Buying land in Canada
Mar 12th 2010, 7:54 pm
#16
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Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 3
Re: Buying land in Canada
Try these people, they are reputable and have been around for years. They also have tax sale properties:
http://www.dignam.com/
http://www.dignam.com/
Thanks!
Mar 14th 2010, 4:31 am
#17
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Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 8
Re: Buying land in Canada
Excellent advice
Mar 14th 2010, 12:38 pm
#18
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Joined: Jul 2006
Location: St. Albert. AB.
Posts: 3,286
Re: Buying land in Canada
That's hard to say - it cost c$275 per sq/ft to build. If I'd purchased a similarly built (in terms of quality, location etc) home off a builder, then the only way it'd be cheaper is if it had been one of multiple homes being constructed, so economies of scale would come into play for the builder. I could certainly have built a much cheaper home, or purchased a bigger home for the same $ cost, but really I think the point of building a one-off custom home isn't necessarily to come out of the exercise thinking it's a cost saving exercise.
If you're content with a cookie-cutter, standard N.American home, then perhaps there are some savings to be made, but by the time you've purchased your plot and dealt with all the legalities and legwork, I doubt you'll be able to reduce costs below what a decent building contractor can manage. Of course if you're really hands on and can frame, dry-wall and perform many of the trades yourself, then you can save a heap in labour outlay.
I paid the invoice prices for trade labour and materials (which were 40-60% below retail price), and a 10% of build fee to employ a project manager. The build took 12mths, and unless you can afford to be on site every day, monitoring quality and delivery is very important. We lived on site in a second house we owned, and also worked from the same property, so we were able to keep an eye on the management of the process quite closely, but in my opinion you need someone familiar with local building codes and who's trustworthy to keep the build process efficient and cost effective on site all the time.
Very easy. Application for permits was straightforward, the only problem being with the local fire hall who had to determine if we were protected or not (the house was built about 0.5km from a hydrant). Perhaps Kamloops city hall is particularly well structured for the process, but I found each department (environment for septic issues, planning for the build process etc) well versed in our project and efficient in signing off paperwork.
They couldn't give two hoots. The only restrictions were height and proximity to boundaries, but with 32 acres, that presented no problems. We chose to build an adobe style property, as it fitted in nicely with the surrounding landscape and environment.
We had to extend a gas line, hydro (new pole and then buried cable to the house), water, telecoms, and instal a septic field and tank. It was all straightforward with trenches and cable/pipe run during early construction phase. Service providers needed a little notice for their part of the work, but I don't remember it being particularly onerous or problematic.
The biggest issues we had to deal with was choosing to build during a construction boom ('07) here. Trades were in short supply, so trying to get reliable dry wallers, insulators, painters and stucco guys in particular was a headache. At the moment we're conducting 4,500 sq/ft of renos to another house, and with the economic downturn it's a breeze to get the contractors (and price) you want.
If the right plot of land was available, then yes. We moved last November, and building again was a potential option, but we couldn't find land anywhere that really appealed, so we're gutting and renovating a property instead.
There are a few pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fieldst...09087458/show/ (not many of the under construction phase unfortunately) if you care to take a look at what got built.
If you're content with a cookie-cutter, standard N.American home, then perhaps there are some savings to be made, but by the time you've purchased your plot and dealt with all the legalities and legwork, I doubt you'll be able to reduce costs below what a decent building contractor can manage. Of course if you're really hands on and can frame, dry-wall and perform many of the trades yourself, then you can save a heap in labour outlay.
I paid the invoice prices for trade labour and materials (which were 40-60% below retail price), and a 10% of build fee to employ a project manager. The build took 12mths, and unless you can afford to be on site every day, monitoring quality and delivery is very important. We lived on site in a second house we owned, and also worked from the same property, so we were able to keep an eye on the management of the process quite closely, but in my opinion you need someone familiar with local building codes and who's trustworthy to keep the build process efficient and cost effective on site all the time.
Very easy. Application for permits was straightforward, the only problem being with the local fire hall who had to determine if we were protected or not (the house was built about 0.5km from a hydrant). Perhaps Kamloops city hall is particularly well structured for the process, but I found each department (environment for septic issues, planning for the build process etc) well versed in our project and efficient in signing off paperwork.
They couldn't give two hoots. The only restrictions were height and proximity to boundaries, but with 32 acres, that presented no problems. We chose to build an adobe style property, as it fitted in nicely with the surrounding landscape and environment.
We had to extend a gas line, hydro (new pole and then buried cable to the house), water, telecoms, and instal a septic field and tank. It was all straightforward with trenches and cable/pipe run during early construction phase. Service providers needed a little notice for their part of the work, but I don't remember it being particularly onerous or problematic.
The biggest issues we had to deal with was choosing to build during a construction boom ('07) here. Trades were in short supply, so trying to get reliable dry wallers, insulators, painters and stucco guys in particular was a headache. At the moment we're conducting 4,500 sq/ft of renos to another house, and with the economic downturn it's a breeze to get the contractors (and price) you want.
If the right plot of land was available, then yes. We moved last November, and building again was a potential option, but we couldn't find land anywhere that really appealed, so we're gutting and renovating a property instead.
There are a few pictures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fieldst...09087458/show/ (not many of the under construction phase unfortunately) if you care to take a look at what got built.
