Plumber here. In the area I live, the 30k only covers the fees that the municipality charges to process your paperwork for sewer and water. It's about 15k each. Then the process of running the drains and water TO the house are around another 20-30k for the plumber, not including piping IN the house.
probably not just paperwork. I'd say its for the connection from the street pipes to your home which has to be put in underground. Also a contribution to the cost of the installation and maintenance of the main pipes, etc.
Oh my God….. I’m going to be forever traumatized. I’m building a house, and the Green Mountain water tap fee was like $16k.
I try to pay it, and they’re like, “Oh, we’re actually only the distributor. Denver water is the supplier, so you have to go pay their $5k tap fee before we’ll let you pay ours.”
And you might think, “$21k? Well it could be worse”. IT IS. That water needs to go somewhere. Welcome to the Sewer tap fee my friends. We are just talking paperwork. Not anything being physically done. Oh, and they conveniently decided NOT to put a sewer line at the street in front of the house. It was a 198 foot run to the closest sewer that had to be excavated, all at a 1/4” slope. That cost more than a nickel.
And now that the water and sewer lines are run, they keep sending me sewer bills. I’m like, “Guys…nothing but the underground plumbing is run yet. There is literally nothing going into that sewer line. How about you take it out of that $30k I gave you for sending like five emails?”
This is all before the cost of hiring plumbers to do the underground, interior, or trim plumbing.
Supply and demand. Monopoly on the supply, and you literally die without it.
Definitely! Never understood the people that bitch about IKEA having terrible instructions too; they're the easiest and clearest directions ever like wtf are you doing
I rather enjoy putting IKEA furniture together. My gf just stares in amazement when were putting together matching dressers and I'm finished while she's still trying to find out where the cam lock nuts go.
[IKEA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUPu_ipbVB0) - Just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen
IKEA - Selling furniture for college kids and divorced men
Everyone has a home
But if you don't have a home [you can buy one there](https://www.travelandleisure.com/culture-design/ikea-tiny-home-project-escape-vista-boho-xl)
As a Swede I don't understand how y'all struggle with that. Nobody I've ever known has had an issue yet it seems Americans can't fucking figure it out. And it's not like there's a language barrier, considering the instructions are literally just pictograms
This has always bothered me too. US tv shows always make this "joke" and no one i know can relate to it, it's literally so simple to assemble that a 5 year old can do it.
I don’t think anyone really struggles with it - they just don’t like doing it. There are tons of jokes that started as a joke and people keep dragging them along years later long after they stopped being funny.
Exactly this. This is very much not like Sears back in the day sending you mostly-pre-fab homes you just need to bolt together... you're purchasing the blueprint and all the bare materials necessary to build the house - lumbar, nails, wiring, piping, windows, doors, etc.
Interesting, sure. But as far as a price goes, nah not so much. Materials are like 1/3rd the cost of the house. The rest is labor, land, taxes, insurance, etc
Almost all land. 10 experienced contractors could build that in 3 weeks (call it 60k in labor). Estimate 40k in site prep and foundation, we're at around $190,000. That house in the pic is like 600k to a million.
When I moved 1.5 yrs ago the house we sold was 1080sqft ranch no basement. Built in 1963. In a metro Detroit suburb very close to some shitty high crime areas. It sold for nearly $300k. People are desperate for homes.
It still matters where it is. I live in a low crime suburb of St. Louis Missouri and bought my house 3.5 years ago for $140,000 and might get $210,000 now for 3 bed 2 bath 1200 sq foot.
In central California closer to the coast, that will run you about 550k right now if you're not near a city center. Closer to town it'll be pushing 800-900k easy. Source: I live in a 1200 square foot home 12 miles outside of town in central California. On the coast? This would be well over a million
You’re about dead nuts on for site prep and foundation. Excavation, footing, walls, basement, and two car garage run $45k for a house this size where I’m at. In a good part of town a 1/8th acre lot is $45k and 1/4 can run $70k or better for “premium” locations aka near a man-made pond with a shitty water feature
Lol that house would be $250k to $300k in a lot of Minnesota.
Location location location.
It’s only a million if you live in a really high demand area.
> That house in the pic is like 600k to a million.
What if I told you this sentence is complete nonsense without knowing where that house would be located
My home from 1919 is a sears prefab. It has a second floor and first floor addition but nonetheless the history behind the first level is awesome. It came right off the rail way that was laid from Chicago out into the burbs. It's now a biking/walking path called the prairie path.
That is not how Sears houses were done. The lumber for framing was precut, but they were anything but pre-fab. Most buyers still needed to hire a contractor to build them.
Sears was the same, it was piles of lumber, and boxes of nails and fittings and whatnot you had to frame them yourself. I have worked on a handfull of them over the years, did a massive expansion and reno to a 1917 two story 5 bedroom sears home a few years ago.
