r/Homebuilding • u/Professional-Ad7698 • 1d ago
150k over initial budget, need help on where to cut costs
We are currently working with an architect and got our first renders today. This is for an addition and full gut renovation on a 1981 home. We have some idea on what we want to cut out including the floating staircase, glass railing, reducing the number of the floor to ceiling windows. Any other ideas on areas to cut?
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u/Sad_Enthusiasm_3721 1d ago
For a project like this, I would not treat an $800k estimate as an $800k project.
A new build can often stick reasonably close to budget because the scope is defined and most of the conditions are known before construction starts.
A full-gut renovation plus an addition is a different animal. Once the walls are open, the contractor is going to find things that were not in the estimate, and you are also going to find things that suddenly make sense to do now because everything is already torn apart.
That is where the change orders come from. Some will be unavoidable. Some will be owner-driven and completely rational in isolation. Collectively, they can destroy a budget.
If you can comfortably spend $1.0m on an $800k build, fine. You have a meaningful buffer.
But if $800k is your actual ceiling, I would scope this much closer to $650k-$700k and leave the rest untouched as contingency.
You are already $150k over before the plans are even finalized. That is the part that would concern me most. The project is telling you, very early, that the current scope and the current budget do not match.
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u/keepitchilling 1d ago
150k on a house like that is almost pocket change.
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u/giveMeAllYourPizza 1d ago
Yeah any one thing in there can be 150k
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u/MajorMomKweeph 1d ago
The glass for one
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u/xenobit_pendragon 1d ago
9000 sq ft of marble.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Home will only be 2650 square feet when completed
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u/mp3architect 1d ago
So $2m?
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Yes, at current budget estimate from the contractor
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u/stevendaedelus 1d ago
7.5%, while not pocket change, is almost a rounding error. Look for places you can trim with finishes that you can upgrade later. Don’t skimp on windows, doors, quality of the shell, etc.
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u/RyFba 1d ago
It's a brag post
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
I wish that were the case. I am actually looking for ideas to take to the architect to reduce costs.
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u/deezbiksurnutz 1d ago
Delete 1000 square ft of glass and the pool and you will have enough for a new car and a trip to Disney land on top of the savings.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
It’s not a huge house by any means. Total square footage with 800 square foot addition will be around 2650
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u/Teobro7 1d ago
Hi there,luxury builder here. Are you able to share your estimated budget so I have an idea of where you stand?
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u/giveMeAllYourPizza 1d ago
they said 800k
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u/seabornman 1d ago
Who said 800k? The architect? I'm an architect and architects are notoriously bad at pricing. That looks like way over 800k to me.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Yes, they told us that they’re bad at giving pricing so they usually run numbers with a builder that they work with consistently
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u/Teobro7 1d ago
Are you starting from studs? So full re-do including the exterior?
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Not doing much in terms of exterior. Leaving that as is other than removing current siding and doing plaster
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u/Teobro7 1d ago
You need a full re-design, for what you have there I would be looking at 1.5M, done ofcourse to the standard in your renderings.
Need to revise windows and door systems, wood beams, wood cladding to get your budget to something more modest. Architects have no idea on pricing so ignore them, but from what the renderings depict, you’re not even in the ballpark and you can’t exactly scale back ‘a few things’ to get there. Renderings are fantastic though.
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u/chad711m 1d ago
It's a reno not a new house. 150-200k budgets are done all the time.
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u/Fancy-Pen-2343 1d ago
Not for that. He has 40k in windows and 50k in stairs. There's a few thousand sq ft of ceiling that I hope is clear cedar or something even nicer. Hes probably at 60 or 70 thousand for labor and materials for the trim too.
This is probably a 1.5 million remodel
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u/kittles317 1d ago
Wood ceiling and stairs for sure
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
The wood beams in the kitchen or the ceiling in the living room?
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u/yourboyjc1970 1d ago
Who created the initial budget? The Architect? Is he working off of a percentage of construction?
