Our floors are wood tiles and you can’t tell in the photos but they are grayish barn type planks, but not the real distressed look but has a little bit . I wanted the pattern to stay close to the same throughout my house The floor is really pretty and I just couldn’t decide between hardwood or tile and after I saw it on the floor I knew it was a go I decided to do my entire house in it and saved $$$

taconichills thanks so much but I didn’t do real fancy stuff I just did pretty! Lol. I think that all the white trim with the gray walls and floors brought it all together

How large is your AC unit and what is the SEER?

What appliances did you use?

Plumbing?

I'm just awestruck that you could build for only $63 a square foot.

What percentage of the house is bathrooms and kitchen?

Cheryl,

You did a fabulous job. Congrats! Thank you for answering the horse fence question because I was going to ask, LOL! What color are your walls? It's such a pretty.

Please note that we also didn’t have to do inspections or permits because we lived outside the county and that saved a lot of time and kept us and our subs from being held up and our pricing from subs was better because of that.

Sanrinatx it’s Sherwin Williams Dustblu Flat

This paint has blue hues, at first I thought it was going to be too dark but with so much light coming in from the many windows it was perfect. I love flat paint, I think it has a real soft look on the walls. I did all flat paint except for my daughters rooms and their bathrooms. I truly love this paint color .. it’s rich but soft at the same time and really looks gorgeous when it meets the white trim

Cpartist Appliances All Electric Samsung, AC 4 ton Carrier 16 Seer 2 thermostats 1up and 1 down 2 mini splitters 1 for garage and 1 for bonus room We used foam in the ceilings Whatever we have our house stays very cool and hardly use much heat as it gets hot Energy efficient as we run a swimming pool pump along with the house and a horse barn and my power bill is running right under $300.00 a month Plumbing not sure your question but we have 4 bedrooms around 725 sq ft for the 4 bedrooms maybe a little less and 3 bathrooms it’s an open floor plan so the kitchen is open into the family room The only work we did was painted most of the inside of the house .. our house is really beautiful but it’s not full of extras Our bathrooms don’t have granite counters, or tiled walls we have cultured marble, but that’s what I wanted

Those are our footages

Cheryl congratulations to you on accomplishing all of that on your own - you are truly the exception to the rule! I hope you have a lifetime of happiness in your dream home.

Wow! Impressive indeed! In a full employment construction environment you built your house in one third the time and for 60% the cost of when I GC'ed our house back in 2009 when the subs were hungry. Congrats on a notable effort! Well done!!

Having built my own Poole plan in the past, I learned a lot, too. We had a GC. He was excellent and we made a really good team.

We didn't do a basement, either. Our GC suggested a tall crawl. It gave us room for all of those mechanicals and was easy for trades to access.

The other item that I would caution anyone building is to get the HVAC contractor, the plumber and the electrician in at the planning stage to make sure there is room and a designated place for all of their requirements. It seems like designers rarely think about things like chases and HVAC.

I'm sorry but no, you didn't build for $63 a square foot. You built for $105.63 a square foot. You don't count total square footage, only under air square footage and your under air is 2556.

That's still darn good, but just wanted others to realize it's not the $63 a square foot the OP was implying was for under air space.

To add to CP, if you just looked at main floor pricing, she would be at $137.40 sq ft. I'm not sure if the second floor is just a bonus room (and therefore just drywalled/flooring). But, the 1744 sq ft in the basement could likely be finished for $40,000 (We just finished 1600 sq ft basement although did a lot of the work ourselves). Then, her price per sq ft would fall back down to $72.09. Even if she spent $75,000 on the basement, she would only be around $80/sq foot!

Congrats Cheryl on your dream home! I plan to GC my build too. DH would prefer to hire it out....but that is because his name is written in for a lot of my subs! :)

It sounds like your subs really loved you. Excellent job lining them up so well. I don't even have my completed plans and am already stressed about the 365 days my bank gives me to complete the house! (Seriously, probably will do my excavating and basement foundation walls before signing the bank note...they will allow that.) I'm just amazed that you could get the house AND pool done in 4 months!

