Instead of a true masonry FP, use inserts.

Buy good windows, but not top of the line and not from the larger, more expensive window manufacturers.

Shop online sales (Labor Day weekend, for example) for fixtures. I purchased all lighting, sinks, toilets, seats and faucets online.

Pick out appliances early. If they don't tell you, ask them if they know of a price increase coming up....and ask them to let you know if they hear of one. Order appliances before the increase, even if they have to hold them for a few months.

Shop around. Shop around. Shop around. I didn't like the interior doors or the price from our window guy. Ended up getting bids on them from the supplier of our wood trim. Better door. Much less in price.

When we built we learned that "corners" cost money. We saved money by "cutting corners" meaning that...the original plan had all theses angled corners here and there along the exterior walls of the house. By making the house more "rectangular" were we could be eliminated many corners. In the end the house looked good without all those angles here and there...we were glad we did.

Casey

"http://www.driverdb.com/Sean McDonagh"

All good advice: in addition to cutting corners, simple roof (lines) cost less money than roofs with lots of gables, valleys, etc.

We did what Alison did and it made a difference.

We did our own landscaping. We have acreage so we initially did what would be needed for an occupancy permit and took it from there.

We finished the bonus room on our own.

We did the stone on the front porch.

We bought all our appliances and light fixtures on our own and did not go through a middleman.

The more you can do the better. Of course, you need to make sure your GC agrees first or there will be possible disagreements.

ALL are GREAT points!

Casey wa - Similar to you, our original plan had many angles for bump-outs in the breakfast room, etc. I had the draftsman square everything off. This significantly reduced the foundation bid.

Besides landscaping ourselves, I will take a week vacation and do the interior painting.

For now, there will not be crown molding. That could come later, since its not needed for a CO.

If there is anything you can do yourself, do it. The 'sweat equity' will be worth it

Cutting s/f costs does cut a great deal, if you have brick/stone or a concrete foundation. Concrete right now is one of the highest cost in your come. Being a builder we were notified a couple of weeks ago that concrete costs had gone up 25% since our bids were done first of August. Changing your house from a 2story to a story 1/2 will cut framing cost by perhaps a 1/4. So s/f does do a lot - it just depends on how much is a lot for you.

I found some of the best cost savings came when we bought our own stuff instead of using the builder's preferred supplier.

For example, the builder's perferred flooring supplier and installers would have cost $23,000. We went to a different company and got it down to $17,000.

We bought some of our light fixtures through the builder's supplier but got others at Home Depot. Big difference in the price there (However, you sometimes get lower quality at the big box stores).

We were forced to use the supplier the plumber perferred and our selection was limited and expensive. Made me sick to go to Home Depot and see faucets I liked for 1/3 less than what we paid at his supply place.

We had to do our own landscaping. We were lucky enough to find our retaining wall bricks at half price.

As far as labor... most likely you need licensed electricians and plumbers. You could probably do your own painting and flooring installation if you have the skill. Carpet is hard to install without the proper equipment but other types of flooring can be a DIY project.

Homey Bird, Vineyard has saved a tone of money by getting people by the hour. The one word of advice that I have on that mater is make sure that the people you are getting are self employed and have the insurance to prove it. If one of the labors you take on gets hurt then it could become a huge nightmare for you. You could be looked at as there employer. In which case the feds will want there withholding tax. The state will want theirs. Then comes the insurance company that will want all the back workers comp for every one you paid.Oh and don't forget the law suit from the injured worker. Your home owners insurance might take care of that but not unless you have provided for it in the policy.
And that there are fines for using illegal immigrants.
Going this route can save you some jing, but you have to be aware of what you are getting into.
The one thing that will save you the most money is to build what you need. If there are only two of you is that 4000 sqf house really what you need? Make sure that you get the best windows and insulation money can buy. Saving 4K on windows that lose 50 bucks a month in heating /cooling is not really saving any thing. Same with the insulation, it may take five to ten years to make up the difference in energy savings. But that is just it, it is energy saving.
Yes square footage does ply a big part in saving money on your build. The smaller the house, the smaller the basement = less concrete. Less sheathing, less roofing , less tile, less carpet.less hardwood flooring,Less house to heat / cool = less money to the utility company every month that you live in said house.

One point to keep in mind, when considering that prior thread about cutting square footage: the cut considered was about or less than 10% of the overall square footage and affected everyday living areas, rather than choosing whether or not to have a separate media room or similar occasional-use area. So consider *what* is being cut as well as how much.

To opine upon the OP's original question regarding labor-intensive jobs, one must consider the proportion or amount of labor required. Laying tile is far more labor intensive than laying electrical wire. But laying the wires in 4000 sf is comparatively more intensive than for 2000 sf; also, I note that high sf houses often incorporate more advanced or complex wiring issues than in the smaller houses. Complexity =/exceeds intensity in terms of time and cost, if not in actual physical labor.

One of the most expensive potentials in any build is the temptation of "change orders." At a wild guess [based upon listening to a lot of builders over the past 40 years], 99% of the change orders are unnecessary. That is, they do not improve upon the original integrity of the structure. That doesn't mean many change orders don't improve comfort or convenience, just that they weren't necessary for accomplishing the build. It is true that change orders will usually cost you several times as much as it would have if the change had been part of the original plan. If you really want to control spending, do your work in advance and don't change your mind once the build is underway.

Otherwise, I think "labor intensiveness" is difficult to categorize sufficiently for comparisons. To be fair, the intensiveness must take into consideration the skill and knowledge needed as well as the physical and/or time consuming aspects. Compare laying brick to finishing drywall -- both are physically demanding and both require knowledge of the materials involved and both require a high level of skill. Yet most of us would immediately decide that masonry was far more "labor intensive", which I think may be because a big brick wall is so much more obvious than a level 5 hallway. Our perceptions have influenced our valuation of the intensity.