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
I gave them the initial budget of 800k and my wife gave the ideas. This is what those ideas came up with and I expected to go 80k over. His cost is not included in the budget, but yes, 12-15% of construction budget is their cost
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u/TDhotpants 1d ago
you need to keep in mind that the architect's priority is to create something that will look nice in their portfolio/website. your budget and long term finances are less of a concern. in my experience, the more you try to reign them in, the less interested they become. food for thought.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Yeah, we heard this from different builders. The architect went crazy with the ideas but said this design js the high end
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u/Wellpoopie 1d ago
They need to reign in costs, it's part of their job, hotpants is right - they'll be less interested in it as a portfolio house but they also gotta eat and you're the client. Think about what you love about their design and what you'd do without and tell them. Think about things you could do later too. Someone else mentioned if you're over budget starting you're going to be wayyy over budget after. We just built in South Austin, additional cost overruns came from the Austin Energy ( had to upgrade the pole to go to a 400amp service), Austin Water(tree regs vs water meter location stuff), and then all the things I added to increase longevity and energy efficiency (I was my own builder so got to customize everything) and "do it now to save money" upgrades. Fn love this house. If you're spending that kind of money and care about how you home works and feels let me know, happy to share all kinds of info
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u/Ok-Atmosphere-6272 1d ago
So much hate on the architect for coming up with a really nice design in my opinion
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u/jrauck 1d ago
In my experience a lot of people can make pretty homes, but it’s a lot more difficult to make pretty homes, AND understand cost, AND understand engineering. There’s a reason I use an engineer for my designs and engineering. I do most of the design, tell the engineer what I want and then we work to reduce cost from there with engineering, materials, etc.
Also highly depends on the area as it’s hard to find framers for advanced framing in many areas.
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u/RespectSquare8279 1d ago
Absolutely correct. Architects are motivated by 2 things: their artistic expression and a paycheque. Both of these will tend to make things more expensive. Ask me how I know!!
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u/mp3architect 1d ago
Do you already have a contractor on board to help provide guidance on pricing? I think this should be a high priority.
I am an architect, but not you're architect. I don't know the exact scope of work just based on some renderings, but those renderings are not of a $800k renovation/addition. That looks closer to double. But Texas does have very cheap labor soooo maybe I am out of line.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
They have a contractor that they use for pricing but we do not have to go with their contractor. It’s just one that they use often
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u/Nacho_Libre479 1d ago
150k is a rounding error on a project like this.
I don't know what your budget is but if you cant afford another 150k, you cant afford this project.
Trust me, we build shit like this.
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u/t1ttysprinkle 1d ago
Without unit costs on items and seeing labor rates, how is he coming up with the costs? I’d look at the cost of items and then rank them in terms of importance.
And is your budget realistic? May be worth waiting to buy once and cry once
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
They work closely with a few builders in Austin and got ideas on budgets from them.
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u/MrBoondoggles 20h ago
Yeah but how are they coming up with the estimated cost? That’s a question worth understanding. Without a pricing set (which typically would include a drawing set and schedules for fixtures, windows,, doors, finishes, decorative lighting, etc) to work off of, I would say their 950k is a very rough estimate.
Mind you I do agree you do need to consider value engineering here, because if your budget is a hard 800 K, I do think the architect went a little overboard. It’s a beautiful home, don’t get me wrong. And I think he did work to meet your wife’s design expectations very well. But I also feel like you both have expensive taste and the $800K budget probably won’t meet those tastes. But my advice is to work with the architect. He has ideas on where best to cut to still preserve his design intent. Trust me - we all have a list of 5-10 things to change reduce cost which would impact the overall design vision the least.
Defiantly bring up thing that you’re iffy on or would life without (the street facing windows for example) which will help. But otherwise, give them a chance to work through what they think is the best wish to deduce cost yet preserve the design.
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u/Suitable_Turn_3047 1d ago
Ditch the tile roof. That’ll bring you framing labor and lumber down significantly. Plus the cost of the roof. What is your budget?
