You gonna do it yourself or wait 3 years for a contractor to be available?

We saw a contractor who said that we could build and the house would be ready in February 2025. Price $350K for a 1200 sq ft on slab, no garage, not including the land cost.

If you do the work yourself it will be cheaper, otherwise probably more.

Worst part about building is needing to know heavy equipment people for the earth work. If you know some excavation folks it’s not as bad.

TLDR: costs around $400 -$450 a square foot plus the cost of land and a 2+ year wait time. So even a relatively modest house can set you back over 500k.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vermont/comments/w1z4cj/q_how_much_does_it_cost_to_build_a_house_in/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

Wow that’s ridiculous

Building new is more expensive than buying existing, unless you are a contractor that can build it yourself. But 99% of us are not.

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Even just a garage is costing 40-50k to build, and a long wait time to.

Built a ~ 1300 sq ft house (above ground sq ft)with finished basement (~600 sq ft). Cost a total of 350k to build without cost of the land. 100k was excavator work (septic/driveway/drainage/basement hole etc) 250k was materials and labor. I did a lot of the work myself with friends and hired a builder to put up the shell (walls, roof, decks). This was in 2012.

More unaffordable, unfortunately.

We have a ~1000sqft cabin built in 1975 that's perfectly serviceable for now. But, we're going to build something new in the next 5-10 years. We'll be using a log cabin fab company, and they bring in the crew to build it if you desire. Sure beats waiting for 3 years and paying $450 a square foot.

How the hell did it get so expensive to build a house?

Land costs are crazy, and if a lot comes on the market, builders snatch them up if the price is moderate. We replaced our failed septic system this past year for $45K, so that shows you what they can cost. You might be able to put some sweat equity by doing some work yourself, but that doesn’t touch the cost of materials. Good luck finding a general contractor. And I’m still hearing about substantial delays in getting needed materials.

Good luck finding a carpenter who is free to do any work within a year. They are all a year plus out. And all wishy washy if they will do it.

My husband and I have been looking into building a house in the future. Huntington Homes seems to be the most cost effective way to build aside from doing it yourself.

If it were economically feasible to deliver newly built homes for less than the going price of an existing homes, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Our issue isn't that homes are too expense, it’s that our wages are too low.

Finding trades contractors in the country (not just VT) is incredibly difficult. Turns out spending 50 years telling everyone it's college or bust had impacts on the other professions. Oopsie

Covid made the cost of supplies sky rocket due to issues with the supply chain. Even though supply is a lot more readily available now, the greedy companies still keep the prices high because they know people will pay it now. It is greed at its finest.

Thanks boomers

We also severely devalue what little independent carpenters that are left. We generally nickel and dime them, expecting them to work for far, far less for construction and the associated trades they're capable of doing than they would make as a specialized trade like plumbing, electrical, roofing, etc.

...which is why most carpenters have been transitioning to those trades.

That's how it is now. Materials haven't come down a ton from the pandemic and now inflation.

Also materials skyrocketed in price during the pandemic and haven't really recovered much.

basically no banks will offer you a loan because they don't want to be left with a half built house if you default

Contractors are extremely expensive and very limited availability

Factor in 20-50k for septic, 30-50k for water+electricity, 50-100k for a garage

Build a yurt yo

I'm so old I'm a preboomer. I went to college and spent much of my life working in trades. Had good bennies, good pay, job security, and I'm comfortably retired. Trust me, many many boomers also went into trades and mostly did okay.

Beans homes had a similar offer. $180k plus slab, well, septic, electric hookup and land. We watched listings for about a year and eventually found a 2300sqft Victorian that had recently been renovated with 3 car garage and half acre lot. Town water and sewer. $159k. It’s insured to $600k because that would be the cost to replace. You gotta look around a lot.

But also we've made it unaffordable for tradespeople to live here too.

What do you think all that would cost now for comparison?