Sears homes were not like Ikea furniture that you just snapped together. You still had to do all the assembly work yourself. [Here's an actual Sears ad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Sears_Magnolia_Catalog_Image.jpg), and you can see that it's just the materials, not pre-fabbed.
I grew up in Aurora, IL which I believe has the largest collection of Sears homes anywhere(don't quote me on that lol, but we have a lot). They have a trademark look that is now nostalgic
Sears was famous for its mail order catalog. It was Amazon before there was an internet. You get the catalog, send in your money and what you want via the post office, and receive your stuff in the mail or via another parcel carrier from Sears. You could order a pre fab house or just clothes and toys from them, without having to leave your house/apartment (though you had to build the house so I guess you have to leave for that).
The house my parents bought in 1961 is a 1930 Sears house.
It's stenciled on attic boards.
Also, the entire house, everything, is Southern Yellow pine.
That stuff is so hard, that you have to pre drill a hole or blunt the nail tip or the nails just bend.
Southern Yellow pine is also known as turpentine pine. You can smell it if you cut or drill it.
Even today, much of the #1 structural lumber you can buy is Southern Yellow Pine. Once it dries out it is much harder than your standard framing lumber, but still nothing like the old growth you are talking about from the 30’s.
Most of my home town was built from sears kit homes because it was close to where the railroad workers worked. The houses are painted different but when you walk in the houses are pretty much the same layout
If Sears had embraced the internet more (it actually co-owned one of the first commercial ISPs - Prodigy - before deciding that there wasn't a future in it, which lol) and sold shit online early on, it likely would have been been even larger than Amazon is now.
I’m literally doing this but instead of a house its a 40x50 2story tall (no actual floor, just tall enough to fit a 2nd floor) metal building. 35,000 for the building, and 80,000 or so pouring my own pad and doing utilities myself. It’s not particularly hard especially since they (the company) are erecting the main frame and roof. Wiring a home is dead simple, so is the interior framing. Plumbing, zoning and permits are the hard part.
Yep. That is what OP is talking about. It was very very common to do this earlier in the 19th century. [Workers Cottages](https://workerscottage.org/whatis.html) in Chicago were built from kits. You can find them in mostly in our older neighborhoods.
Pre-covid they actually only did 11% off everything about 1 week a month and put various items on sale the other 3 weeks. Now it seems like they do the 15% off bag sale in early Jan, then run 11% until Thanksgiving.
I could swear they've always offered the 11% rebate. It has always been a mail in rebate though. Being mail in means that few ever actually use it. That means it costs Menards little as few actually use it.
Funnily enough I think a few homes very similar to this have just been built in my area.
Edit: looked it up on maps, its *extremely* similar. Has a few aesthetic modifications done but the house is structurally identical.
I used to build homes like this for people. It's all delivered in bulk. You have to cut and build it. Not to mention the foundation doesn't come with it either. They just figure out the materials for you.
My ex's parents did a log cabin that way. Although that was more like Lincoln Logs.
I'd imagine it's mostly the skill of the builder if it would fell not quality or anything, as it's going to likely be just normal-ass materials being used for the construction.
My parents built two projects like this about 10-12 years ago. By built, I mean they hired teams to do it.
It’s definitely not something that a random person can just do. The logs are extremely heavy (basically whole tree trunks) and you have to lift them pretty high to build the whole house. So is definitely isn’t a trivial task and you’re most likely going to need a small crane to get the job done. If you work in construction, it should be a breeze if your friends want to help you out and you can rent a crane.
If I recall correctly, the bulk of the construction for the larger house took about two weeks after the foundation was completed and cured. Interior framing took longer to do. So, in that respect, it’s definitely somewhat simpler than a typical home.
I don’t remember how the numbers played out exactly, but basically was about the same cost as a regular home, when all is said and done. It’s pricier in terms of load bearing materials, but cheaper in terms of man-hours for construction. It’s pricier in terms of upkeep (you do need to refinish the exterior every 5-10 years), but you save quite a bit on the cost of thermal insulation. Depending on where you live and how you plan your project, you can also end up saving quite a bit on hvac over the lifetime of the house.
In terms of quality and longevity… One of the houses was sold to a lovely family that we still keep in touch with. My parents visited them recently and the house still looks as good as it did when it was built. If the foundation was properly built and you keep up with refinishing the exterior, there’s really not a lot that can go wrong with a bunch of pine tree trunks that are neatly stacked on top of one another. The other building doesn’t get nearly as much use but it too is in perfect condition… An upside with log cabins is that there’s a lot less sheet rock involved, so there’s much less potential for things to get mildewy, which prevents that “vacation home smell” from forming.
I personally love log cabins. But a really important thing to consider is that the material really drives the aesthetics of the interior of the home. With a typical home, you can generally fine tune things to look exactly how you’d like. With a log cabin, every room that has an exterior wall is going to have at least one full wall of wood, which some people can definitely get tired of.
