The cost of building homes is not so much in the construction, but in the permitting fees, the land cost, and the hookups to sewer, water, electricity, and gas.
Mere physical plant is not the major cost anymore.
There are several technologies that can do that relatively cheaply.
Most are not allowed by the zoning codes, unless expensive special applications and approvals are met.
>>The cost of building homes is not so much in the construction, but in the permitting fees, the land cost, and the hookups to sewer, water, electricity, and gas.
Mere physical plant is not the major cost anymore.<<
That makes sense but I think my observation about doing construction — and maybe how repairs are done — in the future is probably truer than not.
Unless areas do an Uber and just don’t allow them to keep the construction trade open.
Expect to see this take hold in 3rd world countries where once the cost < labor, just like cell phones are EVERYWHERE in Mexico and other countries b/c the cost of a land line are so high.
I think this is disruptive in ways we might not even be able to discern now.
We were looking into purchasing a Modular Home.
Construction cost of the Plan we were looking at came in about $200 a Square Foot delivered to the Building Site.
That didn’t include the poured Foundation, the Setup Crew, hooking up Utilities or any upgrades.
The Builder said to add at least $40 to $50 a Square Foot for all that. The cost of the Lot was additional.
#3 This is known as ‘kickbacks’ by the gov’t & utilities extortionists!
That is not my experience on the industrial side, admittedly a different beast than residential construction. An industrial structure is about 2/3 for the building and 1/3 for the utilities.
This is with the industrial building having greater costs for electrical, concrete and actually will have 2 wastewater systems (process and sanitary) vs. one for residential. The electrical system will normally be much more complex. Concrete is more complex in that the concrete is a typically a stronger PSI with stronger wire/rebar level to give greater load bearing, there are often concrete piers or bases that are added subunits, trench or point source grates for floor drains, isolated floating slabs for tanks, etc.
I can typically get a prefabbed steel industrial building for about $150ish per square foot installed - This is highly location specific though depending on local labor rates. Building permits and inspections are a trivial cost unless the workmanship is half ass or the construction specifications were not followed. If the construction contract is specified properly then this kind of redo is on the construction company and not the owner.
$$$ are well spent on competent design and engineering/architectural before even thinking about the building permit process. This gives the permit folks a easy days work to understand the what and how of the construction so they can match this to what their local code requirements are. During construction, these specifications give an exact benchmark of scope, supply and component quality requirements - Uncertainty is removed. Field discoveries and material supply problems always are going to occur. Full specifications give a road map to resolving this starting with field level change order development and an established pipeline of expertise for approving and documenting changes from the approved design noted in building permits. All this saves time and $$$ by reducing do overs and streamlining inspection approval.
I don't mean for all this to sound overly complex. This kind of stuff if is daily life for a project manager and construction manager. For a new technology like 3D printing or unconventional technology like prefab residential, the upfront work related to building permits is smoothed at lot by local competent experts to make sure the applications contain all the details properly itemized and specified so the permit writer has an easy job to complete his work. With respect to zoning issues, if it is a hassle, build somewhere else where it isn't a problem unless you have the patience to deal with local politicians.