Ken's Karpentry in Lyndonville has an excellent YouTube channel and honest outlook in building garages and small homes here in the Northeast Kingdom. Prior to pandemic, his website had transparent pricing for all types of garages and buildings. He was the least expensive and would tailor any project to your specifications. He breaks down how materials soared and his costs went up though he tried to pre-buy and keep stuff affordable for his customers. His outlook and insight is interesting imo. His take on the materials market is mixed with a great sense of humor in his videos. Here's a guy who has been building forever and wants to make a fair profit without screwing anyone. As far as buying land and building, unless you are buying a kit from the Jamaica Cottage Shop or a Beans Home, it's a huge wait. Not to mention the cost of getting power is off the charts and next to impossible due to scarce components, reduced work workforce and a huge backlog of projects. Definitely pay attention if you need to bring power to your build site.

Having worked on both I can’t steer you away from Huntington homes hard enough. The quality control simply isn’t there. We spent weeks fixing issues at a house and had to settle for stuff that we’d never even consider with stick built.

It’s tough but you really do get what you pay for. They’re saving the money by not grading and crowning lumber, slapping hangers on with 1/4” gaps under them and not squaring things up.

Edit: I’m bad at typing

I will second this. The quality is just not there in Huntington homes.

*I will also say I have no idea who you are but I’m confident you can build a house. It’s not hard. It is complex and you need to follow a process but it is not hard.

**not you, the one thinking about the Huntington home.

Plus the exit of many in the trades after the 2008 recession, and depressed building over the following ten years.

Not entirely true. Wood has returned to pre pandemic levels, although im sure the suppliers still want keep the prices high.

Source: https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/commodities/lbs

I'm in construction and yes materials are the highest they have ever bean but it's more to do with lack of labor "aka people don't want to work" so if someone wants a house built noe there going to pay a premium to get to the front of the list which tends to have a trickle down effect on every one else

https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/lumber

Lumber prices have stabilized to pre pandemic levels.

I’m sure there’s a huge backlog for contractors though

You need more than lumber to build a house. Wire is still high as are number of other things or in shorter supply than a few years ago.

I just had to adjust my replacement cost on my home owners insurance. I was way under insured. Something no one thinks about until it's too late.

“We spend weeks fixing issues at a house and had to settle for stuff that we’d never even consider with stick built.”

Thanks for the heads up. Do you mind explaining this more? Do you mean you had to fix a house by HH after it was built?

yeah but overall all older generations were shitting on the trades and non-white collar work for years, I'm 37 and through my entire life from childhood until probably a decade ago I was hearing everyone older than me constantly say how blue collar work was for losers. How if you wanted to get anywhere in life you had to goto college, that if you didn't, you'd be stuck being a plumber or laborer, or work fast food, people were shitting on garbage men even. It wasn't even just people, it was movies, tv shows, music, books, just about every bit of media from the last 50 years was mocking and deriding blue collar work.

It's only in the last decade that it's been turning around, but I still hear this mentality from people, usually the privileged rich douche types, but still sometimes from older people. But regardless, the damage is done, hardly anyone in my age or younger is getting into the trades because the stigma is already entrenched that it's deadend work even though right now it pays better than many white collar jobs.

Septic costs a lot.

Materials are still high and not many home builders have workers. A friend looked into putting a 16'x20' addition on in late summer and lowest quote was $95k.

I’ve been quoted six figures plus by two contractors for a bathroom remodel that involves expanding both our current bathroom and an existing closet into a small office.

Those may have been go away we are busy quotes, but I can’t imagine building a home would be cheap.

Hi builder here.

The idea that it can only be done in 2-5 years is ludicrous. Sure there's a queue but most projects are slow burns and many homeowners aren't ready to pull the trigger for whatever reason. If you've got the cash and the plans and the land and you're ready to go well have a foundation in the ground as soon as it thaws and depending on the size, you'd be in it within the year.

I know for a fact if you kept it small and simple you'd be out the door for less than 300k. Lumber isn't cheap but it's not the expensive stuff either. The expensive stuff is the windows and the cabinets and the countertops and the appliances and heating/cooling, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and all the other things that go into a new home. Plus you've got to pay someone ($60/hr) to put all those things together the right way. A simple uninsulated barn shouldn't cost much more than $125/ft².

