New Home in Charlotte NC

New Home in Charlotte - Building Costs

Summary: Here is an estimate of building costs for a new home in Charlotte NC for an owner builder.

Hi Carl,

I'm planning on building a 3023 sq ft house.

It has a 3 car garage attached. 2100 first floor 900 second and 893 garage.

I'm planning on subbing out the basement, framing, roofing, drywall, and siding.

I Will be doing plumbing and electrical, and painting.

What do you think the cost will be completed using average interior materials.

Thanks, Ryan

Hi Ryan, your question mirrors many others. 

I'll try and answer your question and come as close as I can to what you described.

You didn't include as much info as necessary to get real accurate, but you'll get the idea.

I picked a home plan from Cool House Plans that came close to the size you mentioned and that had a 3 car attached garage.


COOL House Plan ID: chp-25180




1st Floor 2130 sq. ft / 2nd Floor 1006 sq. ft. Total sq. ft. 3136

To estimate cost, I'll use the cost to build calculator  found on Construction Estimating Software.

Using this foundation shape on the cost to build calculator, and the special features of the house found on coolhouseplans.com and a random city & state, Charlotte, NC area,  I came up with $344,813 for an owner/builder.

That’s an approximate cost of $110 per sq. ft.

I determined this amount by deducting the General Contractor’s Markup of $50,307, equipment rental, and allowed only $2,000 for builders risk insurance.

So Ryan, Using your house plan, run it through the same process I did with this house plan and just deduct the labor cost from the categories you plan on doing yourself.

This will give you an approximate idea as to how much your labor will be worth. Until you actually start getting bids and entering them into your own spreadsheet (see my spreadsheet page for FREE spreadsheets), it will remain approximate.

Everyone should keep in mind that the cost to build for this example, or any house plan, can vary considerably depending on actual bids for labor and material, design, and the quality of construction.

Any questions, please let me know, Carl Heldmann