how much to build a house 4 to 5 bedrooms in the hamptons? nothing to crazy.....an average house...not something in a magazine ...

$350psf + land

I have to disagree. We are building a 5 bed 3 bath right now. Including EVERYTHING (architect, structural engineer, septic, landscape etc, etc) it's way more than $350 per sq ft. It's more like $500. And that includes an Ikea kitchen - nothing special!

that is high and would then imply that building new makes no sense as you can buy current inventory at much less than that...ie no 4,000sf house should be less than $2mm before adding cost of land

You are basically correct AptBoy. A new 4,000 sq ft house of good construction (all in - including pool!) will cost you about $2M (excluding land). In case, I estimate that I would break even if I chose to sell after construction (excluding transaction costs). But of course I will have the house that I want in every respect, which is of value to me. Nowadays you cannot buy land, build a house on it and flip it for a profit unless you are a builder (in which case you are building at a substantial discount).

new construction in sag harbor, less than 500sf including land...

http://streeteasy.com/hamptons/sale/134710-house-sag-harbor-sag-harbor

or this nice one in EH...less than 500sf

http://streeteasy.com/hamptons/sale/525144-house-21-diane-drive-east-hampton-northwest-east-hampton

or SH...

http://streeteasy.com/hamptons/sale/520348-house-4-white-oak-lane-southampton-north-southampton

or this in SH

$2.295mm
5,600sf
1.5 acres

http://streeteasy.com/hamptons/sale/563937-house-southampton-village-southampton

These are all homes built by professional builders on land that they themselves purchased. That is a totally different animal. I am talking about a regular person building a home using an unrelated third party builder. To er1to9 - of course there are lots of factors that go into how much a house can cost. But I promise you will be absolutely shocked at the actual cost no matter what. And remember - is addition to the contractor there are many, many third party costs. Good luck.

I am just saying that these new homes are less than $500sf, even if the land is free...so obviously the builders did it for less than $500sf, and this includes their profit, which is likely more than if they build directly for a customer...so I think $350sf if done right is doable

East Hampton - New World Home, a rapidly growing and award- winning producer of sustainable housing, has earned Platinum certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED® for Homes program for a home built in East Hampton, representing the first factory-built home in Long Island to earn this designation. Additionally, the Hamptons project is the first home of any type in Long Island to earn a Platinum rating without requiring the use of any renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, wind turbines or geothermal systems. In 2009, New World Home produced the first factory-built LEED® Platinum homes in New York and Georgia.

The financial benefits to building a New World Home are particularly relevant to the Long Island housing market, specifically the Hamptons, where it is extremely expensive to build a new home. "Taking into account the high cost of land and labor, many would perceive building one of the greenest homes in the country in this setting to be cost-prohibitive" says Tyler Schmetterer, CMO and Founder of New World Home. "It is a fundamental objective for New World Home to develop a housing solution with minimal up-front premium for green products and features. Currently, we're able to build at a cost competitive range of $180 to $250 per square foot versus $400 to $500 for a comparable quality site-built home in the Hamptons."

Regarding the listing at 4 White Oak Lane, tried to see it last summer, broker never showed up, went inside and saw that nothing was anywhere near completion, no walls, no floors, they are not even half done. Also, it's being built on wetlands and you cannot put in an in-ground pool. Perhaps that's why the price is lower.

There are short sales and foreclosures in the town of east hampton, in which the price of a house + land is LESS than the vacant land itself.

So should we reconsider the values of vacant land in the Hamptons now?

do you know where to look for these short sales?

You can build for under $250/foot.... I am. Just bid it out. And shop around for all your fixtures, tiles etc. You don't need to buy your fixtures from water works and ship in slabs of marble from exotic locations to have a cool house.

I agree with cnfdbyr. I never built a house out there, but when I was trying to figure out how much to insure the house for, a close friend who is a contractor said that it would cost about 200-250/ sq. ft to rebuild it. This does not take into account costs of things like septic tanks or running lines into barren land.

only someone with industry experience (interior designers, architects, builders) can build for under $300/sqft. this entails doing your own buys of materials, knowing how to shop close-outs, etc. a person without this experience and source knowledge would really struggle.

Point taken. I have a few close friends who are architects, and I know several builders. Real cost for most people is probably at least $350/foot, if not closer to $400.

I built my house in Sag Harbor for around $230psf, which included all permitting, site prep (septic, wells, wiring, line hookup, etc.), materials and labor. But then again, I GC'd the project myself. And as someone who had absolutely no experience in the building trade whatsoever, that was a bit of a mistake- I am still living with the legacy of unfortunate decisions... but you live and learn. My house is not exactly super high end, but it is ultra modern in style, featuring lots of glass, cedar and concrete. And I splurged a little bit on custom windows, glass railings inside/outside, European fixtures in the bathrooms and kitchen and "green" features such as a 4.6 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system on the roof and a ground-source heat pump. Still, considering all of the things that I had to re-do/undo, I think I did relatively well. I would say I need perhaps another $50 - 75K worth of work to truly finish the place to perfection (pool, additional landscaping, interior carpentry, etc.).

If I knew then what I know now, I could have probably gotten the costs down to around $200psf without sacrificing the level of finish. In hindsight, I had a lot of fun with my experience, but there were many sleepless nights, hurdles and endless months of frustration as well. This is not for the faint of heart, especially if you are not regularly on-site. Above anything else, before you even begin to seriously consider buying land, you need the following people in your life: 1) a master carpenter/jack of all trades and 2) a CAD software guru who can create/amend drawings on the fly without charging you an arm and a leg each time. You should also consider hiring a building consultant to help navigate you through the regulatory process (and both of the East End towns have horrific requirements).

Sometimes you can compromise. Buy and existing home on a lot you like and add on. Great bargains,and then you can revamp to your specs. Houses needing work are the best deal now.

Regarding New World Homes. Very Limited floor plans. I have checked them out. and when you add the cost for foundation and landscaping and pool in not as cheap as you think. Any pool backyard project with decking and nice landscaping etc,will set you back $75,000
You could rip out the interior of a home, do new foam in walls and all new geothermal and solar at the same time.this might cost $75,000 but think of this vs not having to do a pool or landscaping.

Anyone know some reasonable home builders for the hamptons?