Obviously if you're trying to save a buck you can look for deals & help from friends & family with the labor.

Moral of the story: it can be done. But at what cost or with what sacrifice?

There's a saying that somewhat applies here: There's three things everyone wants: cheap, fast, & good. You only get two.

Lumber has gotten back down to a reasonable price, but everything else is more expensive. Drywall, insulation, fixtures, flooring and paint are all 25-50% more than they were in 2019. That's at the regular prices. Worst of all, Lowe's has gotten a lot stingier with their clearance prices. I remodel houses for a living, and my overall material costs have gone up by well over 50%.

There is much more to materials than the wood.

Yup. Why would an entry carpenter work for $20 an hour when they can get that same amount somewhere else less dangerous and less wear on the body?

It's not all readily available either. Lead times for some stuff is still 2 years.

Building only becomes cost effective when there's any sort of scale. The time and monetary costs of obtaining the permits necessary to build one home, on top of land and materials, is going to be quite high. It makes more sense to simply allow developers to easily construct new homes of all types, add ADUs by right, repurpose abandoned buildings, etc.

I happen to be a carpenter so I'm in a somewhat unique situation, but I have found that I am able to build my own house for a fraction of the cost of buying something. I have had to do literally everything myself, which is a lot of work, but it has saved me tens of thousands. I am building my house on a slab that I poured with my friends in my town, and using rough sawn lumber and traditional methods to keep costs low and increase strength/durability of the house. Using trusted practices/materials like rough sawn boards, nails, tar paper, tin roofing, cheap insulation, rustic flooring, wood stove for heat; all these things will save you tons of money in the end and honestly create a very cozy home.

Vermont is unaffordable to most who live and work there. I couldn't find any apartments in Rutland when I wanted to move out of my grandmothers and when I did it was a shared apt and it would be like 800$ a month. At the time the only work I could find was at Hannafords and it was like 11.25 am hour and 18 hours a week.

We are entering into a period of history where you either need to be able to do things yourself or be fabulously wealthy if you want to own a house or have things fixed. Problem is of course that building even a small house is a massive undertaking beyond the ability and time budget of most people. I built a Tiny House and, though I would probably be able to do it faster a second time, has taken me years to do by myself.

They've actually recovered a ton. Take a look at lumber prices for instance https://www.macrotrends.net/2637/lumber-prices-historical-chart-data

Below pre pandemic

I put an add on FPF when the last storm knocked some shingles off my roof. I got 5 responses and several said they do general carpentry. I was pleasantly surprised

Construction loans are at 18% right now because banks don’t feel people are going to seek things to completion, which is not right but it’s valid, given that there are two houses in the town I live in up for sale half built for over $300k & the other for over $400k

Framing materials are back to pre-pandemic levels. All other sub-trades continue to see price increases. Labor cost is higher due to demand and lack of new (young) labor coming into the trades. Couple that with high development costs in Vermont along with an energy code that continues to drive up costs. There is no affordability for new homes. Without permit reform and a streamlined process the cost of building won’t come down.

It will be more expensive for custom

I built my last home in central Vermont on land that was on my family property, with existing septic. I calculated that I spent roughly 150k when all was said and done and used the help of a contractor friend for the framing and finish work. On top of all of my freetime dedicated to this house I also spent the majority of my vacation time managing this build. If you are paying ‘retail’ by using a team or well known builder/developer I’m sure that you’ll spend twice this amount. The real question is, would I do it again? My answer is probably not. While it sounds like a good way to beat the system there are just too many variables when trying to do it yourself and I was lucky to know so many contractors and tradespeople to help along the way and even still there were plenty of things that went wrong and I spent 3+ years completing is house.

Also, decimating unions and defunding community colleges means there's few ways to enter the trades. If you think college is a ripoff, wait until you hear about for-profit "trade schools." Everything in this country is a fucking scam.