The pool isn't included in your $270,000?

I did the excavating and foundation before getting the construction loan. That really helps the timeline so you have a fighting chance to build in less than a year. I still unfortunately needed 1 year and 15 days. So close, but missed the mark a little.

my entire home is heated and cooled including bonus room and garage. I do know that sq footage pricing is different for a bedroom and more for a kitchen. I have almost 4300 under roof and I did say under roof with everything 270,000 Sq Ft sorry if I was wrong I do know that sq ft pricing is different for porch sq ft, patio sq ft, garage sq ft, bedroom sq ft , but from all together added .. it averaged out 63.00 sq ft I do know what you are saying Sorry people i do know that a kitchen sq ft is much more than Bedroom sq foot and with that said I guess I’m wrong! So if I take 9,000 out for closing which was in my loan then what would be my build price? So maybe I should say my entire house Completed was 270,000 that is my total with closing The Pool was separate we paid for it out our pocket. My total build was calculated by total under roof, there is cost in everything including Metal roof, siding, and some cost are more than others .. a fancy kitchen full of very expensive appliances would change the sq ft price but combined for all trades with closing under roof, heated and cooled which would be my entire dwelling less the porches, and I didn’t build a wood deck I poured my deck. The wood deck would have been cheaper than pouring concrete There are many factors I just did the total sq footage with $9,000 included for closing 270,000 divided by sq footage and did not include the deck and my average cost is 63.00 combined for everything

Regardless of your all in price it looks like you did an efficient very beautiful job. I think many of us, also building, are just skeptics as our costs are significantly more than yours. Really you are proud of what you have done and enjoying it so that is what is most important.

Architectrunnerguy I was just fortunate that we had great weather, good subs, and had no code or inspections If there was a problem we could just change or work around it I am sure in the process if we had to meet code there would have been issues, but we could make changes without approval so we had no delays with making any code corrections. That was a big time time saver

Please understand I'm not criticizing the house. It's a lovely house and I'm sure it gives you pleasure every day. I hope mine will do the same. Plus I envy and admire you that you had no issues with your build.

I'm just questioning all the pricing because many folks come here with unrealistic expectation of what they think it should cost. You of course also have the advantage of being in a LCOLA as well as not having to go through inspections and code issues. Plus it's obvious you're a very good shopper!

A garage is not considered under air even if it is heated and cooled. A bonus room upstairs would be. So adding back the bonus room, your cost to build is a very low $90.87 square foot.

Got one more question. You said your flooring was $13,000. Was that materials and installation? Or just flooring?

B Cary the 2nd floor is two bedrooms and a bath, the bonus room is finished and is heated and cooled There are many factors including two staircases Our garage is finished out and is also heated and cooled

Cpartist the flooring was material and install I got a great deal they were friends, efficient and gave me a deal for installing it through the entire house

Sorry everyone I am corrected and I mean that in a very kind way .. I just was taking total loan for entire house dividing it out by footage and I do know that it’s not the same price footage for porches etc. I just was giving an average per finished Sf financed price .. I guess I did it wrong but I’m still happy with it. A GC quoted me $300,000 to build my home

You done an awesome job Cheryl! Again the house looks beautiful. Can I contact you as we go thru this build with any tips. My email is sandia58@live.com Our foundation is complete with all the building material at the site for the framer to start tomorrow. Closing on this home in Arizona next week to get out to NC is down to the wire.

MikeSandy of course I hope that all no I wasn’t trying to brag or mislead anyone. I just had a great smooth building experience my email is cherylkervin@ymail.com I will email you my number and feel free to call or text me. I’m not an expert. I have worked as a sales rep in the commercial and industrial construction business all my life but no expert on being a GC This was my 2nd GC of a home. I do know that the bank had some of her customers with sub problems call me for better sub info and pricing lol my banker said it wasonr of the easiest constructions she had. I never went over budget until the end and it was paintin and that explains why I ended up painting. Half the interior lol

Anyone building this same home I would be happy to provide pricing for slab, roofing, framing or price per stage category

Wow, beautiful home congratulations. I would love to find ways to cut costs on our build. Can you let us know where or how you bought your materials, ie. Lumber, windows etc. Materials up in Canada, are exorbitantly high and then there is an added 13%HST tax Further, we do not have access to many of the online stores as they are only available in the USA.

