Architectural Designs

How Much of housing cost is actual materials?

Im designing a dream home with an architectural program and it gives a calculated estimation on material cost, how much would i add to this to get say a retail value?

Public Comments

1. THe actual cost in unpredictable as dream homes for ppl vary from your taste and likings, but I can suggest you a site with current market costs of material and other things needed for building your Dream home. May be u'll get an idea of what you are looking for.
2. Extremely variable. Depends on taste and how nice of dream things you want to put into your dream house. Simple, straight foreward home plan without any frills....I would say will cost approx 60 to 70 $ SQ FT for the materials. Do any extra nice stuff and the cost goes up accordingly and sometimes quite drastically.
3. Usually it breaks down to 25-30 percent, but it can vary widely. It's hard to get retail price because, hopefully, you are getting a contractor's discount on the materials. A few tips -- always get everything in writing in a contract, down to the brand of faucet you want, and then don't pay ahead of the work being done. A 10-15 percent deposit is fine, but then pay after the work is finished. The contractor then has incentive to come back and do a good job!