Plus, the way we build houses in this country is ridiculously inefficient. Bring back the commieblocks and Sears houses FFS. Bring the local zoning boards and NIMBYs to heel. It shouldn't be so hard to build in the first place. We need to prefab a lot more to reduce the labor costs, especially in this climate. There's a reason the Europeans laugh at our single-story shacks made of sticks and glue...

The rate of attrition ion the trades is 5 people leave/retire and 2 are replacing them. Labor cost will continue to rise

Boomers? Would that include Bernie and kincevich and jerry brown and Liz Warren and every other Boomer who has fought for reform for the past 50 years? Can we get a break from this blood lust on the boomers? Half of us didn’t vote for Reagan

You are right. It’s not good to over generalize

I realize it’s been really messed up for anyone coming of age since the 2008 downturn, if not before, and it infuriates me and all my Boomer peers.

If it’s not inflated tuition and predatory student loans, it was until recently, horribly suppressed wages and now a housing shortage. It’s crazy unsustainable and horribly unfair. And we aren’t all sitting pretty in giant garrison colonials worth 900k that we bought for $100k, either.

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I think there are alternative building types that can be more affordable but even they might be a bit risky these days because a lot of them are going up in price too plus getting and paying a contractor/crew and the cost of site work etc. I am thinking of modular, kit homes, stuff like that. You have to really research it.

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Try modular homes. There are some good looking modular home builders based out of Vermont.

The way to build in Vermont is to find somebody who can process wood in exchange for other services or goods. Buy land on the cheap in a super rural area on forested land for as many acres as you can afford. Clear out the trees and brush with friends and family, get GMP (or other) to run lines, drill a well and build a septic system. These three things will be your largest costs. Build the place yourself, and you can slowly add on when you have the money. Buy common products for building so they will always be around when you go to add on. If you develop a piece of land into a homested, you can easily double or triple your input when you go to sell. This is how my immediate family developed middle class wealth through property ownership in Vermont.

The cost of materials has increased dramatically in the last 3 years. Labor costs are also high along with demand. Less skilled laborers these days which makes for long waitlists. Look into a tiny home or a shipping container home?

18%?! Good grief.

Astronomical & unapproachable. On a plus note, when you only have the construction loan you are solely paying the interest & not the principal

Did you do a frost resistant lab? Or how deep did you dig to pour it?

I did a floating/Alaskan slab. It was about half the price of doing stem walls, maybe even a third of the price (about 10k$). Leveled my gradually sloping site with 7 loads of crushed stone, tamped each layer, the poured a slab on top with tons of rebar.

exceptions to the rule aren't representative of group dynamics, especially when one of your examples, Warren, was a conservative during the Reagan years. We have polling that's quite clear on the overall ideological positions between generations, and older ones are clearly more conservative and have been so consistently for decades.

Not all houses are unrealistic to buy. If you choose somewhere rural it is dirt cheap. We bought a single family move in ready home for $117,000. Some cosmetic updating was needed but it was what we could afford. Feels like people expect beautiful new homes to be cheap when you sometimes have to put in the elbow grease to get it there

Is not the materias. Labor specifically in the east coast is ridiculously expensive. Moved from Texas and a contractor in Texas costs me 1/4 of what costs me in the East Coast plus way better work. I have never seen uglier, poorly constructed houses and overall bad construction work than in the East Coast. You guys need to get your shit together.

People need to read A Generation of Sociopaths.

this is exactly the reason why i got into the trades after spending/wasting my time at college (although i don’t regret the path i took, it’s brought me here)

i knew i always enjoyed working with my hands and honestly i just needed a job, i wasn’t using my degree and thought learning a trade is a valuable and honorable skill. I never could accept the reality in which i would pay someone to do something that i could do myself (landscaping, automotive, repairs). I had 0 experience in carpentry/building but the idea was that “one day i’ll be able to build my own house”— it’s been 6 years and honestly if i had the land i could do it all myself, minus the electrical and all that (which i’d love to learn)

that being said, it was the best decision i ever made. i love this profession, there’s a never ending wealth of knowledge.