The draw is that most anyone can cut a 2x4 and nail it to another one, but it takes some work and skill to actually plan a house, figure up all the materials you need, have a design that meets code, etc. A lot of the work is done for you.
It’s like the meal prep services that just show up at your door pre portioned and ready to cook vs. planning your own menus, making a shopping list, going shopping, going back to get what you forgot, then you can start cooking and hope you have the right amount of each ingredient.
my brothers GF used to work at menards and said that on regular occasion, ordinary-looking people would come and casually drop a quarter million at the checkout line for their home projects. mid-western wealth is interesting
In the Midwest regular folks have wealth because COL is so low they can actually save up
Meanwhile in urban centers you live paycheck to paycheck with a 150k gross salary
Yup. Its incredible the wealth you can snowball in a medium sized city in the midwest if you're educated/know a trade.
Basically all my friends own a home that were $200k or less, have well paying jobs like 75k+/yr (although most are in 6 figs now territory since covid), and we are all 30y.o to boot.
Like if you want that patagonia vest tech bro life, just go to the midwest, its way easier to get to lol
Dude, I live in LA with no family money on much less tha 150K with a family and we are by no means paycheck to paycheck.
If you are living paycheck to paycheck on 150k you are terrible with money.
Or the foundation, driveway, water hook up, sewer hookup/septic, district fees, permits, landscaping.
So this add and a couple hundred Gs and you got yourself a house!!
Menards is cool because you can build pretty much anything this way. They have a design space on their website that will calculate the materials and then send them to you with instructions (kind of like how you can design your kitchen on IKEA's website, but with Menards it's the pre-cut, un-prepped materials).
You just need to have the stuff to actually *use* the materials (like saws and stuff... but iirc they even tell you if you'll need stuff and of course options of which ones to buy). We used the design space for a fence for our backyard.
If you find yourself in Grand Haven, Michigan for a lovely day at the beach, get you some pronto pups and take the trolley for a tour of the town. It’s like $1 and there are a bunch of those Sears catalog homes on the tour.
I recently cataloged one of their.....catalogs, lol. (I'm a librarian.)
I believe it was from the 1920's or so? I had fun looking all through it, but I was surprised that any model with a bathroom only had one, on the second floor with the bedrooms, and quite a few models didn't have bathrooms at all! I would have thought that the late 20's was past the outhouse stage.
One single-story model had one of the worst layouts I've ever seen - three bedrooms, and every single one opened directly onto a main room - living room, dining room, kitchen!
I can only imagine the struggle that subsequent owners of these models have gone through, trying to do necessary renovations.
You can get factory built homes. They're partially constructed in the factory rather than just having the materials sent out. Here's a tour of one from This Old House. [https://youtu.be/Ex4KnO\_uk\_g?si=kOB8VvQQqnoUpBat](https://youtu.be/Ex4KnO_uk_g?si=kOB8VvQQqnoUpBat)
There's an older clip from the early 90's I can't find any more where the same show went to a house building factory. While the factory linked above barely has anybody working in it, the 90's factory had lots of people because it was all mostly manual labor.
I lived in a 2 story my family built from Sears. Took about 2 weeks if I remember with 8 people. The quality of our work…. Was lacking in some areas haha. Staircase was way too steep and small. Bathroom door couldn’t open all the way. Shower was like a cramp port o potty. No central air or heating. But it’s still standing to this day with little work.
Don't forget to fill out the rebate form! That's the price after the 11% rebate. We're talking like ~$10K if you forget.
And it can only be spent at Menards. I think it would be funny to use it every time I need a pack of screws.
TBH, I'm obsessed with making sure I send mine in before the deadline. That reminds me . . .
They've only rejected one of mine that was like 2 years old, otherwise I send them in whenever I get a good pile. I tried to argue the one that was 2 years, but they said since it was over a year they couldn't. I wouldn't do this for a big rebate, but for the $1 or $2, I'll send those in late whenever.
Pretty close to this one. 12x10 spare bedrooms and 14x12 MBr. You can see the floorplan on the listing https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/books-building-plans/home-plans/shop-all-home-projects/29411-daniels-1-story-home-material-list/29411/p-1524465112572-c-9919.htm
Mine too. 1170 sq ft. Built in 1973. Master bedroom has an ensuite and is (barely) big enough for a king-size. Second bedroom comfortably big enough for a double (or barely a queen), and third bedroom sized for a single bed.
Original owners raised 3 kids in this house.
I don't get why people are all surprised that the price of something sold at Menards would only include the price of the thing they are selling and not the other stuff you need to use it or assemble it. I bought a ceiling fan for $100 but they wouldn't assemble it or install it for that price!
They are selling the materials in a package to build that house.
