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What is the realistic cost to build a house from scratch in the GTA?

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  • Jun 8th, 2022 1:37 am
Deal Addict
Apr 18, 2005
3799 posts
1991 upvotes
Mississauga
dflamez wrote: I was envisioning 2 ensuites, 1 jack and Jill on second floor, and one full bath in basement. Building in core Toronto so the property footprint is already small (33ft frontage). Realistically not expecting massive room sizes
Idk.. your going to be at almost 1M and then have 3 bedrooms that are probably 10x10.. you need space for closets.. and then will u even be able to fit a queen bed in there ??
Most 4br houses just have the master ensuite and another shared bath for the other 3 bedrooms.... just throwing it out there.

I'd take a decent size bedroom over another bathroom that I have to keep clean .... but then I'm still yelling at the kids to clean up their rooms !!
Newbie
User avatar
Oct 9, 2018
93 posts
27 upvotes
TLSRULZ wrote: Idk.. your going to be at almost 1M and then have 3 bedrooms that are probably 10x10.. you need space for closets.. and then will u even be able to fit a queen bed in there ??
Most 4br houses just have the master ensuite and another shared bath for the other 3 bedrooms.... just throwing it out there.

I'd take a decent size bedroom over another bathroom that I have to keep clean .... but then I'm still yelling at the kids to clean up their rooms !!
That is actually good to know. 1ensuite and then 1 shared bathroom upstairs is better than 3 bathrooms upstairs? (Due to increasing footprint of bedrooms?)
Deal Fanatic
Aug 29, 2011
9926 posts
7089 upvotes
Mississauga
Unless you're wanting to run a B&B there's no need for each bedroom to have its own bathroom.
Deal Addict
Apr 18, 2005
3799 posts
1991 upvotes
Mississauga
dflamez wrote: That is actually good to know. 1ensuite and then 1 shared bathroom upstairs is better than 3 bathrooms upstairs? (Due to increasing footprint of bedrooms?)
I am in a 3400sqft 5 bedroom house and I only have 1 ensuite and 4 bedrooms share a single bathroom... but 2 bedrooms are 16x12 and other two are 13×12 ..... yes it would have been nice to have another bathroom upstairs but really we love having the bigger bedrooms and closets .. one of the reasons we bought this house.
Deal Addict
Jun 26, 2019
2130 posts
1854 upvotes
GTA
dflamez wrote: That is actually good to know. 1ensuite and then 1 shared bathroom upstairs is better than 3 bathrooms upstairs? (Due to increasing footprint of bedrooms?)
Yeah, I think for 2200sqft, its going to be tight to have 3 bathrooms upstairs. Maybe if can somehow have next to no hallway, but still probably better to have 1 master + 1 family bath, and a bigger family bath if you want.
Sr. Member
Mar 25, 2002
698 posts
132 upvotes
We did a complete gut of a detached in the highpark area.

Since there's only 2 of us we added an ensuite to the master converting it from a 4 bedroom to a 3 bedroom with another washroom for the other two bedrooms.

Also, people saying 250-300 are low balling it.

Plan for $350 + 10% contingency
Member
Nov 27, 2020
315 posts
657 upvotes
TLSRULZ wrote: 4 baths... are you planning on ensuites for each bedroom.. with 2200sqft your bedroom might be small of you can even fit it at all.
This the what HGTV and this generation has normalized - a bathroom for every room in the house. Even garages and sheds need a powder room these days and anything less in "unliveable".

"entertaining" > liiving
Deal Addict
Apr 10, 2017
3047 posts
2146 upvotes
TLSRULZ wrote:
Idk.. your going to be at almost 1M and then have 3 bedrooms that are probably 10x10.. you need space for closets.. and then will u even be able to fit a queen bed in there ??
Most 4br houses just have the master ensuite and another shared bath for the other 3 bedrooms.... just throwing it out there.

