BUDGET
Soft Costs
Soft costs are the pre-expenses of building a custom home. These are all the expenses that allow you to build your home legally, aesthetically and to the Ontario Building Code.
Some of these costs include but are not limited to: design, city planning consultants, engineers, surveyors, city permits, environmental reports, geotechnical reporting and financial consulting. It is pertinent to consider these mandatory expenses when building a custom home as they can account for up to 20 % percent of the overall building costs. Obviously subjective to design and size.
Land Costs
Land costs are often not considered within the budget when building a custom home. When you go to obtain financial & procurement services ensure you consider land costs and incorporate them into your budget. As one could presume, the more urban the location the more expensive. However the more urbanized and central
can correlate to more convenience and higher demand which could yield a higher appraised value of your home. At the end of the day it is your personal preference, however if you want to obtain a higher value upon completion, choose to build on a lot within the urban area’s of Ottawa. Or locate peripheral locations around the urbanized areas that are currently gentrifying.
Construction Costs
Your build costs are all expenses pertaining to the actual building of your custom home. All materials, management and labour are included in this scope for the budget. This obviously takes the brunt of the project costs in most cases this should be looked after by a estimating or construction finance professional. You want to be careful and ensure that the custom home you plan to build is estimated on a comprehensive and realistic budget. Ask to review a full itemized costing of the project from your company of choice. Here at orange design build it is inclusive on our pre build packages.
Construction Management Costs
Hiring a construction manager or a general contractor is crucial if you want to complete your project within an accurate budget. Much like you would go to your mechanic to fix your vehicle in a timely and accurate fashion, you will want to hire a general contractor to keep your project on time and on budget.
A rule of thumb is construction management services can range based on the size of firm from 10-20% respectively. If your management team is holistic they will be able to guide you through the whole design build process of which creates synergy and lack of error from land acquisition to turnover of the building. Additionally, hiring the right construction manager or project manager can provide you with accurate construction costs as the company will have historical data in addition to competitive pricing from subcontractors and in-house trades. Always consider that project costs can fluctuate based on many variables. Due to this ensure that your projects manager or general contractor is transparent and realistic with the construction costs. A custom home can range anywhere from 185 a sf to 350 a sf depending on materials and complexity. Due to this it is pertinent to hire a project manager or general contractor in Ottawa. Here at Orange Design Build we have years of construction cost data and historical management data to provide an accurate build for you project.
HOME LOCATION CONSIDERATIONS
Downtown or Urban
As suggested before urban custom home builds can yield a higher appraised value upon completion. That being said, urban locations usually correlate with higher land value which can make a project not financially viable based on ones finances and projected budget. The location choice of your custom home in Ottawa is a very important variable to consider. For example, does the location improve you or your families commute to work, school or frequent hobbies. Do you prefer to walk and be in close proximity to general services. If so an urban location may be right for you.
Suburban
Custom homes can be built on lots in suburban neighbourhoods around Ottawa. The benefits of the suburbs are: close proximity to schools. Short commutes to downtown and the ability to have a a competitive overall square foot cost for the custom home. The issue with building in the suburban peripheries of Ottawa is that you are often subject to large scale builder track housing. This format of housing is very systematic and as such can reduce the overall quality and uniqueness of your custom home.
City Peripheries
Building a custom home in the country has it’s advantages. Low land costs, reclusive environments and peaceful living are among some of the benefits. It is also advantageous as you can build on a large land footprint giving you more creativity for home size and layout. The drawbacks are longer commutes to work, potential lack of city services and thus hook up to a septic system. If not you may have to pay to have services connected to your custom home which can be quite expensive depending on the distance requirements for the connection.
CONCLUSION
Budgets and location are among the many considerations when initializing your plan for a custom home in Ottawa. It is a great foundation to build your guidelines for the project. Setting an appropriate and comprehensive budget can further dictate many factors of which includes locations and size. For the most accurate costing and liability always use a qualified construction manager or general contractor.
Written by Orange Design Build a full turn-key design builder that focuses it’s services in Ottawa and Toronto, Ontario.