Comment by Aurornis
2 days ago
> The material costs are high too because of regulations that require specific lumber for framing etc.
Having done some extensive remodeling and building work in recent years and going to great lengths to follow building codes, this just isn't it. The type of lumber you can use for most framing jobs isn't that special. Having walked through a number of new construction properties and seeing what passes code, I don't think relaxing lumber standards would be a good idea, nor buy us anything.
When lumber, cabinetry, and other building products have tariffs in the range of 10-50%, you can't tell me that tariffs are not the primary problem driving costs up right now. There just isn't a secret stash of lesser grade lumber lying around that would also be perfectly good for building homes.
Single and few number family residential and owner stuff gets all sorts of exemptions in just about every town's zoning code because if not the townsfolk would revolt.
This is why everyone on the internet screeches "well I put up a deck and it wasn't so hard". Try and do a new build of literally any structure and get back to me. Or worse, a construction type that is not the regional default for whatever it is you're doing.
Reality for new construction is way, way, way worse than homeowners think.
Unless you know a guy, in which case it's all open doors and green lights because that's how local politics always is.
> Unless you know a guy, in which case it's all open doors and green lights because that's how local politics always is.
LOL, in my city, which is the capital city of our state, the city planning committee and property developers are all friends. By which I don't mean "having a drink at a community event", I mean openly posting on social media about their families going on vacation together, "Loved our family spending the week at this airbnb with the X family! So many good times and memories!"
It's a club and you ain't in it.
1 reply →
I've worked in new construction previously.
It's so much easier than the renovation work I'm doing.
> Try and do a new build of literally any structure and get back to me. Or worse, a construction type that is not the regional default for whatever it is you're doing.
Please don't be so condescending. I'm talking about my experience with home building in a thread about building homes. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with whatever you were building, but we're talking about homes.
Old home renovations are expensive because of these stupid codes. You have to bring a house up to code in many cases which increases the costs. You’re right that home renovations are more costly.
For new homes it’s easier just to start “at code” and go from there. However, there are places that have strict building codes on the type of lumber you use for the roof, the frame, interior walls, exterior, etc. Lumber yards who sell this in bulk know this and charge a dozen percentages more for it.
For example, in Virginia, lumber has to be graded for use for certain applications. If you happen to mill your own boards, your SOL. You’ll never be to code. The only way is to grease an inspector.