[Here it is on their website.](https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/books-building-plans/home-plans/shop-all-home-projects/29411-daniels-1-story-home-material-list/29411/p-1524465112572-c-9919.htm?exp=false)
EDIT: [They have a $10 million house?](https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/books-building-plans/home-plans/shop-all-home-projects/29302-wallingford-2-story-home-material-list/29302/p-4364363664139732-c-9919.htm) That has to be a pricing mistake.
https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/books-building-plans/home-plans/shop-all-home-projects/c-9919.htm?queryType=allItems&Spec_SquareFootageRange_facet=Over+2300+Square+Foot
IDK where you see millions of dollars?
$184,933.45 each ($64.51 /sq.ft)
(1) define forever. I usually get mine 4-8 weeks after sending it in. (2) If you shop at Menards a lot, who cares. I paid $17 for a $250 closet organizer cashing in a bunch of rebates
It’s not a “scam” the way they market it is a lie though. It’s not a rebate. It’s essentially a coupon or gift card. Rebates are funds sent to you usually in check form and doesn’t require return business at the place to use it.
I need a new grill, some cheese curls, ice cream, motor oil, light bulbs, cleaning supplies, and enough lumber to build a 30x25 ft deck. Do you know a place?
I worked for Menards for 4 years up until last winter. They are all about selling the whole project. That's part of why the rebate is an in-store credit. They want to be with you for the entire duration of whatever it is you're working on.
Hell, even if you buy all your fixtures, fittings, and appliances and have money left over, Menards has a non-perishable and frozen grocery section (at least mine do). If you're within driving distance, you can find plenty to spend that $11k on.
It's materials only, you'll have to do all the assembly yourself or hire someone to assemble it for you. It also does not include a foundation, and of course you'll need to buy the land too, and furnishings. It's very much not a completely built house.
Yup. I have a coworker considering doing that. It's not gonna happen because that is only the cost of materials. Figure x3-x4 the listed cost in land, sewer, water, labor, foundation, and site grading.
\*Some assembly required.
*land not included
*sewage, gas, plumbing, and electric lines not included
50% off your choice of shitty neighbor.
Buy one get one free deal mandatory.
\*did you want water? +30k
Plumber here. In the area I live, the 30k only covers the fees that the municipality charges to process your paperwork for sewer and water. It's about 15k each. Then the process of running the drains and water TO the house are around another 20-30k for the plumber, not including piping IN the house.
It seriously costs 15k each to process paperwork? What a fucking scam
probably not just paperwork. I'd say its for the connection from the street pipes to your home which has to be put in underground. Also a contribution to the cost of the installation and maintenance of the main pipes, etc.
That's still 300k cheaper than the closest house to me
Oh my God….. I’m going to be forever traumatized. I’m building a house, and the Green Mountain water tap fee was like $16k. I try to pay it, and they’re like, “Oh, we’re actually only the distributor. Denver water is the supplier, so you have to go pay their $5k tap fee before we’ll let you pay ours.” And you might think, “$21k? Well it could be worse”. IT IS. That water needs to go somewhere. Welcome to the Sewer tap fee my friends. We are just talking paperwork. Not anything being physically done. Oh, and they conveniently decided NOT to put a sewer line at the street in front of the house. It was a 198 foot run to the closest sewer that had to be excavated, all at a 1/4” slope. That cost more than a nickel. And now that the water and sewer lines are run, they keep sending me sewer bills. I’m like, “Guys…nothing but the underground plumbing is run yet. There is literally nothing going into that sewer line. How about you take it out of that $30k I gave you for sending like five emails?” This is all before the cost of hiring plumbers to do the underground, interior, or trim plumbing. Supply and demand. Monopoly on the supply, and you literally die without it.
Believe it or not, comes with all interior plumbing and electrical, just not hookup to grid
\*\*Foundation not included.
*labor for children 5+
It’s ok, just park your home in the Walmart parking lot
Codes? Where we're going, we don't need _codes_!
“Well, we worked so hard to build a little house Together In the snow or the rain or the ice cold wind Whenever”….
What about my lumbago!?
Uncle ain't got shit when John managed to build a house under these conditions https://youtu.be/Brp5iwZoCoc?si=tTJ_t5uzxuuoEeyT
Damn I loved that homebuilding part of the game, especially after all the heavy shit that the main story was up until then
DIY plumping, electrical, and gas, but hey, we have walls and cupboards for you!!
Isn't that how Sears houses worked too though? I assumed that's what this was in reference to
Now, this is a [room with electricity](https://comb.io/HGmILu) ...
great deal if you can do that stuff.
If you thought building IKEA furniture was hard, wait til you see this house.
Am I weird? I LOVE putting together ikea furniture. Like, I'd do it for free because it's so much fun.