Ah I dunno if I’d view that as a positive lol. But good on you for seeing a silver lining.

That's an understatement. They cost A LOT. And take forever to get approved.

Can I have your company info? We are looking to build in Lowell.

Could I have your contact info? We are looking to build in Lowell.

Not to mention not allowing the immigration of folks who might possess the relevant skills to replace the waning workforce.

If you want to pay someone to do it for you, very expensive. If you want to do most of it yourself, not as expensive.

Also just want to throw my two cents in, you pay a roofing company 100s of dollars an hour while the guys doing the actual work with the knowledge are making nothing and most of these companies give no benefits at all.

Contracting and construction are just another industry where the guys on the top are living on the lake and the people with the know-how and work ethic are living in RVs in the winter

We had our septic replaced this past fall for just over 6k. How did yours cost 45k? Our job was only replacing the tank but just wondering what would have crept your cost up so much?

I'm seeing pricing starting around $500 a square foot for projects that my office does from Montpelier down to Newport NH and up to Franconia. We serve a pretty large area with our home designs. We do everything from reworking plans found online to full custom homes, or bathroom remodeling. Every builder I know is busy, and it doesn't appear to be slowing down.

A friend is having a tiny home built on a 38'x10' and it's quoted at $200k+ without having water, septic, electric and site work done.

I do almost all the work on my houses myself, so for me, a 50% increase in the cost of materials means almost a 50% increase in all expenses after property taxes, realtor's fees and closing costs. If you want to buy a house with a quality remodel job I'll be selling one in a few months, or I'm sure Texas will welcome you back.

If you don’t have a prepped site expect to pay at least a million for stick built. You can maybe get the price down if you go modular but not a ton.

I'm building right now. I'm doing most of it myself and the answer is still LOL NOPE

That’s bananas. The hippies were Boomers. Just nonsense. Just stop it.

Because of the location (within 200 feet of a lake), and because the leach field had failed, we needed a special mound system. You were lucky you didn’t have to redo the leach field.

I own a parcel. It would be cheaper to buy an existing house and have it moved than to build new. Absolutely bonkers

Building is much worse now unless you can do most of it yourself.

Hahahaha

Sorry, nope.

I wonder if a lot of the issue in VT is there are so few people who CAN do this work. I'm currently living in Arkansas, and the house I currently live in is 1,232sqft and I paid 132k. We also have lots of different contractors and companies and individual people and small businesses that are able to do this kind of work. So I wonder if it's simply a matter of high demand and short supply of the skills and equipments needed to build homes--therefore contractors can charge whatever they want because people are insane enough to pay for their "dream home." VT has so many people with college degrees, but how many with trades certifications and training? Curious.

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They still turn out houses in Texas for $100 sq ft new. But I guess that's not one at a time.

I agree with the general trend of cultural warfare, but lotsa industries have gotten rich off overselling that sort of division to ‘both’ sides of the divide. Nursing grudges is profitable. Plenty of movies in the 80s I grew up in featured richies as d-bags and the heroes being Men at Work (!). It’s not at all clear to me how many of those families where the family had one type of job swore their kids would not go into their occupation, for their personal reasons. Same for military service? I wish we had a better spokesperson for labor issues because Mike Rowe is sort of a choad.

Americans love underdog stories but don’t love underdogs. Look at how many Murkins say they ‘support the troops’ but don’t support single-payer or nationalized health care.

You might even be too young for it, but there used to be folks called “Yuppies” and seemingly they were tacky and were subtly ruining everything. That glide path got folded into ‘the American Dream’ too. Nowadays it’s aspirational and trucks are status symbols not work trucks, for urban and rural alike.