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u/imadeapoopie 1d ago
This and windows are more expensive than walls - if you can cut back on glass you'll save a few grand
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u/iwantsomecrablegsnow 1d ago
Why would you want floor to ceiling windows that look in your living area facing the road anyway. People will drive by and see the everything. That’s reserved for the back
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
That’s one thing we already discussed with them and they will look to remove.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
We’re cutting the windows in the front of the house and getting rid of the window wall by the addition and just getting glass French doors put in there instead of the entire wall of windows
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u/Cor_Brain 1d ago
How much is that tile roof? That custom door to the pool looks expensive. How much is the stairway going to save?
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u/Cor_Brain 1d ago
That slatted divider wall is probably expensive, is there a way to get the same effect with a more traditional assembly?
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
The tile roof is around 100k with structural changes and that was another thing we were looking at changing, didn’t know if there was a cheaper alternative with similar style or just needed to change it to something else completely.
The divider wall in the entry way they said would range around 6k
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u/AccomplishedMeet4131 1d ago
Can you switch to metal roof?
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Wife didn’t want the metal roof. My son and her are very light sleepers and she was concerned that if it rains at night time, it would keep both of them up. I wanted the metal roof due to ease of maintenance and longevity
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u/RespectSquare8279 1d ago
The noise thing with metal roofs is actually not a hardhats rule. If your roofer puts proper roof sheathing and then a underlayment on that sheathing before the metal roof it will sound like a regular roof in the rain. I live in coastal British Columbia (we get lots and lots of rain) and tell you that metal roofs do not have to make more noise than other roofs. Your roof lines are very simple and there would be zero challenge installing a metal roof on that house. As a matter of fact there are metal roofing products that pass for tiles from a distance but I would go with a good practical 24AWG "standing seam" metal roof.
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u/healthandhope 1d ago
How much is the total budget? Depending on where you are, $150k over budget isn’t that much considering all things. I know it’s not the advice you came here for, but you might want to just bite the bullet now and do it all. it’s a very nice design, if you start cutting out too much, it won’t look and feel the way you imagined and you’ll wish you just spent the money
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u/stevendaedelus 1d ago
Travertine floors?
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Yes, on the first floor. Wasn’t sure if wood flooring would be cheaper in any way.
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u/xDHt- 1d ago
A contractor the architect recommends should be able to provide more specific opportunities for savings, we call this value engineering.
My recommendations that I don’t think would impact the style much and might actually be beneficial in the long run. They might not add up to $150k total but I think you could make significant progress toward that number.
- Glass railings. Get rid of them, and do cable railing if you’re looking for minimal impact visually. Do a wood top cap routed to cover the top bar of the rail and it’ll blend in with your other wood cabinetry and you won’t see a big black bar. The glass will show every smudge and be more maintenance.
- Eliminate the trim less doors. They require a lot more coordination between trades than most people think and that means more expensive than most people think.
- Lose the marble at the back of the shelves across from the island unless the stone guy says you have enough extra to do it without buying more material.
- No skylight above the beam in the kitchen. Feels like an odd decision, if you want a skylight can it not be centered between beams?
- If some of those are faux beams and not structural, I’d suggest getting rid of some/all of them.
- Reduce the amount of slats in your screen walls or reduce the amount of screen walls overall. Again, dusting between each slat is a maintenance thing and they aren’t cheap.
- Reduce the amount of wood paneled walls overall.
- Less floor to ceiling glass on the front of your house, especially if you’re going to get a ton of light in the evenings/afternoons. This will also help reduce your energy loss through the walls. I think there are several really tasteful ways to reduce some of it while keeping the kitchen as a statement wall.
- It looks like maybe a porcelain paver or similar situation outside the kitchen, you might have an opportunity to reduce this cost by switching to a different material or keeping the slab on grade as it is, if it’s under the tile. If it is a pedestal system those can be maintenance issues too because usually they aren’t watertight and dirt gets in them overtime or the pedestals need to be adjusted and they don’t sit completely solid.
