Building a custom home is always a great choice. It gives you a flex of customization and enables you to make changes in your own way without having to compromise. However, making a custom home is a complex, long, and challenging task. It might be a cost-effective and wise solution but requires a lot of fuss. Cost in residential estimating is one of them, it requires a lot of complex costing structures. For your ease, we’ve written a brief guide on the most expensive part of building a house.

Average Costs of Components In House Construction

Well, if we go in-depth, there’s no one answer to that question. It’s not a competition where there will be only one winner. Instead, the answer to the most expensive part of building a home is always dynamic. For a rough estimate, here’s the table:

Cost Component	Percentage of Total Cost
Site work and foundation	15-20%
Framing and trusses	15-20%
Roofing	5-10%
Windows and doors	5-10%
Plumbing, electrical, and HVAC systems	15-20%

There are things that influence the answer e.g., market, type of material, and the house you want to build. However, on average, here are some of the most expensive parts that costs a lot when building a house:

Frame of the House

There’s no wonder that the frame of the house is one of the most expensive parts of any building house. It’s the base, most important, and most expensive part of the house. The reason why it’s so expensive is the materials, time, and workforce required to complete the frame are complex. 

The frame of the house requires a lot of woodwork, and not just regular wood. The frame of the house requires timber wood which is one of the most expensive wood types used in the building of a house. 

Moreover, it also requires a complex structure, and hence more use of labor. The labor you choose must be skillful enough to complete the work in a proper way without creating any mess or mistake. In the end, skilled and expert labor is always expensive.

Roof of the House

It depends on what type of roof you choose. If you’ve got a concrete roof, then roofing will be much higher as compared to wooden roofing. Wooden is still expensive in a few cases. That all depends on the type of roof you want. 

If your choice is the tiled roof, it’ll be much more expensive to roof the house. The tiles, plaster to install them and the labor isn’t so cheap in the roofing. You must choose a workforce that is professional and expert in plastering and roofing. In the end, the expert workforce is always expensive. 

The concrete roofing is on the same page. The concrete, TMT bars, labor, plastering skilled workforce, and concrete-assisted machines are the most expensive components when roofing your house. The end result you get is one of the most expensive roofing materials. 

Foundation of the House

The foundation must be sturdy and strong enough to support the weight of the house. The foundation also acts as a membrane between the ground and the house itself. 

Its purpose is to protect your home from water damage and keep it safe from earthquakes, fires, or other hazards. If you want your home to be safe from any disaster then you need to have a good foundation that can withstand any kind of pressure or weight on it.

The foundation is made up of sub-flooring and footings. A sub-flooring is an area that lies below the floor above and it provides support for the joists, rafters, and beams on which you can build your home. 

The foundation consists of pieces of concrete or masonry that support a building at its base. All these things make the foundation of the house expensive and costly in residential estimating.

Interior and Exterior Finishing

Interior and exterior finishing is part of the construction that consists of painting and designing the house to make it look beautiful and liveable. Of course, you don’t want to live in a house with naked concrete plaster and wood blocks. The interior and exterior finishing has no practical use on the structure or design of the building. It just influences the way your house looks. 

Finishing the house involves various structures including the paint of the house, decoration pieces, pearls in the paint, plants, flowers, artificial grass, furniture, and all the other miscellaneous items that increase the look of the house. 

The major reason why they aren’t cheap is their processed form. Unlike raw materials used in the building of the house, furnishing items aren’t raw. They are designed with precision, time, and mind. That’s the reason why they are so expensive. Here are some of the most common finishing items used in the housing industry:

• Painting of the house
• Weatherproofing shield
• Furniture
• Decoration items
• Shelves
• Images
• Painting

There are other various things based on the owner’s creativity and needs that influence the cost of building a house.

HVAC in the Building

HVAC refers to Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning systems. It refers to the management of air conditioning inside your building or house. It is similar to an air conditioner, but at a relatively bigger scale. The components of the HVAC are always expensive. Not just the components, the installation of the HVAC is highly complex and requires a lot of effort. So:

More effort the labor ∝ More money they’ll charge.

The components of the HVAC include:

• A large-scale fan and radiator
• AC unit
• A large-scale industrial compressor
• Aluminium pipes 
• Ducts

All these components aren’t cheap.

That’s just one side of the HVAC budget. The installation cost also influences the HVAC system to a significant %. The main purpose of the HVAC is to evenly control the air of the whole building and no space is left behind. You can call this system a central air conditioning system. 

Regrettably, the HVAC’s air doesn’t travel wirelessly. Therefore, you need a piping system to travel the HVAC’s air to every corner of the building. This task requires a skilled and expert workforce. 

The labor will design rooftop ducts that spread out to the whole building for air ventilation. Not just that, they might need to make cuts between the walls and windows to make sure that the HVAC’s air is equally ventilated all over the building.

Plumbing of the House

Plumbing is expensive when building a house because it is not just one product but an entire building system. The whole home needs to be designed and built as per the plumbing system.

The plumbing system in a house can vary depending on what type of home you are building, how many bathrooms and sinks you plan on having, and the size of your family. Plumbing includes all the fixtures in your home that connect to pipes such as faucets, toilets, showers, sinks, and tubs.

A plumber must install the main pipes and fittings at the beginning of construction. He also needs to make sure that the plumbing system is safe and reliable for everyone who will live in this house.

The plumber may need to add extra pipes or fittings to accommodate new appliances or fixtures that are added later in the process. The plumber might also need to change the layout of some parts of your home, such as where certain pieces of equipment are located on a wall or how they connect to other pieces of equipment.

How to Source the building material in the lowest amount possible?

The sourcing in the lowest possible pricing is always based on skills and market knowledge. You can buy the same material at a higher price than average and the same material at a lower price than in the market. 

It all depends on your market knowledge and the type of sellers from which you’re sourcing. 

Always buy from Wholesaler

The wholesaler will always give you better pricing than a retailer. The reason is simple economics. The wholesaler works at a bulk quantity while the retailer works on each product-based business. This makes the wholesaler a better deal.

However, note that wholesalers can only give you the pricing quotation 10%-12% cheaper than the retailers. So it’s only good if the wholesaler is near your area.

Additionally, there are shipping charges and other costs that you have to sponsor in the wholesale retail. So it might not be a good idea to go to a wholesaler if you need a few building materials.

What are the main cost components of building a house?

The main cost components of residential estimating include the cost of land, construction materials, labor, permits and fees, design and engineering fees, and financing costs.

What is the most expensive part of building a house?

The most expensive part of building a house is the foundation. The cost for this part of your house can is around $20 per square foot 

How long does it take to build a house?

The time it takes to build a house depends on several factors such as the complexity of the design, the size of the house, and weather conditions.

How can I save money when building a house?

You can save money when building a house by choosing a simple design, using cost-effective materials, and reducing the overall square footage of the house.