (4000 square feet of total space under the main roof). Turns out we were still a bit over that number as well, as we’re currently looking to be around $365,000.

If you do this business for a living, it’s always important to know exactly where your money is going and where your estimates were incorrect — that way you can do a better job next time. In this case, since it was our personal residence, some of the overages are just based on wanting nicer finishes than we had originally planned; but there was certainly plenty of underestimating (or forgetting stuff) as well.

Here is where we underestimated or forgot a few of our costs:

• Dirt: We spent about $3,000 extra to haul away unneeded dirt and to do some extra compaction of the backfill around the new property.
• Sheetrock: We underestimated our sheetrock budget by about $2,000.
• Paint: We failed to recognize that we’d need to do a decent amount of exterior painting — about $2,000 worth.
• Water Meter Installation: We didn’t realize we’d need a new water meter. This work was about $3,000.
• Electric Line Installation: We didn’t realize we’d have to pay for the underground conduit and a new power pole, at about $2,000.
• Doors/Trim: With a big house comes a lot of trim. I underestimated by about $3,000 on our door and trim costs.
• Cabinets: We decided to splurge on cabinets and spent about $3,000 more than expected.
• Bio-Retention Pond: We underestimated the costs here by about $2,000.

We still have some more work to do and some more bids to get, so we could end up even higher, but at this point, I think it’s safe to say that our final budget will come in somewhere around $370,000. Not too bad, but I always hate missing our estimates!