How much does it cost to build a home in Silicon Valley? (2016)
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Re: How much does it cost to build a home in Silicon Valley? (2016)
#2[deleted]
Re: How much does it cost to build a home in Silicon Valley? (2016)
#3these numbers seem wildly inaccurate
Re: How much does it cost to build a home in Silicon Valley? (2016)
#4these numbers seem wildly inaccurate
For the cost of construction or the land itself? The post is from November 2016, which could explain inaccuracies in the latter.
Re: How much does it cost to build a home in Silicon Valley? (2016)
#5these numbers seem wildly inaccurate
From what I know they seem in the ballpark to me. Los Altos especially is one of the more higher end, expensive areas in SV.
Re: How much does it cost to build a home in Silicon Valley? (2016)
#6Not sure what I am supposed to do with the extra 3500 square feet there...
Re: How much does it cost to build a home in Silicon Valley? (2016)
#7Maybe I'm missing something but it looks like she omitted general contractor fees unless she rolled them into the sq/ft cost. Not that most people are qualified but I know people who GC the projects themselves to save a great deal of money. It's worth calling out as it's own item...
I found an up and coming architect so my design fees were substantially less than my GC fees... by about 8-10x.
Re: How much does it cost to build a home in Silicon Valley? (2016)
#8these numbers seem wildly inaccurate
They're a little off, but not much. The problem is that most people can't build a 5k sq ft place on a 7500 sq ft lot without going down as well as up. Basements in the Palo Alto flood zones are crazy expensive to build and permit so most don't do it, opting to stick to the sq ft requirements, which on a 7500 sq ft lot would be ... 3200?
5k would need a 10k lot in palo alto. A 10k lot in palo alto goes for 3m to 5m depending on neighborhood.
So , yes, it's nuts.
Re: How much does it cost to build a home in Silicon Valley? (2016)
#9Not sure what I am supposed to do with the extra 3500 square feet there...
Movie theatre, grand dining room, home gym, steam room, VR room, office, woodworking shop, wine cellar, etc. The possibilities are endless.
Re: How much does it cost to build a home in Silicon Valley? (2016)
#10Had a chat with our insurance agent recently; she wants us to increase our insurance coverage on our home in old palo alto, which is currently calculated based on $350/sq.ft. rebuild cost. She said that clients in the burned-out areas in Santa Rosa were being quoted much higher rates, and although she admitted that was partly due to a large number of people competing for contractors all at once, she believes $450 is a more realistic replacement cost basis.
That would be also based on replacing the existing structure, which is single-story, no basement.
What almost always happens when an older house is sold in this area, is that the property sells for between 1M and 2M, is immediately scraped and replaced by a two-story-plus-full-basement (with home theater and au-pair apartment), which then sells for 6M-8M with a profit of circa 1.5M.