When it comes to saving money in a build the importance is not in comparing the labor intensiveness of different skills, but in preparing all the details.

It is true that if you are skilled in some aspects, you can save paying cash out because you've already spent time learning to paint or lay tile or hang drywall or whatever. It is also true that if you aren't skilled enough to please a master mason/tiler/painter/whatever, then you are wasting both time and money because the house will have a higher value if a master does the work. And on exactly the same note, if you take the time and make the effort to learn the skill, then your work on your house will often be better than a master's work... because it IS your house.

This is a questions that I keep asking the architect and our propective builders. My architects response has been that he will try to shrink the plan in areas where he can cut the lumber from 16' lengths to 14' lengths, thereby realizing an acutal savings in the lumber purchase. Other things that he has mentioned is simplifying the roof design, along with some of the other items mentioned above.

"Sweat Equity." If YOU can do it yourself, DO IT. We're just finishing up framing and I've already saved (I kid you not) $30,000. I've got my Excel budget spreadsheet to prove it all. :)

I track every penny spent and how much over/under we are. So helpful in knowing where you are at all times. :)

We modified our house plan to make the room sizes just right. Less in a secondary bedroom, more in a living space. Less in the office, more in the kitchen, etc. And yes, watch your outside corners and roof lines.

We are also providing sweat equity. We're painting all of the walls (not the trimwork) and are saving almost 5K that way. My husband is also laying the roof and will possibly put up the siding and soffits. Oh and I forgot the yard and landscaping, we are also doing that.

Another thing we are doing is paying for certain upgrades out of pocket so our home loan is less. Yes, we're still spending the money, but we wont be paying 30 yrs of interest on it. Things like HW floors, granite countertops, etc. And if we cant come up with the money they wait, but we still have a complete house.

whidbey, any chance you could share your spreadsheet? I'm just starting putting our budgets together and am looking for a spreadsheet. If anyone has one and can share that would be great, save me a bit of time putting one together.

To me the programing phase is the most important for controlling costs. Get the spaces right with as few redundancies as possible and decrease the depth to decrease the attic space, or increase the width and use the half story under the roof. Volume is as important as floor area.

Hi homey bird,
Great question and we've all been there. There are some great suggestions already posted...build on a 2" module, make a simple roof. Asphalt shingles are way cheaper than a metal roof. Make a 2-story because the foundation costs less. Use concrete "rock" facing inside and out because you can install it yourself.
The bathrooms and kitchens are the "money rooms" both for cost to build and value for resale.Put a lot of thought into what you really need and you'll be happier and save money.

It costs more to lay tile than wood, tile larger than 12" is a premium price (and if you ever saw a bad, uneven job of those you know why) and stone costs more to have laid than porcelain because tilers are more tired at the end of the day...it weighs more. Closets are cheap, put in plenty.
Lofts are cheap, put them in as an "aftermarket", after the house is finaled. Family/Living room space is relatively inexpensive square feet, don't short yourself. Do you really want/need a dining orliving room? Most families use one family room/kitchen space and then add a small TV room.
If you put in sweat equity don't even think about doing sheet rocking yourself. "Rockers" are fast and inexpensive compared to the three months you'd take where they'd have it done in 10 days.
Good luck!

HB,
one more thing...since you live in CA, check out Sierra Pacific for windows. Better quality than Pella, 1/3 less for our window package.

We're doing some of the labor ourselves. DH is the son of a general contractor and we're both regular volunteers at Habitat for Humanity, so we have experience.

Time is money. So, that spending a little more for a system you can do yourself, will still be cheaper than having to pay someone to do it yourself. e.g.: PEX plumbing systems.

Craigslist is our friend. I've found really expensive tile for dirt cheap because a builder bought too much. I've found 5 gallon buckets of paint, because the builder didn't need it. You can also use Craigslist to barter services. DH manages an auto repair shop. We've traded car repairs for various services.

My brother is an electrician.

We saved 50% on Oceanside Glass mosaic tile at Home Depot Expo. We were looking for a floor border between a kitchen and dining room. What they had was tile sheets that had had some of the tiles torn off the sheet. All the tiles were there....they just weren't attached. Not a big deal because we were cutting them into 4 inch strips anyway. We ended up buying everything they had for that tile in that condition. It's probably going to used on the dining room fireplace.

Purchase your own carpet and have it installed from where you bought it. You can negotiate installation into the purchase, which is exactly what your contractor would do and then he'd mark it up.

we designed and built our own house and contracted it out; price shop with at least 3 contractors and review each one to make sure you are pricing apples to apples; they will bid it the way they want, leaving out items or features, or pricing some things wrong (low), so make sure they do it the way YOU want. Go back to them and get them to bid it correctly. Get the contract done so that if they go over budget or time you don't pay for it. I counted every door knob, faucet, light fixture, appliance, sinks, toilets, etc., and bought them ourselves. You will get the quality and style you want and cheaper than letting the contractor get them. Store them until you need them; keep receipts for easy returns. Use local cabinetmakers, window makers, etc. Watch your warranties and know when they expire; be sure to get any issues resolved before time runs out after install. Look over the progress EVERY day; be knowledgeable and ask questions if something does not look right. Don't assume they will read plans or notes (my husband deals with contractors each day and you get what you pay for; get legitimate references and look at their subcontractors work.) We got several thousand dollars BACK when we closed on our house because we did some legwork and bought things ourselves.