I'd take a decent size bedroom over another bathroom that I have to keep clean .... but then I'm still yelling at the kids to clean up their rooms !!
Yes.

Im right at 2000

Upper level:

2 rooms at 10 x 10s
1 room at about 12 x 13
Masters I think 12 x 15 + ensuite
1 common 4pc bath

I have another 3pc bathroom in the basement, so total 3.5 baths

No way Id fit another bathroom upstairs. Id have to tear 1 room and at that point I think it's overkill. If it was a must 1 10 x 10 room will be split between my Masters and a 4pc bath.
Jr. Member
Sep 24, 2010
179 posts
47 upvotes
Toronto
I'm going through this as I type and I caution you to be prepared for surprises, stress, possible divorce, sleepless nights and financial ruin. If you have someone reliable then that's a huge plus. Some costs are if you're in Toronto and need to go to committee of adjustment there's a $3600 fee for new build. Permits were $10k and almost $20k for new water and sewer lines. $3k deposit to city for damages and that doesn't include tree protection costs. Survey, lot Grading Plan preparation, boundary control tie-in, office calculations and field stake-out for excavation, pinning of the exterior foundation corners; and disbursements are about $10k. I had a surprise shoring bill of $30k. Architect is about $20k but they're a full service architect. Demo is about $25k. And basically the rest is up to you. Lumber is stupid expensive but is slowly dropping in price. Covid will definitely cause financial stress. Builders risk insurance was $4k for 13 months and then got a surprise bill for $1k a month since. You read correct $1k a month. I would wait at least a year so until things go back to normal. I won't get some of my appliances till next year. My 10 month build is going on 25 months and if I'm lucky will be ready for Christmas. I hope you don't have to rent as you can imagine my costs have doubled for that and counting. Best of luck.
Member
Dec 29, 2019
304 posts
162 upvotes
Toronto, Ontario
fly_life wrote: I had a surprise shoring bill of $30k. [...] I won't get some of my appliances till next year. My 10 month build is going on 25 months and if I'm lucky will be ready for Christmas. I hope you don't have to rent as you can imagine my costs have doubled for that and counting. Best of luck.
Hahaha me too.. $20k for my skinny semi's reno issues. Shoring bill solidarity..

I wanted to and was ready to start reno in 2019 but guess what soon happened and held up permits until the end of 2020.. Then lumber prices and all the rest lol.

I am praying most things will be done by October as I am out of money and the rest will have to wait until next year (fence, new stairs, real curtains/shades).
Deal Addict
Dec 5, 2009
2789 posts
3289 upvotes
I’m in the same boat. Driveway will have to wait, so will fence, and any type of landscaping. And that’s after cutting costs wherever we could on the interior finishings.
Jr. Member
Sep 24, 2010
179 posts
47 upvotes
Toronto
Alpine84 wrote: I’m in the same boat. Driveway will have to wait, so will fence, and any type of landscaping. And that’s after cutting costs wherever we could on the interior finishings.
Same here! You get killed with so many unexpected bills that you can't make it to the finish line and to add insult to injury you have start downgrading your finishes because you're tapped out of money.
Deal Addict
Dec 5, 2009
2789 posts
3289 upvotes
fly_life wrote: Same here! You get killed with so many unexpected bills that you can't make it to the finish line and to add insult to injury you have start downgrading your finishes because you're tapped out of money.
I know the “infrastructure” (ie. plumbing/electrical/framing/structural/etc) of the house is the most important part, but ***** I never thought I would have to spend so much money, look at the finished white walls, and ask yourself where the **** did the money go lol.

I guess moral of the story is, lower your expectations or get ready to spend far more than you imagined. Oh, and stay away from Pinterest for ideas lol. So much of the stuff you see online isn’t approved for use in Canada.
Deal Addict
Jun 26, 2019
2130 posts
1854 upvotes
GTA
Alpine84 wrote: I know the “infrastructure” (ie. plumbing/electrical/framing/structural/etc) of the house is the most important part, but ***** I never thought I would have to spend so much money, look at the finished white walls, and ask yourself where the **** did the money go lol.