Definitely! Never understood the people that bitch about IKEA having terrible instructions too; they're the easiest and clearest directions ever like wtf are you doing
Never underestimate the amount of people who are incapable of following basic directions and are oblivious to that fact
Same!! I considered a job there years ago because I enjoyed it so much.
I rather enjoy putting IKEA furniture together. My gf just stares in amazement when were putting together matching dressers and I'm finished while she's still trying to find out where the cam lock nuts go.
[IKEA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUPu_ipbVB0) - Just some oak and some pine and a handful of Norsemen IKEA - Selling furniture for college kids and divorced men Everyone has a home But if you don't have a home [you can buy one there](https://www.travelandleisure.com/culture-design/ikea-tiny-home-project-escape-vista-boho-xl)
As a Swede I don't understand how y'all struggle with that. Nobody I've ever known has had an issue yet it seems Americans can't fucking figure it out. And it's not like there's a language barrier, considering the instructions are literally just pictograms
This has always bothered me too. US tv shows always make this "joke" and no one i know can relate to it, it's literally so simple to assemble that a 5 year old can do it.
I don’t think anyone really struggles with it - they just don’t like doing it. There are tons of jokes that started as a joke and people keep dragging them along years later long after they stopped being funny.
It’s Menards, and it’s just all the materials to build the home
Exactly this. This is very much not like Sears back in the day sending you mostly-pre-fab homes you just need to bolt together... you're purchasing the blueprint and all the bare materials necessary to build the house - lumbar, nails, wiring, piping, windows, doors, etc.
Sears homes were sold as kits which were just the materials loaded into a freight car. They were not pre-fab.
I think the wood was all precut.
You can’t buy unprocessed lumber from Menards as far as I’m aware
When I bought a kit shed from them the lumber was pre cut and assembled into frame sections, but no sheathing or siding was cut
It was but definitely not pre-fab
That’s still pretty incredible
Interesting, sure. But as far as a price goes, nah not so much. Materials are like 1/3rd the cost of the house. The rest is labor, land, taxes, insurance, etc
Almost all land. 10 experienced contractors could build that in 3 weeks (call it 60k in labor). Estimate 40k in site prep and foundation, we're at around $190,000. That house in the pic is like 600k to a million.
>That house in the pic is like 600k to a million. That house could be anywhere from like $120K to $1.5M depending on where exactly it is located.
The house is worth more or less the same amount, it's the land that varies in price.
If you pay for people to build it, no its not. You'll find someone to build that house a lot cheaper in Missouri than you will in the bay area.
what if they hire the guy in missouri to come build it in the bay area. Throw him 100$ for the gas money
Congratulations you've discovered the foundation of the modern economy
Don’t forget about the fees to register his business in CA, and fees to get licensing and insurance that covers the new location.
[удалено]
600k to a million? Unless you're damn close to a particularly expensive city, that's just absurd.
Where do you live that 3/2 1200 sqft is 600k- $1mil?
When I moved 1.5 yrs ago the house we sold was 1080sqft ranch no basement. Built in 1963. In a metro Detroit suburb very close to some shitty high crime areas. It sold for nearly $300k. People are desperate for homes.
It still matters where it is. I live in a low crime suburb of St. Louis Missouri and bought my house 3.5 years ago for $140,000 and might get $210,000 now for 3 bed 2 bath 1200 sq foot.
I really should have bought a whole neighborhood for 20k back in 2010.
So Livonia ? You can cruise telegraph or any of the mile roads and see very wealthy and very shitty neighborhoods within ten miles
West coast, usa
The entire western US
Ontario, Canada
Anywhere in Coastal California will do it.
I live in Los Angeles, that house is easily $1million+ in any neighborhood that’s not a total shithole
Washington DC
In central California closer to the coast, that will run you about 550k right now if you're not near a city center. Closer to town it'll be pushing 800-900k easy. Source: I live in a 1200 square foot home 12 miles outside of town in central California. On the coast? This would be well over a million
You’re about dead nuts on for site prep and foundation. Excavation, footing, walls, basement, and two car garage run $45k for a house this size where I’m at. In a good part of town a 1/8th acre lot is $45k and 1/4 can run $70k or better for “premium” locations aka near a man-made pond with a shitty water feature
**as long as there are no required step by step inspections. 3 weeks is a pipe dream if you are dealing with building departments.
Lol that house would be $250k to $300k in a lot of Minnesota. Location location location. It’s only a million if you live in a really high demand area.
Dude it's less than a 1200sqft house. I'm guessing you're from some large costal city?
> That house in the pic is like 600k to a million. What if I told you this sentence is complete nonsense without knowing where that house would be located
My home from 1919 is a sears prefab. It has a second floor and first floor addition but nonetheless the history behind the first level is awesome. It came right off the rail way that was laid from Chicago out into the burbs. It's now a biking/walking path called the prairie path.