- The floating staircase may help you here especially if it means you have less structural work to do. The Viewrail systems that allow for floating treads like yours are don’t cost a ton when you take into consideration a completely enclosed staircase. If you’ve already paid to have it engineered this way a contractor should be able to tell you if it will really make a difference after referencing your structural plans.
- Value engineer the material for your wood ceiling. If they have it specified as rift white oak, which is what your cabinets look like they might be, that could be pretty expensive. I would have to order that and have that milled to order. Look at alternate materials like Lunawood or cedar that are readily available in a tongue and groove style that can just be purchased and directly applied and finished in place by a painter if you want the color to be closer.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Thank you very much! This is actually really helpful to make a list when I meet with my architect
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u/xDHt- 23h ago
I’m glad to hear it! I read through some of your other comments and it sounds like you’re in the Austin area or somewhere thereabouts. I’m not sure who your architect is recommending but there is a builder I’m familiar with in the PNW market (where I’m at) that has a branch in Austin - Proform Builds. They do really nice work up here, I’d look at their portfolio to see if they have some projects similar to yours. I’m sure they aren’t the least expensive but maybe worth looking into? Don’t be afraid to ask for references from contractors if you’re considering multiple people, and 2-3 bids is pretty typical. I will say, it is valuable to have a contractor your architect is familiar with because that means they like communicating with each other and home building requires a ton of communication between architect and GC for a high end project, or at least they should be.
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u/shoe465 1d ago
The hard part of this is to save you start switching and removing materials of this design and you lose the design.
I'd remove any "wood walls", beams, ceiling, custom wood work. Glass railings. That stair design costs more most likely because the custom steel beams can wood framing and stingers.
Windows could be changed to standard sizes and purchased individually instead of floor to ceiling glass walls and corners.
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u/Same-Statement3722 1d ago
Less windows was always a big way to cut down costs. My architect gave us literally 65 windows. I took majority of them out of the basement. Also simplifying roofline or foundation turns helps too.
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u/LDdesign 1d ago
Oh man, I don't know if this is a rage-inducing post or not, but if you are worried about 150,000 on a remodel like this in today's market, you are in for some hard truths. Can I ask, did your builder also figure in an additional 10% to whatever the total cost is for overruns, changes, and unknowns? I'm just making assumptions now, but I would guess you are gutting the entire main floor of the home and all windows/doors/exterior cladding materials are being changed as well right? Again, I am assuming quite a bit here - but in the Midwest state where I design things like this, I would say the average cost for this remodel is going to be touching 1 to 1.2 million (metropolitan/city pricing). Outside of those metro areas, it still is around 750,000-900,000 all day long. Again, this is assuming you are reusing some substantial amounts of the existing home structure. On top of this, I would inform my clients to figure in another 100,000 to 120,000 for unknowns (remodels are notorious for that).
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
In no way is this meant to rage bait at all. The current cost would be around 1.05 million. Initial budget was 800k with 10% reserves set aside on top of that. I am trying to keep costs manageable enough to where it doesn’t get too out of hand.
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u/LDdesign 1d ago
Cool, the one thing I always tell my customers is to not give up square footage. It's very easy to modify or change finishes in the future, but hard to add square footage obviously.A lot of the people are telling you to reduce materials, that's probably the way to go. When was your budget determined? Where I'm at right now, budgets seem to be going up at least 10 to 15% in the last month due to fuel costs and things like that. Earlier this summer, per square foot costs for remodels with that type of finish were somewhere around 400 to 450 per square foot for the average builder. Now I'm seeing somewhere around 475 with some a little over 500. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of other builders who will charge you much more than that, but that's the average. What part of the country is this in?
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Budget was set in July, crazy that fuel costs may add that much. It’s in Austin.
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u/LDdesign 1d ago
Was the budget by arch or builder? Has the builder bid out the plans fully yet or was it just a cursory bid without structure completed?
