Ask the Right Questions When Buying or Building

The most common question a potential client asks a home builder is “How much do you build per square foot?” Without getting into the endless questions a builder must ask to give a somewhat accurate answer to the question, they should be asking “How much does it cost to live in the home?” There are builders out there who will build a home for a very low cost per square foot, but the home will cost more per day to operate than another home built at a higher cost per square foot.

When looking to build a home, you must look at all of the factors that go into a home and not just dollars per square foot. Yes, it is important to get as much square foot as you can afford but ignoring the operating costs will leave you in a worse financial situation than you planned.

Let’s look at some (make believe) numbers. If you were to build a 2000 square foot home for $85 per square foot your contract price would be $170,000. The same house at $100 per square foot would be $200,000 – a $30,000 difference. Let’s say that the utility bills (electric/gas/water/sewer) were an average of $120 less in the more expensive home, this home would have a savings of $43,200 over 30 years.

Numbers aside, the comfort level, durability, improved air quality all would be better in the more expensive home. Funny how these questions never come up in the initial conversations of a custom home. Over time these are really the most important questions to consider.

Home building is an ever evolving industry that is driven by consumer selection. Right now the most popular question is “how much per square foot,” but with the information age upon us there is a channel out there for every interest. Soon consumers will understand that the performance of a home over time will be a better measure of value and start asking about the operating costs.

For those builders on the front edge of this technology, there is a report card on every home they build. It is the HERS score and it is posted on the electrical box of every home that is built using the current building science. I encourage you to ask about this with your next builder or renovator and see if they are willing to measure how good their homes perform.

- Submitted by Stan O'Brien, CGP of Paradime Construction, Inc. Editor's Note: In addition to the HERS Score, the DOE is testing a new 1 - 10 Scorecard for homes and our state is a test site. More info. is on this blog and more is sure to come.