Another one of the frequently asked questions I receive is the one about Square Feet. "When you say a house is 2,456 Square Feet, is that the Living Area only or the Total Area including the Garage?" Well, it's generally referring to the Living Area only excluding all other areas. Now in 99% of the cases, if a builder told you they can build a home for, oh let's say $120.00 per square foot, they are talking about the Living Area given the fact that the non-living areas are about the same as most houses in your part of town. This doesn't mean Garages and Porches are Free. It's just that in the very beginning, all a Home Builder can do is give you this PRELIMINARY cost per foot to get you started. No Builder in his right mind will multiply the Living Area by a dollar figure and write you a contract to build. However, not all 2,456 square foot homes price out the same. That's why your builder will bid out or cost out the plan you brought to him. He might build an Excel spreadsheet of all the costs, add in his percentage, then give you a proposal to build your home. I'm referring to the Builder as "Him". I do have a few Lady owned home building companies I do business with. ;)

Another confusing thing about the square footage of a home is whether or not the area of the brick veneer, or brick ledge, is included in the area calculations of the Living Area or is it a separate line item. I have been working with north Texas home builders for three decades and we have always included the brick in the square footage. Then one day we began selling our designs on the Internet and low and behold, many of the builders in the states up north exclude the brick from the area tabulations. Typically, a 3,000 square foot two storey home might have about 130 square feet of brick ledge. This doesn't mean you add 130 to the 3,000 to come up with a 3,130 square foot home. A large part of the brick ledge also wraps around the Garage. So we need to approach each plan individually. The brick ledge is about 6" wide so 100 feet of brick ledge equals 50 square feet. Most of our plans include the brick ledge in the square footage. But, we can modify the plan either way.

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