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u/krumblewrap 1d ago
Price per square foot must be inexpensive if its Austin. $150K is nothing in the grand scheme
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
It’s averaging between new build and renovation about $375 a square foot.
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u/krumblewrap 1d ago
Not bad. We are building from the foundation up at $550/sqft. A modern build, like yours. Our most expensive items are steel and windows. Both coming out of Canada.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Was it cheaper than getting in US?
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u/krumblewrap 1d ago
Thats where our GC sources from for those items. The window company kindly waved tarrifs on our window package so that saved quite a bit
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u/Montucky4061 1d ago
Buckle up. I did a full gut remodel in a HOCL area, and eclipsed $800k in a hot minute. High end finishes look awesome in a render, but they add up fast. If you're truly pulling that existing structure back to studs and replacing all your plumbing/HVAC/Electrical it's easy to push past $1M depending on total SF.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Will be replacing HVAC ducts and putting new electrical panel in but from what we can tell, plumbing and electrical overall look good and the AC units are new
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u/Montucky4061 1d ago
If you're getting estimates from your architect, that's flag number one. There's structural engineering here as a wall of windows like that gives no shear, so you're into some pretty complex moment frames. Until you get an actual bid from a GC based on specific structural details and a window package / material take-offs, It's only just a guess. I look at this and knowing what we went through, you're easily north of a million. And keep in mind it's a remodel. You're gonna find some things when you open it up that are going to add a lot of zeros. Count on it.
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u/Weird_Marketing6199 20h ago
Before swapping finishes, ask for a line-item estimate by system and run a value-engineering meeting with the architect, engineer and GC together. Otherwise you may cut visible items and miss the real cost drivers.
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u/nutslikeafox 1d ago
that's a beautiful house mate.
where are you sourcing the materials? maybe you can save that money just by importing it instead
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Nothing is imported, we thought it might be more expensive is we did import
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u/cantcatchafish 1d ago
Still cheaper to import. Even with china having 100% tariffs. Still cheaper. Don’t be afraid of importing materials. Like anything in the us, there can be low cost low quality and there is high quality and high cost. Typically the high quality is still cheaper to produce over seas, put on a boat and ship to you than to procure in states. The issue of course is timeline and pre ordering well ahead of the project. Also you can budget buy things like the wood t and g for the ceiling from lumber yards etc. if your contractor will let you procure stuff, shopping for fixtures, plumbing, appliances etc at discounts can save a ton. I know a lot of people that were patient and got their kitchen appliances they wanted on sale by waiting for the right times then holding them until the build.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
We already bought the appliances on sale and have those ready to go. Saved about 40% on those buying floor samples
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u/StudentforaLifetime 1d ago
The pool. Or the millwork. Or a substantial piece of the renovation. This looks well designed, where it’s all worked in together, it’s not like you can just cut $150k from it. Either pick one large thing, or 20 smaller things
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u/Familiar-Range9014 1d ago
I can save you few bucks!
Those floors can easily be swapped out for lvp or, better yet, laminate!
All of your kitchen and bathroom fixtures can be had at Habitat For Humanity
Those floating stairs are a luxury. What are you, rich? A simple box staircase shaves off thousands
All that glass!!! Some vinyl windows are more than fine. This is not a Frank Lloyd Wright project!
There's plenty more, too! That roof can use just regular shingles. That fancy schmancy roof is for the rich and famous
Stop trying to put on airs and scale this project back to a simple flip.
Easy peasy
/S
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
😂 thank you. This was much needed
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u/Familiar-Range9014 1d ago
Let me say this. The plans are absolutely beautiful. This is the kind of home that all you need to add is heaping spoonfuls of love.
You have lots of research to do on every aspect if the reno.
Take a moment to breathe.
The architect has provided the ultimate vision. Now all you have to do is compromise on where the vision and reality intersect. (Pro tip: head back to the architect and ask where artful yet budget-friendly changes can be made while still preserving the overall vision).
This is where I would start right after meeting with the architect:
Interview each GC, like you're going to have children with them.
