The Insane Cost To Build My House In California

I wish someone had shared how much it cost to build a house in California when I was getting started with the process of building my custom cabin in Lake Tahoe. That's why I'm making this video. I want to provide more transparency when it comes to construction costs. There are so many things that go into building a brand new home and everything really adds up. I cover everything from the cost of my land, to permits, pouring the foundation, framing, finishes, and utility hookups. At the end I compare the total cost to build my house to the cost of buying an existing home in the same neighborhood to show how much money I saved by building a house from scratch. Make sure to subscribe if you want to learn more about the process of building a brand new custom house using a contractor or home builder.
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[@krismine99]

If someone told me permitting was $42,000 I'd be pissed

[@brandon-built]

Pretty much.

[@fireitinmyhole]

It's awesome to see the completed project! Thanks for sharing all this info

[@brandon-built]

You're welcome! Thanks for watching

[@gardenofeden11]

Thank you for the video and being so transparent i know privacy is important and so I appreciate this!

[@brandon-built]

You're very welcome!

[@1mgb]

Beautiful home

[@brandon-built]

Thank you 🙏

[@jamesguise7073]

Great video! I've been following along since the very beginning & you have inspired me to do the same! I'm in the process of starting with a land loan (and later construction loan) in San Jose, CA. Do you mind going over the pre-construction process in more detail? Curious to know how long your permits/designs/engineering took (since the city takes forever to review) and how you managed to make the payments? When you had the land loan did you start the permits/designs/engineering process ahead of time and pay out of pocket before switching over to a construction loan? And what was your experience getting the construction loan as some lenders are very strict with requirements of permits, plans, & cost breakdowns already in place? How long did your construction loan give you to complete the build? I'm looking at 11 months to complete ... but your build took very long, were you able to extend the duration of your build? Did you incur any additional points due to that?

[@brandon-built]

Wow that's awesome to hear! Thanks so much for following along with my journey! I can tackle some of your questions here in the comment section, but feel free to reach out to me for more detail. Tahoe is a little unique in that there are 3 separate regulatory agencies that govern building codes in the area (fire department, TRPA, and the county). That, combined with the limited building season, added at least a year to the entire process. Design took about 3 months of back and forth between us and our architect, but it could have gone a lot faster if we had pushed him harder. Engineering took another 2 months because Tahoe has all kinds of special rules. Once we submitted our permit application, it took about 6-7 months for approval. We were making monthly payments on the land loan during all this time. We applied for the construction loan before we paid the permit fees because we used the construction loan to pay the permit fees. That's all I have time for at the moment, but please reach out to me by email if you have more questions. Good luck on your build!

[@TheHoppter]

First off Congratulations on building the home because it looks amazing. My question on the garage is was HVAC the only reason it was cheaper? does it not cost towards the square footage. Do you have any heating/insulation in the garage?

[@GemmaGalan-ei8eq]

Congratulations on your new house! May I know who your GC is? Planning to build in Lafayette,CA.

[@brandon-built]

Thank you! My contractor only builds in Tahoe/Truckee. Lafayette/Orinda area is a great place to build. Try Toby Long. He has some really nice designs and is based in the east Bay.

[@joshengen4480]

70K for framing labor seems crazy high. Awesome video! Super smart and beautiful house.

[@brandon-built]

The crazy part is that is the cheapest quote I got. Most quotes were at least 2 times higher!

[@crzyfastswimmer]

Wow absolutely amazing. With all the extra work it takes to build in Tahoe, can't believe you were able to get under $400sq/ft. Looking to build in LA and hard to find even sub $500/sqft quotes.. Really appreciate your insight.

[@brandon-built]

Thanks! According to my builder, if I initiated this same build today it would cost 15% more because of the increase in his costs.

[@peteolesen265]

Certainly the right financial decision. Usually, existing homes are cheaper than build from scratch. When you build, you get what you want, or at least make all of the compromises.

[@brandon-built]

It was the right financial decision at the time. I'm not sure I could replicate it with today's interest rates and construction costs.

[@joshuawebster4272]

Beautiful home….however, some of these prices seem very high. Framing, Tile, Etc. Very high!!😮

[@brandon-built]

You're telling me!

[@Rambleon444]

Since you did a KZbin video on this, is any of the house cost a write-off?

[@brandon-built]

Not because of KZbin, but I may be able to accelerate depreciation on a portion of the cost because it's a short term rental that I manage

[@Rambleon444]

@@brandon-built@brandon built Beautiful house! Unfortunately, I can relate to the high costs because I live in San Diego.

[@abdullahasim4464]

How long it took from buying the land till the house is completed

[@brandon-built]

3 years. About half of that was the design phase and waiting for permit approval and snow to melt. About 1.5 years of actual construction. Cheers!

[@Trustamania]

over a million? daaamn

[@brandon-built]

yup 😭

[@williams242ful]

Gorgeous tho geeez

[@brandon-built]

Thanks 🙏

[@masterkiller990]

Dang over a million 😢 i struggle saving 100k

[@brandon-built]

I used a construction loan. Definitely didn't have a million saved

[@lassewestvanghougaard4856]

Who has 1.1Million dollars sitting around? Contractor only had 100.000$ net profit? Sure... Im sure their margins was slim lol. 60.000$ ,for city approval and utility hook-up? 155.000$ for framing of a 2400 square foot? Well you didnt touch a finger during the whole process. Construction firm could be charging them anything... Lot of stuff that could be done by a DIY guy.

[@brandon-built]

@@lassewestvanghougaard4856 I didn't have 1.1M in cash that's for sure. I got a construction to permanent loan with zero down payment.

[@josegimenezroca4220]

I’m wondering how the GC stays in business. It makes no sense to me

[@brandon-built]

@@josegimenezroca4220 volume

[@blakeshelton6646]

😔 'Promo sm'

[@brandon-built]

Why so sad 😭

[@TheHoppter]

First off Congratulations on building the home because it looks amazing. My question on the garage is was HVAC the only reason it was cheaper? does it not cost towards the square footage. Do you have any heating/insulation in the garage?

[@TheHoppter]

First off Congratulations on building the home because it looks amazing. My question on the garage is was HVAC the only reason it was cheaper? does it not cost towards the square footage. Do you have any heating/insulation in the garage?

[@brandon-built]

Thanks so much 🙏. Some people include the garage in the $/sf and some people don't, so I just included both calculations. In addition to missing heating, the garage is also missing finishes like flooring, trim, etc. it does have insulation though.

[@TheHoppter]

@@brandon-built Thank you, I appreciate the answer

[@brandon-built]

@@TheHoppter you're welcome, any time!