$40k seems way high for that depth. I'm thinking more like $7500, but maybe there's more to it in your neck of the woods

Yes it's frustrating. I feel the way some do on this thread about the house prices. They are reversed for water drilling, due to the oil field work I assume. Everyone I called charges about 45$ A foot, that's without the machinery to clean the water, the pump and electric connections to and from my barn. The $7500 water wells haven't existed for a long time out here. They told me I needed better pumps too for such extreme depths but I don't know how true that is.

We went through the same thing when my parents built their house (Navarro Co). They opted for co-op water because long term you don't have the water quality/pressure issues that come with wells over time.

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Because to own a ranch with city water is pretty cool in my opinion

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They opted for co-op water because long term you don't have the water quality/pressure issues that come with wells over time.

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Fair points.

Guess for me, if I owned a good chunk of rural land, I'd rather do a little well maintenance over time vs have a municipality meter my usage and tell me how much I can/can't use.

Better yet, capture rain water and now you have the best of all worlds - no metering, perfect water, no pumps 600ft down, etc.

Rainwater is probably not an option on the border with a house that small. I know it doesn't take huge yearly rainfall to keep them going but that is a small house. A bad drought there would probably put you in a bind.

For most climates though, I agree that rainwater is the best of all worlds.

Water wells can fool you. In our area you will pay around $24-26/ft drilled and cased. That's cased with schedule 40 PVC casing. If you get all fancy with stainless laser perforated casing it can go sky high. And you just have the well. Figure in your pump/motor, poly pipe(so you can pull it yourself or more easily), wire downhill, stub pole, junction box, switch box, etc. and it can double in a hurry. Then it will go out Christmas Eve. Been there. There are definitely benefits to municipal water. Especially if you are not set up to deal with issues yourself.

I personally can see how he does it. Since the majority of homes sell for at least twice what it cost to build them, he lives with making less profit per house but makes up for it in quantity. The quality is most likely still there, he just reduces his profit margin.

The only reason I make this statement is because I have 2 builders in my development that continually build homes, live in them for 3 years, sell for top dollar and build another to live in, in our neighborhood. I talked with him and he told me he can build a custom home, 2600 square feet to 4200 square feet, with all the bells and whistles, and turn around in 3 years and sell it for 2 to 3 times what it cost to build. He told me he could have built my house for half what I paid to have it built. Since he's done it 4 times since I've built, I will take him for his word.

who did you use and would they work in live oak co?

You better look at everything -- windows, doors, decking (radiant barrier or not), sheathing, etc. -- for quality. I can't imagine a turnkey house, with nice touches, being built for that price.

If nothing else, lumber prices are at record highs right now. Own a yard and the industry is seeing unheard of prices.

ontherocks said:

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Because to own a ranch with city water is pretty cool in my opinion. But more so because I didn't want to pay even more 40k+ to get a well 4-600' down and not be guaranteed there was goood water as it is usually salty and sulphuric in my area. Plus im on The biggest hill for about 50 miles and It's all caliche deposit from when there was an ocean I presume holding the thing up so it would probably be on the deeper end though that is not always the case. Also I didn't want to deal with pumps and have them breaking, I wanted to open my tap and have city water that's verified to at least meet basic standards of cleanliness.

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The wife and I are building a barndominium in Guadalupe County on a clay hill, and the slab drove our costs way up. I was afraid of soil expansion and subsequent plumbing damage, so I had the slab engineered. The designed a whole lot more slab than I had budgeted for because of the combination of slope and expansive soil, so that is something else to consider.

For comparison, we are doing a substantial portion of the work ourselves (father-in-law puts up metal buildings/barndos for a living), and our cost should be around $85 p/sq. ft. We are at 3200 sq.ft. living, +-2,000 sp.ft. porches, 1200 sq.ft. garage, and somewhere north of 3000 sq.ft. of flatwork. We are contracting out plumbing, insulation, cabinetry, drywall, and septic. We used my FIL's crew on slab, and still came out over $8 p/sq.ft., with no GC profit built in.

yakin ag said:

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I was afraid of soil expansion and subsequent plumbing damage, so I had the slab engineered. The designed a whole lot more slab than I had budgeted for because of the combination of slope and expansive soil, so that is something else

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For the expansive clays, did you moisture condition the soils, or are you trying to mitigate with a beefier slab?

Doc Hayworth said:

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I personally can see how he does it. Since the majority of homes sell for at least twice what it cost to build them, he lives with making less profit per house but makes up for it in quantity. The quality is most likely still there, he just reduces his profit margin.

The only reason I make this statement is because I have 2 builders in my development that continually build homes, live in them for 3 years, sell for top dollar and build another to live in, in our neighborhood. I talked with him and he told me he can build a custom home, 2600 square feet to 4200 square feet, with all the bells and whistles, and turn around in 3 years and sell it for 2 to 3 times what it cost to build. He told me he could have built my house for half what I paid to have it built. Since he's done it 4 times since I've built, I will take him for his word.

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Where is this development located where builders are making 100% margin on new construction ?

I've worked for some of the largest builders in the nation over the last 20 years. Most builders strive for a 16-20% gross margin (before OH & commisions), but that's harder and harder each year. Most people would be shocked to know we are happy with single digit profits.

FIDO 96 said:

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Most people would be shocked to know we are happy with single digit profits.

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That's all architecture firms get, except for a few starchitects. Most run on a 6-8%

FIDO 96 said:

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yakin ag said:

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I was afraid of soil expansion and subsequent plumbing damage, so I had the slab engineered. The designed a whole lot more slab than I had budgeted for because of the combination of slope and expansive soil, so that is something else

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For the expansive clays, did you moisture condition the soils, or are you trying to mitigate with a beefier slab?

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Beefier slab, 12 inch wide beams, min 32 inches deep, 10 foot grid, #8 rebar in the beams. We also had 2x2 footers where columns would be (metal building).

#8 bar?

hillcountryag86 said:

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#8 bar?

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No *****.. That is one serious slab.

Yeah, that's what structural called for. 7% slope, adjusted soil pi 44.

Clay hill drove my costs up substantially.

Hopefully caliche does not need the same as clay. If anything when it rains my hill turns to natural cement, it's quite amazing honestly, so I assume it's solid but what do I know.