"I am sure in the process if we had to meet code there would have been issues".

Actually in my build that took three times as long as yours, getting inspected was not a time sponge. If I called up that day before 7AM (although most of the time I called late the day before), they were out that day for an inspection. And to be honest I kinda liked the inspection happening. I generally know what I'm looking at in construction but a few things did come up, minor, but I'm glad they were corrected by the sub.

And to be honest, in the other past forum posts about "Aren't we lucky. We have no codes and no inspections!" I wonder if that's a good thing as I wonder about how I'd like living in a town if a resident told me "Aren't we lucky! We have no speed limits or stop signs!! We can go so much faster!!".

But you are to be commended. Four months IS remarkable, no question! Great job!

When we moved in I wanted a white bedroom but couldn’t find what I wanted. I had a 18 year old oak bedroom suite so I decided to use quality high gloss white spray paint and it turned out really pretty It turned out so good I used spray paint on all my old stuff and made it look brand new

I spray painted flowers, canisters, tables, bench’s, rocking chairs, picture frames .. turned out so pretty and now could use in my new home. Painted flowers with chalk paint is really pretty

I just love all that white decor. Everything does look brand new. Very creative! Your ceiling in the bedroom looks recessed. Was that an expensive thing to do by the framer?

MikeSandy it isn’t really recessed I had the framer frame a box all the way around I think it’s 2 ft by 1 ft It made it look recessed but actually not. The plan had it just a plain flat ceiling and adding this mintor step gave it the look of recessed. I would have to check it may be 2 ft x 2 ft ??

What did you use to spray paint the oak furniture? Beautiful!

That sure adds a nice look to the ceiling. Our framer quoted like $700 to do that to our master. It seemed a bit high. My husband said he can add those like you said after framer is done to save that cost.

MikeSandy he charged me 150.00 It only took a little bit to do it Just a framed box around the bedroom

MikeSandy

i put crown at the top of it and a small crown at the bottom. I think I paid one of his hands cash to do it. I asked him and he said it was ok

Beautiful house!

For everyone questioning things; this house was built in Mississippi. Likely with cash to the workers (as mentioned, above). Hands may have been the illegal immigrants who hang out at HD/Lowes/Menards every day looking for work. Mississippi is a right-to-work state. Lots of factors likely came into play, here, that wouldn't necessarily be an option elsewhere.

As far as I know there wasn’t any illegals, but there was a couple of Guys that were on a work permit that worked for him but I can assure you they weren’t hanging out at Lowes or Walmart. They were hard working knowledgeable young men and extremely respectful. My Framer and his crew of 7 were American except for two of the ones I mentioned and they have worked for him for over 7 years. Let me change that I don’t know if it’s a work percent or visa but they can only stay for so long. Thanks and I asked my Framer about a couple of extra things I wanted and asked if It would be ok if I payed a couple of guys to do some extras. The one I paid cash to was a young black man and a young white man who’s wife was about to have a baby and thought he needed it. I asked did he mind if I paid him cash to do it and he said no

As for my decorating taste

I like it!

Questions: Are the walls blue or gray? Are they the same color throughout the house? I'm not sure if you used similar shades, or if the lighting makes them look different in different rooms... but I really like it as a background color, especially when paired with the white trim.

Alison 270,000 was our final build price

Regardless of how you calculate the per-square footage price, you came in under budget, and that's great! Did that price include the pool?

My house isn’t extravagant, but it is really beautiful Everyone that sees it thinks that it’s gorgeous

You can count me in with "everyone". I'd say it's "real people nice". That is, it's a very nice house -- but it isn't done up with uber-expensive materials, etc. Incidentally, "real people nice" is my goal too.

When we moved in I wanted a white bedroom but couldn’t find what I wanted.