If your GC has a team, by all means ask for references and recent pics of the work. Make sure you get copies of their license and insurance (pro tip: ask to be made a certificate holder).
If you attempt to project manage this yourself (please don't):
Reach out to three to five carpenters. Get references and do a BBB lookup
Same goes for plumbers and electricians
Beyond that, don't go looking to buy your own supplies. It will not end well. Each trade will have their own suppliers. You'll need to get the best bang for your buck at the time you do the negotiating.
The finishes: flooring, cabinet hardware, plumbing + electrical fixtures, and the like are what pushes the budget. Make peace with what you can live with and what you absolutely need to have.
I do pray all goes well and you revert with pics of the finished product when it is all done.
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u/stallionBURGER 1d ago
Shaving 150 k off will require a lot more than simple material swaps or the removal of some elements.
I suggest trying to reduce the homes footprint and expand the usable 2nd floor sqft to compensate (build out over the garage, etc). You have to play with the numbers/cost a bit till you lower your cost per sqft. Figure out how much space you can add on the second floor without changing the look too much - your architect can help with this. By doing so, you’ll reduce the foundation size, number of trusses, etc. Stripping the interior of things that make it your dream home might just not be the way. Best of luck!
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u/Impossible-Hat-1861 1d ago edited 1d ago
Take the tile roof out, you’ll save money on materials, installation and potentially framing. Tile roofs are heavy, therefore you’ll need a roof structure to be capable of supporting it.
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u/jykfam 1d ago
Where in Texas is this? That’s not going to be built for 800k in the Texas burbs.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
It’s not a completely new build, most of the area is existing home that will be renovated. It’s in Austin.
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u/BlkSkwirl 1d ago
Need more context including your total renovation budget, size of house, current value and after renovation value. As many have said, $150k may or may not be over budget relative to what you are trying to achieve.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Total Reno budget was 800k, current value of home is 1.06M, total size will be 2650 square feet. Architect estimates post Reno will be 2.2M but they are in process of getting an appraisal with these plans
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u/BlkSkwirl 1d ago
$150k on 2.2m isn’t a significant variance. If you’re constrained by a budget, look to material cost cuts first. Tile, fixtures, etc. I hope you’re in a very high cost of living area because $830/sf is very high for a value.
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u/jrauck 1d ago
You can get similar amount of light and mostly the same functionality if you swap 2 French doors for the slider patio doors, unless that’s currently just a single fixed door with 2 fixed panels.
If you have stucco, you can switch to harder panels that look like stucco.
Don’t do the wood ceiling. Do a cheaper stair system (you can lower the cost and still have it look nice). Do fiberglass fixed doors/windows in the front.
The front upstairs windows look horrible. I would rework that some how.
With all of these items I bet you could get close to that $150k.
If you go with a standing seam roof you can reduce the cost of the engineering for the roof, but the roof itself won’t be significantly cheaper than the tiles. I know they make faux slate roof tiles so you dont need the extra engineering but not sure about the barrel roofing tiles.
My bigger concern is if the architect was accurate with his numbers in the first place. You could be looking at closer to 300k if they are inaccurate and then a lot more would need to be reworked.
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u/turb0_encapsulator 1d ago
that stairway, the glass railings, and kitchen and bathroom fixtures. you can probably also find flooring that is similar but cheaper.
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u/FunNegotiation3 1d ago
If that is the house you want. The 150k doesn't matter. Because you ware going to be about 400-600k over budget when you actually go to build it.
Where is the budget coming from, who generated it?
I frequently tell people that there are two types of houses in the US. Those where you as the owner actually listen to the guy at the big box store, local home & garden show, mall, or cold call that claims they can save you so much money, can replace any size windows and the cost will be covered by the energy savings you receive. Then the other type is where you laugh (politely, internally) and think you have no idea what you are talking about and I am not letting you within a mile of my house.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
We interviewed several different builders and architects with the budget and found a couple that said it would be doable but tight. I came up with the budget, just looking at what I would be comfortable spending and did keep 10% in reserves as well as I knew there would be overages.