Commercial building is absolutely fucked right now, I'd imagine residential is as well. I'm a youth rock climbing coach and I've been waiting for a new climbing gym to open here in the Upper Valley (Lebanon NH) that I am supposed to work at. They budgeted high for construction knowing it would be expensive and their lowest bid was fucking $2 million over what they were expecting. Insane. I don't know any more specifics about their budget but I'd imagine a climbing gym built in Lebanon NH in a normal economy a few years ago would cost less than a million so this must be around triple their budget. Now I get to wait even longer for my job :(

Building requires a different type of loan product than buying a preexisting structure. You could get a mortgage with 5% down but to get a loan to build it requires minimum 30% down so it can be much more unacceptable plus you would likely have to pay to create a well system and a septic system. Large ticket items

I was told I needed 30% for a construction loan in 2019 from 2 credit unions

Can confirm. Now own overpriced small house, even though we took on some of the work ourselves. Still not quite finished.

no war but class war

this is a misconception, the vast majority of the hippies were Silent Gen, IE Bernie's Generation, I know that because my mom was a boomer who was born in 1949 and was 20 in 1969 and missed the entire movement because she was too young. The majority of boomers were younger than her even, just the very oldest boomers were part of that movement and they were a small minority of their generation.

Less dangerous?

Www.geobarns.com

You ever seen someone slide their hand into a table saw?

Yeah we could really use a super long border with a nation that was desperate for resources to drive down our labor costs up here for sure!

Says every profiteering POS in the state.

During install and after it was built.

Rafters were crowned so bad that a straight trim board was inches off the roof mid span which touching on both ends. Corners of house so out of plumb and square that it was impossible to get corner trim on right so siding has to all be shimmed off the house. Doors openings leaned so far doors wouldn’t stay closed unless latched. Roof singles installed so sloppily that the previous course of nails was exposed oh maybe 1/3 the courses.

Many many electrical and hvac issues too, but I didn’t deal with them directly.

If it was any one of the issues it would be not great that it slipped through. But the fact that it was every part/trade that had issues points to a much broader quality control issue. It wasn’t something that slipped through, everything was just shit.

You couldnt pay me enough to live there,lol.

( edit..well you could but it would be at least a 7 digit to the left of the decimal sum,lmao!)

Agree with anyone being able to build a house.

I always tell people anyone can frame/wire/plumb a house and make it safe and functional. The difference is a pro can do it fast enough to make a living.

It’s also a misconception that because Boomers were not the initial movers, they therefore had no part of It when it indeed defined them. Who do you think the millions were who marched in all those protests, attended all those concerts. Who was the audience embracing and supporting and being inspired by all those initial movers? Did you march in any protests and attend concerts when you were 16,18,20? So did they.

Student occupation of Columbia U? All Boomers. National guard occupation at Kent State? Responding to Boomers. Dead students at Kent State? Boomers. Don’t overwork the mild point some writers have tried to make about the initial movers. Jerry Garcia was older than the cutoff date, but had band members who were younger. I fail to see a meaningful cultural or generation gap between members of the GD.

Finally, they were drafting for Vietnam up to 1952 birth dates and registering people for it through 1956 birthdates. I defy anyone to claim Vietnam and the draft protests were not a part of it.

It was a boom in population and a cultural era that ended with the election of Reagan.

I didn’t come to start an argument and I resent the nit picking

When I was considering building, I looked into this company - Huntington Homes. They’re well designed modular construction, which could shave off some cost/time. I particularly liked that their roofs come pre-wired for solar. https://huntingtonhomesvt.com

This whole land shortage problem is quite new in Southern Vermont. Pre pandemic, buildable lots languished on the market, sometimes for years. I purchased 25 beautiful view acres for $50K that had been listed for 3 years with no offers. Things changed quickly with Covid, it was as if a switch had been thrown. The same was true with affordable houses, zero demand to bidding wars almost overnight. I doubt the market will correct anytime soon. Contractors used to need work and were easier to find too. Hindsight is always 20/20.

I know multiple carpenters with six months wait max and there sought after. central Vermont.

mind elaborating? Super curious

I am also building my own house (husband is really) - the costs of EVERYTHING has gone up. Wood, nails, plumbing, windows everything is way more than our initial estimates thanks to Covid. Also delays! Windows taking 4-6 months, an electrical box (specifically required by electric company) on back order for 18 months. Those are some of the things we have dealt with so far.

how far off schedule are you?