I sleep in an old-old-old king sized bed, which used to belong to my grandparents. I've been thinking of painting it white (or cream ?) when we move. I think you've convinced me to take the plunge.

How dark was your wood when you began? Did you use a primer?

Cheryl - thanks for the clarification on the hands working on your house. It truly is gorgeous! I'm a spray paint fan, too. :)

Some codes are good and beneficial, some nonsense and a waste of time and money. Some codes are also well below what many would consider proper construction.

On a related note, for an enjoyable evening watch the movie 'Still Mine' about a guy battling local building inspectors.

Mrs Pete the house interior is gray with blue hues .. I guess that’s the right way to say it. Everything you can see that connects. The bedrooms and bathrooms are in the same family of colors but are a lighter shade. When you open the door to go into the bathrooms they are a lighter gray from the same color family. The Calabash has so much lighting that you can go into another part of the room and look and it looks like different color but it’s actually the same. The lighting at times makes it look blue and then other times dark gray As far as my house looking real people nice .. you said it perfectly! That is exactly right on point and exactly what I wanted and could afford It’s just my family home, sweet, simple and a place that makes me feel happy when I look at it Also, my bedroom suit was dark oak and in pretty good shape. I lightly sanded it, primed it, sprayed it and brushed the tops of the dresser, night tables, and chester drawers so they would be more durable It turned out beautiful and I finished the entire project in about 5 days

imstillclohecat thanks so much .. there are many saving facts one fact is that I didn’t budget enough money for painting .. I had to finish the interior painting because of budget and it saved me prob about 10,000 but I can assure you that I would never paint my home again.. it would have been worth double that to pay someone It gave me a great respect for painters and why it cost so much .. it is a job that I would never want to do again.. I’m still touching up paint and if I could I would have used spray paint lol I painted both stair cases too .. hated every moment of it but I am so thankful that it’s finnaly done

The bedrooms and bathrooms are in the same family of colors but are a lighter shade. When you open the door to go into the bathrooms they are a lighter gray from the same color family.

Nicely done. I personally think blues are hard to coordinate, but I also know my own limitations, and I know I am a total idiot when it comes to color.

As far as my house looking real people nice .. you said it perfectly! That is exactly right on point and exactly what I wanted and could afford It’s just my family home, sweet, simple and a place that makes me feel happy when I look at it

That's my goal too.

Also, my bedroom suit was dark oak and in pretty good shape. I lightly sanded it, primed it, sprayed it and brushed the tops of the dresser, night tables, and chester drawers so they would be more durable It turned out beautiful and I finished the entire project in about 5 days

You've convinced me to paint my bed when we move.

but I can assure you that I would never paint my home again.. it would have been worth double that to pay someone It gave me a great respect for painters and why it cost so much .. it is a job that I would never want to do again.. I’m still touching up paint and if I could I would have used spray paint

I don't mind painting a room here and there ... but to paint the whole house /I assume you mean interior only ... and to paint new drywall, well, that's a task. At the same time, $10,000 is no mean savings.

very nice - no way we could build for that cost, regardless of how you calculate the square footage. If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the kitchen pendant lights? Thanks!

Did you use the plans as they came or did y'all modify them? I would be interested to know what you modified and now after living in it some time if there was anything you wish you would have done?

I modified mine. Working with our fabulous builder, we added two feet on the rear of the house, redesigned the kitchen completely, added/changed the rear elevation windows and added additional depth to the rear porch. We were building in the country and there was no governmental oversight to interfere with the changes.

I wish I had changed the size of the window in the second upstairs bath. It was too low. There are always little details that you miss.

Planning on building this house in the future. Would love to have direct contact to go over some things. Love your house, we looked thru all the Poole designs and this was our favorite.

CherylKevin, did you have difficulty finding a lumber company to come up with the lumber package? We bought the plans and had an architectural engineer redesign the basement getting rid of most of the pools. I would love to pick your brain about these plans!

They should have gotten rid of all the pools in the basement. That moisture can cause a lot of damage over the years.

Poles!!! lol