Southern Log Crafters LLC | Building Dreams, One Customer At A Time

Creating A Budget

Having been in the Log Home industry for quite some time now, I can understand the questions that arise during the preliminary stages of building a new log home. Of course, the first step to building your dream home is finding and purchasing the property that best suits your needs (location, accessibility, view, etc.). Then comes the hard part, creating an obtainable budget. In some cases, this means compromising the floor plan or the design that you may have in mind. This is by far the most difficult task because of the many variations in material and labor pricing throughout the United States and Canada. But hopefully I can help you through some of it:

Set a Top-End Cost: This is the amount of dollars that construction costs cannot exceed. (This needs to be a realistic and attainable number, remember, people in the building trades are professionals and expect to be paid accordingly for their knowledge and hard work.)
Subtract 15% from your Top-End Cost: Most construction projects have an over-expenditure rate of 5% to 10% this will, in most cases, insure that you do not go over budget on your particular project. (Ex. If your Top-End cost is $200,000.00 you would subtract $30,000.00 and the remaining $170,000.00 is what your construction budget would be.)

Now that you have a budget number in mind, it is time to decide what type of Log Home you want. There are Two main categories of log homes: Manufactured and Hand Crafted.

Hand-Crafted log homes are approximately 40% more costly, normally costing approximately $150.00 to $190.00/ Square Foot, whereas a Manufactured log home costs approximately $110.00 to $140.00/ Square Foot.

Note: These are Turn-key prices and may vary up to 15% depending on the geographical location of your building site, and the amenities that you would like in your home (both prices above are based on a builder grade home, with no basement included).

A builder grade home is considered a basic rectangular or square shaped floor plan, with basic lighting and plumbing fixtures throughout the home. This home would probably have pre-finished flooring in the main living area with carpet and vinyl in the bedrooms and bath areas. Sheetrock would be placed on most ceilings and walls, with the main living area and possibly the kitchen area being covered in pine.

Selecting or Designing a Floor Plan:

One simple fact in the building industry is that "the less complex the structure the less expensive it is to build". Remember this when selecting your plan, and save money. One way to save money during the planning process is to design your home room by room. Two of the most expensive rooms in any home are kitchens and bathrooms. Now there are a lot of factors that contribute to the cost of your new Log Home, a few of those being:

The type and amount of electrical and plumbing fixtures that are chosen, (Ex. stainless steel basins are more costly than porcelain, and fan units are less expensive than chandeliers, but more expensive than can lights).
The floor and wall coverings that are used, (Ex. wood, rock, and tile flooring costs more than carpet or vinyl, sheetrock is less expensive than wood or stone when deciding on wall and ceiling coverings). And, speaking of ceiling coverings, a "build-up" roof system costs more than a trussed roof system.

Breaking Down The Budget:

It’s time for the fun part, breaking the budget down: My suggestion is to break it down accordingly to phases of the project, (Ex. plumbing, electrical, exterior, interior room by room, septic, well or water supply, road entry, etc.) and remember there are soft costs in this also (insurances, equipment costs, permit costs and fees, any travel involved, etc.).

Now, if you are uncomfortable with doing this yourself, hire a General Contractor or Project Manager. They will, for their fee, supply a price with an allowance budget for the uncertainties such as the floor and wall coverings, fixtures, appliances, cabinets, etc. Their prices normally range from 6.5% to 25% of the total job cost, depending on location, time of year, scheduling, etc.

Research Costs:

When you have decided a floor-plan and how much money will be invested in the project, start researching the inner components and their prices. Prices in the building industry are constantly changing, get three prices on comparative products and average them. This will give you a relatively close figure in all components of your project. (Note: this portion of creating your budget takes an extreme amount of foresight and time, every detail must be accounted for.)

Getting Bids and Choosing a Contractor or Project Manager: While getting bids, meet the contractors. Just because one contractor’s pricing is lower than that of another doesn’t mean it’s the better deal. As a rule, get three bids, discuss the project in detail, don’t be shy, ask detailed questions, get references, and go with your "gut feeling". If you decide to oversee the project yourself, apply the same diligent screening to any sub-contractors that you may hire.

Well, that’s all of the basics. I hope that I’ve helped to get you one step closer to your dreams. Good luck in all of your future Log Home endeavors.

Cecil Stubbs