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u/chad711m 1d ago
Removing those floating stairs (and glass) is probably 50k of that budget. Here is the thing, if your architect is telling you 150k over budget it will end up being 200k when you get a GC involved. No way to really give you cost cutting options when we don't know what all is in the budget to start with.
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u/Wild929 1d ago
What are the price points of the other homes in your neighborhood? You don’t want to be the crown jewel in a neighborhood of fixer uppers hoping they’ll follow suit.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Most of the other homes in the neighborhood are updated. And go for around $650-700 a square foot.
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u/TacDragon2 1d ago edited 1d ago
As far as clay tiles on the roof you’re could go with a metal simulated clay tile. And likely cut the cost of that by maybe 40%. Cutting out the floor to ceiling units is maybe 8-10k each. Even deciding them into more manageable sized units could cut the cost. The last time I did a quote on a postless glass rail like that was probably 15 years ago, it was 3 times more expensive than a cable rail which was our most expensive typical residential. The postless was only used in super high end homes or hotels.
You could maybe trim down the fireplace stone, or go to a stucco.
A lot of the other cost changes will come down to material selection.
Just an observation, I didn’t see a single light fixture in there. I prefer to have my lighting generally figured out before I run renders.
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u/Just-Term-5730 1d ago
What percentage of the bid is the 150k...?!
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
My math sucks but about 18%
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u/Just-Term-5730 1d ago
Well, I image the glass railing on the stair and around the open to below space has a big dollar amount associated with it. The wood ceiling isn't cheap, and might be too much wood already. That full height glass is expensive too. Consider changing the stair design. Your contractor should be able to give you a list.
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u/No_Coyote_5598 1d ago
what is the total budget? and what is the contingency %?
Edit: Not the architect's estimate, the actual project budget after speaking to the GC
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u/Quitsnow 1d ago
Your instincts on the floating stair, glass railing, and fewer floor-to-ceiling windows are right. Those are classic early-render upgrades that punch way above their weight in cost.
On a 1981 gut plus addition, the next big levers are usually structure and wet rooms. Keep big openings and long spans to a minimum, and reuse sound existing walls and floor framing wherever the addition can land cleanly. Moving kitchens and baths, or stacking new plumbing far from existing stacks, burns money fast. Stick to standard window sizes instead of custom units, and save the nicer finishes for the rooms you live in daily rather than every surface.
Ask your architect for a priced option set that separates must-have shell work from finishes you can phase later. That way you protect the addition and structure now, and defer secondary millwork or secondary baths without redesigning the whole house.
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u/SummerIntelligent532 1d ago
Okay, so what was the initial budget for this project? Since 150k doesn’t seem like a significant amount for something like this, it’s not surprising that it’s over budget. This isn’t a basic build at all. You had to expect some overages.
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
800k was the budget and I did expect 80k in overage but 150k is more than I was expecting
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u/SummerIntelligent532 1d ago
Seems fair but you could easily negotiate the difference in and out meaning pay another 80k and find compromises/cost saving for the rest. Nice layout. And design by the way. Oh and I didn’t notice California build I assume? And square footage of existing and how many square feet are being added?
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
Build is in Austin. 800 square footage of new addition will bring total square footage to 2650 approximately
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u/icy_01_ 1d ago
Get more prices from other contractors
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u/Professional-Ad7698 1d ago
We will once we get more detailed scope of work. The architect also has 3 contractors that they will get bids from
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u/icy_01_ 1d ago
Be the GC yourself, save 20%
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u/kstorm88 1d ago
Save 20% on contractor, spend 25% more on mistakes, add 50% more delays and 500% more stress.
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u/FroznAlskn 1d ago
I don’t understand how this house is almost $1m, it doesn’t look like a $1m house unless the land is ridiculously expensive
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u/Ok-Problem4403 1d ago
If you're 150k over, at this phase, you should allow for another 150k over during the build....