I run the Praire Path often and love all the houses in the area! Knowing others can be prebafs makes it even better
That is not how Sears houses were done. The lumber for framing was precut, but they were anything but pre-fab. Most buyers still needed to hire a contractor to build them.
Shhhh, how dare you interrupt the circlejerk.
Sears was the same, it was piles of lumber, and boxes of nails and fittings and whatnot you had to frame them yourself. I have worked on a handfull of them over the years, did a massive expansion and reno to a 1917 two story 5 bedroom sears home a few years ago.
Shhhhh your a basement dweller’s dream of living 80 years ago, where they just had to order a house off the Sears catalog and life was sooooo easy.
Sears homes were not like Ikea furniture that you just snapped together. You still had to do all the assembly work yourself. [Here's an actual Sears ad](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Sears_Magnolia_Catalog_Image.jpg), and you can see that it's just the materials, not pre-fabbed.
That is exactly how Sears homes came...
I grew up in Aurora, IL which I believe has the largest collection of Sears homes anywhere(don't quote me on that lol, but we have a lot). They have a trademark look that is now nostalgic
What was sears like back in The day?
Sears was famous for its mail order catalog. It was Amazon before there was an internet. You get the catalog, send in your money and what you want via the post office, and receive your stuff in the mail or via another parcel carrier from Sears. You could order a pre fab house or just clothes and toys from them, without having to leave your house/apartment (though you had to build the house so I guess you have to leave for that).
The house my parents bought in 1961 is a 1930 Sears house. It's stenciled on attic boards. Also, the entire house, everything, is Southern Yellow pine. That stuff is so hard, that you have to pre drill a hole or blunt the nail tip or the nails just bend. Southern Yellow pine is also known as turpentine pine. You can smell it if you cut or drill it.
Even today, much of the #1 structural lumber you can buy is Southern Yellow Pine. Once it dries out it is much harder than your standard framing lumber, but still nothing like the old growth you are talking about from the 30’s.
Think ikea furniture except it’s a house
And everything that goes in the house, and the garage, and the yard
Probably better quality too since simpler and higher grade lumber but less energy efficient. Edit: oh, and the lead paint and pipes…
Most of my home town was built from sears kit homes because it was close to where the railroad workers worked. The houses are painted different but when you walk in the houses are pretty much the same layout
Sears was Amazon in catalogue form. Everything you could ever want or think to want listed for sale.
If Sears had embraced the internet more (it actually co-owned one of the first commercial ISPs - Prodigy - before deciding that there wasn't a future in it, which lol) and sold shit online early on, it likely would have been been even larger than Amazon is now.
I’m literally doing this but instead of a house its a 40x50 2story tall (no actual floor, just tall enough to fit a 2nd floor) metal building. 35,000 for the building, and 80,000 or so pouring my own pad and doing utilities myself. It’s not particularly hard especially since they (the company) are erecting the main frame and roof. Wiring a home is dead simple, so is the interior framing. Plumbing, zoning and permits are the hard part.
Please say that autocorrect actually changed lumber to lumbar lol. That's the most autocorrect thing ever. It's gotta be.
The autocorrect was just offering support.
Autocorrect always has your *back*
All rise for the Midwest national anthem **SAVE BIG MONEY AT MENARDS**
Yep. That is what OP is talking about. It was very very common to do this earlier in the 19th century. [Workers Cottages](https://workerscottage.org/whatis.html) in Chicago were built from kits. You can find them in mostly in our older neighborhoods.
Lmao, 11% rebate in green, instantly recognizable.
The never ending sale of 11% off rebate.
Pre-covid they actually only did 11% off everything about 1 week a month and put various items on sale the other 3 weeks. Now it seems like they do the 15% off bag sale in early Jan, then run 11% until Thanksgiving.
I could swear they've always offered the 11% rebate. It has always been a mail in rebate though. Being mail in means that few ever actually use it. That means it costs Menards little as few actually use it.
Funnily enough I think a few homes very similar to this have just been built in my area. Edit: looked it up on maps, its *extremely* similar. Has a few aesthetic modifications done but the house is structurally identical.
So this and a couple of guys from TaskRabbit and we’re set?
I used to build homes like this for people. It's all delivered in bulk. You have to cut and build it. Not to mention the foundation doesn't come with it either. They just figure out the materials for you. My ex's parents did a log cabin that way. Although that was more like Lincoln Logs.
Was the cabin nice, do the houses feel like good quality? Or is it really up to the skill of your builder how well it turns out?
I'd imagine it's mostly the skill of the builder if it would fell not quality or anything, as it's going to likely be just normal-ass materials being used for the construction.
100% normal-ass materials. Source: spent around $50k at Menards in the last couple years while building a house.
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My parents did lok-n-logs. I would recommend fully researching and understanding the treatment and care of log homes long term though.
