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How much does it really cost to build a home? To better understand single-family home construction costs, ResiClub reached out to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) for the trade group’s latest cost breakdown.
The NAHB provided the national averages for itemized costs in each stage of construction for a new single-family home in 2022. The data comes from NAHB’s construction cost survey published last year.
Among the homebuilders surveyed, the average sales price of their single-family homes in 2022 was $644,750 and includes costs for construction, the finished lot, financing, overhead and general expenses, marketing, sales commission, and profit. Total construction costs for the average single-family home included in the survey was $392,241.
The pie chart below breaks out those costs for the average home.
The NAHB broke down the costs of the eight major stages of construction (see the eight color groups in the pie chart above), which are made up of 36 total subcategories (see the table below).
Of the 36 subcategories, framing, including the home’s roof, accounts for the biggest chunk at 15.5% of the total construction costs. It’s followed by “excavation, foundation, concrete, retaining walls, and backfill” at 10.1%.
Also on the list: “impact fees.” On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court in a 9-0 decision ruled that homebuilders and developers may challenge California’s development impact fees. The case will now go back to the California courts.
In California, those so-called impact fees—imposed by cities and counties to pay for things like roads and schools—have long been among the highest in the nation.
“A home permit can contain 20- to 30-plus lines of impact fees, not including those paid by the land developer or fees and costs moved into bond districts. In California, permits and impact fees often exceed $100,000 per home,” Jeff Grenz, a custom homebuilder in Sacramento, tells ResiClub.