Cost to Build a New House in California | My Detailed Construction Cost Breakdown

In this video I give a detailed breakdown of exactly how much it is costing me to build my new house in Lake Tahoe California. I go line by line through my fixed priced contract with my builder explaining the construction cost for each item. I go over the cost for everything including architectural plans, engineering, permit fees, lumber, foundation, plumbing and everything else involved in building a new home from scratch. I then give the total cost to build at the end and break down the cost per square foot. My goal for this video is to help you budget for your new build and prepare you for the costs associated with construction and building a home. I interviewed as many contractors as I could before I signed a construction contract with my builder. Lumber prices are out of control right now so my cost for lumber is likely higher than you will see in the future. But I did my best to find a builder who was affordable, but still built quality homes. It is very expensive to build a new house in California and even more so in Lake Tahoe where there is a shortage of skilled labor. Having the cost to build in the form of a fixed price contract is usually required by construction lenders when applying for a construction loan. I also already owned my land before I signed my construction contract to build my cabin. I have great videos explaining how to find and buy land, as well as how to get a construction loan to build a house with no money down.

[luisarevalojr]

As a general contractor myself, I’m going to tell you, you did not OVER PAY. People really under appreciate the time, experience, knowledge, and commitment it takes to build a home. Especially in mountain/forest areas. I’ve heard many stories of clients paying cheaper prices only for the contractor to “run out of money” or leave them hanging with an uncompleted project. As long as you get what you paid for, appreciate it and enjoy the finished product. 👍

[TheSpatulaCity]

Seems that many of those nicely rounded numbers are already padded with profit and then they add a contractor profit line. I'd say the exterior painting price is fair but most other stuff seems 20-30% overpriced.

[chriscagle]

I’m about to build in el dorado hills (same county that extends to South Lake Tahoe) - fees are $60k for a 2k square foot house, and requirements are brutal (geotechnical report, site survey, arborist reports, engineering, all the code crap on the plans, solar design, fire sprinkler design, septic design).

I’m not really an affordable housing guy, but CA is the land of the rich and the poor and a lot of it is because of extremely rigid housing requirements.

Title 24 is also brutal - the county wants 8 inch thick walls on my place (2x6 framing plus 2in exterior foam). EL Dorado Hills is prob at about 1k elevation with hot summers but extremely mild winters…those requirements seem like you’re building in Siberia.

Long gone are the days where a guy in his 30’s starting a family can build a house out here without going broke.

[johnjacoba]

Thanks! That was really nice of you to make this video to help other people know what the cost really is. We're trying to select a contractor for a build in Tahoma, and have been getting some wildly varying cost estimates. Very helpful!

[Farmaci]

Man, I am so grateful to you for sharing this because I have a crazy story of my quote from Sonoma County contractors I won’t name. They gave us a price of $2.5 million for 3, 400 sq-ft. I asked them for a glass of whiskey because I almost fainted!😵‍💫 According to them, that’s not bad at all so… leaving California seems very convincing right now.

[TheWonka]

Can you show the floorplan? Would love to understand specifics like how many linear feet of cabinets, how many windows, how many doors, etc. Thank you for this video! I agree that more people need to share this data and happy to share back what we end up with. We are very early in the process.

[Jeff_G]

In the process of building myself for this year and its interesting how much prices vary by region. Most of your budget seems like a heavy premium compared to my region, but some stuff are way less.

Cheers and hope you enjoy your cabin for years to come!

[GoldenGod]

One of my buddies lives off of Kiowa drive at the bottom of the summit pass… absolutely beautiful neighborhood and homes.
Absolute steal building an $800k home in a 1.5 million neighborhood

[jasonquenga]

Thanks for sharing. We're planning our own build about an hour or so from Tahoe, and this will definitely help us plan for a budget. I grew up in Sacramento, but have lived in AZ for the last 8 years. Decided to move back to the area and am just dumbfounded by the permitting costs and requirements CA has for new homes. They want affordable housing, but all the extra add on and fees are the price of an entire home to begin with, and then you have to build the house! No wonder builders are building smaller, cheaper homes... it ain't possible.

[kenc.]

Are you able to share which credit union you used? Also, how long did the process take from start to completion and what were the delays that you encountered? Did any delays hurt any process or conditions for the loans? Thanks for this breakdown, all your videos in this process have been phenomenal!

[lemon]

Wow! You got Bob the builder! Thanks for sharing.

[dchonj]

This is a very helpful video as I’m planning to build a house in SF Bay Area. Sounds like your finishes are quite an upgrade from typical homes. Would you mind sharing your floor plan and exterior renderings? Like to see what the design looks like. Thanks

[tylerjulka]

Carpenter contractor in LA here, I'm curious as to why you chose Western Red Cedar for the siding? There are many cost-effective mid to high end options that have a similar look, even composites that wouldn't require the first/future coats of finish. Food for thought for your future builds here.

Thanks for sharing this, the spreadsheet is super helpful for me planning a high desert build!

[adamstephen]

This is awesome, super helpful. My wife and I have considered a vaca home in Tahoe since we have been finding ourselves up there every year quite a bit. I’m likely going to go the same route as you as I’m particular about floor plan / garage space (wake boat).

[cchan]

Thank you for sharing, I am in the planning stage and the cost of building in Southern California is crazy, I think you did well for a 2400SF house, especially design and engineering fee for 12K is low. Not sure if you had to do survey and soil report.

[ivanraya]

Thank you, this open book look at the financials of your deal was one of the most informational videos I have ever seen on Youtube. Thank you! Thank you! Looking to develop my land in LA (SB9), San Bernardino County and Sonoma County... All very different areas, yet all facing these economic issues and price gauging due to labor shortages and PLANdemic supply shortages.

[yuchikaito]

Thanks for sharing! It made us very clear for our project.

[xtwsyyv]

Thank you so much for this Video Brandon. I am a new realtor in California and my goal is to learn as much as I can about the market. This video gave me a lot of insight about building my own home someday. Also, did you mention the cost of the land?

[romie]

Sounds good. And you did good. I'm in Northern California, eagle ridge. You have a great vacation rental year round with quality build it appears. And all was financed? Paying for itself likely.

[dongonzalez]

I work for a GC, you really are paying a premium with those prices. You could have subbed everything. Thats what the GC did.