My parents built two projects like this about 10-12 years ago. By built, I mean they hired teams to do it. It’s definitely not something that a random person can just do. The logs are extremely heavy (basically whole tree trunks) and you have to lift them pretty high to build the whole house. So is definitely isn’t a trivial task and you’re most likely going to need a small crane to get the job done. If you work in construction, it should be a breeze if your friends want to help you out and you can rent a crane. If I recall correctly, the bulk of the construction for the larger house took about two weeks after the foundation was completed and cured. Interior framing took longer to do. So, in that respect, it’s definitely somewhat simpler than a typical home. I don’t remember how the numbers played out exactly, but basically was about the same cost as a regular home, when all is said and done. It’s pricier in terms of load bearing materials, but cheaper in terms of man-hours for construction. It’s pricier in terms of upkeep (you do need to refinish the exterior every 5-10 years), but you save quite a bit on the cost of thermal insulation. Depending on where you live and how you plan your project, you can also end up saving quite a bit on hvac over the lifetime of the house. In terms of quality and longevity… One of the houses was sold to a lovely family that we still keep in touch with. My parents visited them recently and the house still looks as good as it did when it was built. If the foundation was properly built and you keep up with refinishing the exterior, there’s really not a lot that can go wrong with a bunch of pine tree trunks that are neatly stacked on top of one another. The other building doesn’t get nearly as much use but it too is in perfect condition… An upside with log cabins is that there’s a lot less sheet rock involved, so there’s much less potential for things to get mildewy, which prevents that “vacation home smell” from forming. I personally love log cabins. But a really important thing to consider is that the material really drives the aesthetics of the interior of the home. With a typical home, you can generally fine tune things to look exactly how you’d like. With a log cabin, every room that has an exterior wall is going to have at least one full wall of wood, which some people can definitely get tired of.
Was it lok-n-logs? That’s why my parents home was. Decent house build wise, but the maintenance on log homes is seriously underestimated.
Huh, I don't see the benefit then. If it was pre-cut I can see the draw. Just buying materials can be done at any local hardware store.
The draw is that most anyone can cut a 2x4 and nail it to another one, but it takes some work and skill to actually plan a house, figure up all the materials you need, have a design that meets code, etc. A lot of the work is done for you. It’s like the meal prep services that just show up at your door pre portioned and ready to cook vs. planning your own menus, making a shopping list, going shopping, going back to get what you forgot, then you can start cooking and hope you have the right amount of each ingredient.
I didn't think about the code aspect. Having pre-approved plans would be a giant benefit.
Having plans stamped by an engineer is a big plus. Easy to get permitted and ready to go. Save a lot of time figuring out bill of materials also
my brothers GF used to work at menards and said that on regular occasion, ordinary-looking people would come and casually drop a quarter million at the checkout line for their home projects. mid-western wealth is interesting
What are they supposed to look like? Jeeves with a monocle and cravat?
In the Midwest regular folks have wealth because COL is so low they can actually save up Meanwhile in urban centers you live paycheck to paycheck with a 150k gross salary
Bro, we have urban centers in the Midwest too 😭
Yup. Its incredible the wealth you can snowball in a medium sized city in the midwest if you're educated/know a trade. Basically all my friends own a home that were $200k or less, have well paying jobs like 75k+/yr (although most are in 6 figs now territory since covid), and we are all 30y.o to boot. Like if you want that patagonia vest tech bro life, just go to the midwest, its way easier to get to lol
Dude, I live in LA with no family money on much less tha 150K with a family and we are by no means paycheck to paycheck. If you are living paycheck to paycheck on 150k you are terrible with money.
Was it for sure for their own home? Or could it be some small business contractor who is buying materials for a number of jobs at once?
and I was probably in line behind those people
Is just for the material of the house. Doesn't include labor and the land
Or the foundation, driveway, water hook up, sewer hookup/septic, district fees, permits, landscaping. So this add and a couple hundred Gs and you got yourself a house!!
GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGG This should be enough then?
Actually yea thats about 200K, which is about how much the rest of the house will cost to build and the land to live in it on.
Yeah that’s sort of a given, it’s a kit home. They’ve been sold in catalogs like these since the 1800s, op just seems surprised they still do that.
Umm...duh? Since when does anything you buy at Menards include a place to put it and someone to install it for you?
Menards is cool because you can build pretty much anything this way. They have a design space on their website that will calculate the materials and then send them to you with instructions (kind of like how you can design your kitchen on IKEA's website, but with Menards it's the pre-cut, un-prepped materials). You just need to have the stuff to actually *use* the materials (like saws and stuff... but iirc they even tell you if you'll need stuff and of course options of which ones to buy). We used the design space for a fence for our backyard.
I kinda want to try that now. Thansl
Imagine getting an 11K Menards rebate
You probably easily need that $11k for all the other stuff that’s not included in the kit.
Whoops you grabbed the wrong rebate form. Oh well
There’s only one form now. Not that it matters since 11% goes on for a majority of the year and there aren’t any other good rebates since Covid.
