Can you have a basic cinder block home built for $100k?

N

nicholas421

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Location
Detroit
General contractors and construction experts of prime:
Is it possible to have a rectangular cinder block home on a slab built for $100k? It needs to have 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. All electrical, plumbing, and HVAC can be exposed. Assume city water and sewage.

Would insulation be an issue? I'm in SE Michigan.

Edit: To be slightly more clear, let's say 1200 sq ft (don't care if 1 or 2 floors), bare walls, no furniture, no fixtures, no deck, no landscaping, no appliances, no cabinetry, no garage.It should include exterior and interior walls, roof (don't care if flat or pitched), paint, insulation, doors and locks, windows, furnace, AC, electrical outlets, wiring for lights, hot water, sinks, toilets, showers. No custom ordered parts that can't be purchased from a Home Depot.
 

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yes but forget the windows, no interior walls and only 1 door:biggrin:
 
..................or a prison.............
 
I'm pretty positive you could get it done under a hundred grand, but why. If you insist on building I'd use insulated foam blocks and pour them with concrete. But you'd be way better off with pre-made panels, which also come fully insulated. I've put several of these up for way less than 50k, no labor as I did them myself. That's without any inside finish but as you describe with all utilities etc. However you didn't mention if you need a septic system or well water supply? If your in a watershed area the septic could be 20k maybe more if you don't perk well. If your on city hook ups then it's fairly cheap, a couple trenches, drop your waste and supply plus electric and gas lines... Assuming it's not on a lot way off the road. If your gonna hook up to an existing septic system the size of the system needs to match what's being hooked to it. So if this is an additional building your putting on a lot where you already have a house you might have to expand or install a new septic system.

The big question is... Your profile says you live in Detroit. If that is the case why not buy an old warehouse for pennies on the dollar, fix up one end to live in and leave the rest for one huge ass garage. I have a buddy that did this with an old factory around here. He's got a full inside basketball court, parking for hundreds of cars, multiple pool tables set up with a bar like a huge club. And probably another 10k square feet left over. The place is an old milk plant. He scraped all the machines that were left behind, that money more than covered the cost of the property.
 
This is one of the funniest threads I have read in a while.... comic genius runs rampant on nsxprime.

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steveny said:
why not buy an old warehouse for pennies on the dollar, fix up one end to live in and leave the rest for one huge ass garage. I have a buddy that did this with an old factory around here. He's got a full inside basketball court, parking for hundreds of cars, multiple pool tables set up with a bar like a huge club. And probably another 10k square feet left over. The place is an old milk plant. He scraped all the machines that were left behind, that money more than covered the cost of the property.
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This is brilliant...
 
I recently went thru a slightly similar scenario. Was it better to rehab a 700 sq ft footprint 2 story 1BR house in the city w/2 car garage on 1st floor converted to 1 car or demo and rebuild using a prefab house or with premade panels like Steveny mentioned. Went for rehab due to ease of zoning and to grandfather the setbacks (proximity to property lines) rather than lose 4+ months awaiting the city's notoriously slow and inefficient variance process...

Subscribed, as some practical advice will undoubtedly come out of this thread. Especially if Steveny is contributing now. :)
 
How about a house made out of cargo shipping containers?

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jond said:
How about a house made out of cargo shipping containers?
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I looked into it a bit. Seems really interesting, but I'm just looking for a low cost, no frills building where I can have a say in the layout. Function will be more important than form. I'm looking into www.sips.org

http://www.jetsongreen.com/2010/02/ten-things-consider-shipping-container-projects.html
"3. The price for a 20′ shipping container (not including delivery) can range from $2500 to $4000. You can stick build a building with the same amount of square footage, that is just as water tight and structurally sound using traditional construction methods for less than the cost of a shipping container – it just won’t weigh as much."



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rj45 said:
I did a quick search. There are a couple houses for 500$. Anyone want to group buy one? lol
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You can find free homes in philly, dc, detroit, etc. If you renovate it, someone will come rip out your pipes and wires overnight. If you abandon it, it's your liability when it turns into a crack house.
 
Nicholas421, where are you in Detroit? I lived in the west side (Plymouth area) for 9 years back in the 90's.

Have you tried estimating your various sub costs anywhere online?

Anyone use this consumer-level site for estimating rehab/build costs?

http://www.homewyse.com/services/index.html

I've found their numbers to be not too far off the mark.

Or can anyone recommend a different or better estimating site? RSMeans guides have seemed a bit overkill for my estimating purposes.
 
jond said:
How about a house made out of cargo shipping containers?

91.jpg
Click to expand...

Check local codes. Most treat containers like mobile home. If so you'll need tie downs connected to poured concrete piers. Gets expensive. Cheaper to stick build on a monolith slab, and more valuable upon completion.
 
nicholas421 said:
General contractors and construction experts of prime:
Is it possible to have a rectangular cinder block home on a slab built for $100k? It needs to have 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. All electrical, plumbing, and HVAC can be exposed. Assume city water and sewage.

Would insulation be an issue? I'm in SE Michigan.

Edit: To be slightly more clear, let's say 1200 sq ft (don't care if 1 or 2 floors), bare walls, no furniture, no fixtures, no deck, no landscaping, no appliances, no cabinetry, no garage.It should include exterior and interior walls, roof (don't care if flat or pitched), paint, insulation, doors and locks, windows, furnace, AC, electrical outlets, wiring for lights, hot water, sinks, toilets, showers. No custom ordered parts that can't be purchased from a Home Depot.
Click to expand...

why not just buy a mobile home or two? park them on a slab. could add a pergola or something to make it look nice.
 
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