I guess moral of the story is, lower your expectations or get ready to spend far more than you imagined. Oh, and stay away from Pinterest for ideas lol. So much of the stuff you see online isn’t approved for use in Canada.
For what I see a lot of the time it is either inexperienced contractors or contractors who mislead people so they commit to the project at a lower price without knowing how much the full scope and consequently cost of the project is.

One major caveat to this would be covid - no one could really forsee lumber doing this in 2018 or 2019, and random extras due to that and other supply shortages are unfortunate.

This said, basically all the costs @fly_life listed are basically what I would expect going into the project, perhaps the $30k shoring is expensive, but there likely should have been something for this and a 20% contingency should cover you in this case. I've got to the point where I can basically guess the soil conditions in most neighborhoods I work within a 80% degree of accuracy. Yes, I still need a geotech report, and other things investigated, but I have a general idea of what the subsurface conditions are going to look like going into it.

The rest of the costs all make sense to a certain degree, CoA and Minor variances are generally a cash grab, but I digress. The insurance is also another unfortunate part of covid that was unexpected.

Speaking as someone who works in land development, I think the thing that I'm surprised about the most is when people fall out of their chairs when they see the sewer/water connection costs in TO, and then say "I didn't budget for that!" or "That's outrageous". Yes, $20k is a good chunk of change, but the fees for a single house are generally standardized and listed online for all to see, IE:

To disconnect residential sanitary sewer service connection in road allowance $1,460.04
To install new residential sanitary sewer service connection in road allowance $11,830.46
Disconnection Fee for any residential water service less than or equal to 25 mm $1,398.35
Installing 25 mm new residential water service and meter $5,480.30

So it's crazy to me, that professionals who are actually budgeting and building the house either don't know about stuff like this or just fail to mention it. Surprise!

Anyways, I could keep ranting, but I digress.

It sucks for everyone who got screwed over by covid pricing, supply shortages, etc, and have been displaced from their brand new house for longer or have had to made cuts.

On the other side of things we have good shortages of contractors which leads people down to the path of less reputable companies that don't really know what they are doing or will mislead you to get business, which just makes the situation worse.

I should also note there are lots of good contractors, who price stuff property and are honest. Feel I need to say this so people don't come back and say "contractors aren't all bad". Yes, I know that.

/end rant.
Newbie
Sep 14, 2019
9 posts
3 upvotes
Sorry to bump an old thread, but was wondering what prices are like now. Lumber and supply prices have been all over the map in the past year, so wondering what prices those are building now are getting. Is it still roughly $300/sq ft for a mid-range build?
Deal Addict
Jun 26, 2019
2130 posts
1854 upvotes
GTA
avir87 wrote: Sorry to bump an old thread, but was wondering what prices are like now. Lumber and supply prices have been all over the map in the past year, so wondering what prices those are building now are getting. Is it still roughly $300/sq ft for a mid-range build?
Sure, carry $300/sqft with a 20% contingency at least. Can probably get something built for that price.

Ultimately everything depends on what you're building and where you're building it. Number of bathrooms, how much you dump into a kitchen, if you go with standard siding vs nice stone/brick will all have huge impacts on the costs. A large house with larger bedrooms, family/living/dining rooms, etc, will drive the average down. A smaller house with more bathrooms and nice bath/kitchen finishes will shoot your average up really high. Most builders say you should build at least 2500++ sqft if you're going custom as you dont save much for going smaller.

Could be anywhere from $250-500/sqft. Granted, at the 250/sqft end, I don't know why you would build a house as opposed to just buying something on the market. As always, finding the land is the harder part, in most cases you're already paying for a house to some degree.

I would start with an architect or design build firm, pay them money for a design based on your budget and see what you can get.
Deal Addict
Dec 26, 2017
1018 posts
790 upvotes
Following to see what comes out of this and what changes

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