In Chittenden county they're building like crazy. And it's all being bought up for airbnb or renting out for like $2.5k a month for a one-bedroom. Building isn't the problem.

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There is no real shortage of trade workers. It’s just that between the 2nd home owners, massive influx of people moving here in the last several years, and a short term rental issue because of so many ski towns, the “locals” are being forced to spend 50% of their income or more on rent, and buying is just out of sight.

I'm building right now and prices in materials have been dropping and I'd say affordable but I'm doing all the work myself can't speak on prices for contractors

What about buying land and living there say camping and/or rving?

AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Fuckin’ crazy!!

Remember the days of $75/sf?

Thanks for the detailed response.

I dont think this is a true or sustainable price level at this point. The reason newbuild costs went up so much were due to material (e.g. lumber) going nuts during hte pandemic and compounded by labor and substantial tightness in backlogs. All of these issues are abating very fast (e.g. lumber already below pre pandemic levels again) except for labor which remains higher. I think as builders complete backlog this year mark to market pricing on incremental orders will be down towards pre pandemic levels again, though maybe not all the way considering higher labor costs are likely sticky. FWIW I received some quotes on very high end custom builds in the middle of the pandemic (so still high material costs) and those returned in the $400 range per square foot so I think this is already towards the high end.

Another vote for Ken's Karpentry. He and my uncle went way back and a real no BS contractor. Which is rare these days.

>
>
>Jamaica Cottage Shop or a Beans Home

I would avoid Beans at all costs (or any manufactured homes). Jamaica Cottage Shop is a bit pricey, but decent quality

Lol I can hear your whitness. I have no problem with a more expensive work but well done. All contractors that I saw their work was badly done, No pride on their craft or anything plus was 3 times more. U guys should demand more value for your money. Mexico is not responsible for contractors in the East coast not being able to do the work and feeling entitled. Lol 😆 😆 😆

I got my house but I paid over a million for a decent built house. The east coast has been very disappointing so far.

My whiteness? LMFAO my dude im a transhumanist..the color of the shell dont matter a bit to me.

Does Ken do small homes or just garages? His work looks very nice.

Does your 300k out the door for small and simple (let's say a 1000-1200 square foot rectangle) includes well/septic/excavation/short connection to power?

Exactly. If you can read and follow directions you can build a house.

I believe he does smaller homes

Yup. When I sold my house in So Burlington (the orchards 60 year old ranch needed lots of work) and bought my place in the NEK (energy efficient cape built in 2006 by someone as a second home never lived in), I didn't even list it. My neighbors bought it as an investment. This was 2018 before covid. I was able to get a studio/garage built the next year by a local excellent contractor before crazy pricing. He had the excavator guy he worked with, the concrete guy, the electrically guy, the HVAC and garage door guys. He was efficient and worked by himself with one helper. I am so glad I did it when I did.

We’re building outside of Burlington. It’s possible, but finding a great contractor has taken some time, and we probably paid more for the land than we should have. Once the house is done we’re moving to Vermont for good (from NJ). We want our kids to grow up there and to contribute to the community.

Any references you might wanna share?

I know there is more than one, but we got pretty far down the road with these folks. Seemed legit.

https://www.vermontmodularhomes.com/

The 'boomers' are the builders. It's the young idiots who refuse any job that might make them break out in a sweat.

Thank youuu

We are 6 months off schedule now, but it’s the money that’s the worst. Thankfully the costs of lumber are starting to come down.

Wishing you the very best in finishing your project. Nothing like doing it yourself. I have friends who bought land in Morgan (they live in CC) wanting to build a house themselves eventually retiring near me. I put them up and helped most of year but husband still working 4 days a week. He did take long stretches off (owned his trade businessin hvac) but still materials you speak of, windows, cabinets, doors, electric service was pushed so far back. They ended up selling unfinished. Life changes. New owners secured a local contractor and it is finally finished this December.

My Dr. Did that in Kirby and mtn bikes or skis to work. Has his own practice.

Damn right