Some friends got that on their pole barn that they got from Menards. Paid for a whole new bathroom.
Many many years ago sears used to sell homes as kits that they would deliver to you. to assemble.
I lived in one built in 1956, they're ok but the prior owners added additional rooms to it, so perhaps a bit small.
If you find yourself in Grand Haven, Michigan for a lovely day at the beach, get you some pronto pups and take the trolley for a tour of the town. It’s like $1 and there are a bunch of those Sears catalog homes on the tour.
Aladdin was another big name in that game based out of Bay City.
I recently cataloged one of their.....catalogs, lol. (I'm a librarian.) I believe it was from the 1920's or so? I had fun looking all through it, but I was surprised that any model with a bathroom only had one, on the second floor with the bedrooms, and quite a few models didn't have bathrooms at all! I would have thought that the late 20's was past the outhouse stage. One single-story model had one of the worst layouts I've ever seen - three bedrooms, and every single one opened directly onto a main room - living room, dining room, kitchen! I can only imagine the struggle that subsequent owners of these models have gone through, trying to do necessary renovations.
You can get factory built homes. They're partially constructed in the factory rather than just having the materials sent out. Here's a tour of one from This Old House. [https://youtu.be/Ex4KnO\_uk\_g?si=kOB8VvQQqnoUpBat](https://youtu.be/Ex4KnO_uk_g?si=kOB8VvQQqnoUpBat) There's an older clip from the early 90's I can't find any more where the same show went to a house building factory. While the factory linked above barely has anybody working in it, the 90's factory had lots of people because it was all mostly manual labor.
I lived in a 2 story my family built from Sears. Took about 2 weeks if I remember with 8 people. The quality of our work…. Was lacking in some areas haha. Staircase was way too steep and small. Bathroom door couldn’t open all the way. Shower was like a cramp port o potty. No central air or heating. But it’s still standing to this day with little work.
Save big money at Menards
Must be Menards, I see that 11% rebate.
Plumbing, electrical, appliances too The savings will always come right back to you You'll save big money You'll save big money When you shop Menards
Every eleven minutes
My nards
I fuckin love Menards lol
You don’t build a barn!
What do you think this is, 1785? You don’t raise a barn!
Don't forget to fill out the rebate form! That's the price after the 11% rebate. We're talking like ~$10K if you forget. And it can only be spent at Menards. I think it would be funny to use it every time I need a pack of screws. TBH, I'm obsessed with making sure I send mine in before the deadline. That reminds me . . .
They've only rejected one of mine that was like 2 years old, otherwise I send them in whenever I get a good pile. I tried to argue the one that was 2 years, but they said since it was over a year they couldn't. I wouldn't do this for a big rebate, but for the $1 or $2, I'll send those in late whenever.
I'd rather spend a year of my life putting this together than the next 30 years working off a mortgage.
My grandparents bought their two story, four bedroom, one bathroom home for $700 from a sears catalog. Things still standing.
A three bedroom 2 bath at 1200 swift is very small rooms
That's about what my house is. The two side bedrooms are about 10x10. The main bedroom is probably 16x16.
Mine too. Built in ‘77. 1375 square feet plus a garage. The bedrooms are roughly that size.
Pretty close to this one. 12x10 spare bedrooms and 14x12 MBr. You can see the floorplan on the listing https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/books-building-plans/home-plans/shop-all-home-projects/29411-daniels-1-story-home-material-list/29411/p-1524465112572-c-9919.htm
Mine too. 1170 sq ft. Built in 1973. Master bedroom has an ensuite and is (barely) big enough for a king-size. Second bedroom comfortably big enough for a double (or barely a queen), and third bedroom sized for a single bed. Original owners raised 3 kids in this house.
My house is about 924 square feet with 3 beds 2 baths. It's a single wide sure but it all fits. That's another 300 square feet.
That’s how they built it before WW2
Save big money, at Menards!
I don't get why people are all surprised that the price of something sold at Menards would only include the price of the thing they are selling and not the other stuff you need to use it or assemble it. I bought a ceiling fan for $100 but they wouldn't assemble it or install it for that price! They are selling the materials in a package to build that house.
It's reddit, rushing to nitpick the most obvious, inane bullshit is a sport here. We literally award points for it, in fact.
Likely not even everything you need, just the superstructure and a cut list. No excavation, no foundation, no labour, no tools etc.
hell of a rebate
[Here it is on their website.](https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/books-building-plans/home-plans/shop-all-home-projects/29411-daniels-1-story-home-material-list/29411/p-1524465112572-c-9919.htm?exp=false) EDIT: [They have a $10 million house?](https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/books-building-plans/home-plans/shop-all-home-projects/29302-wallingford-2-story-home-material-list/29302/p-4364363664139732-c-9919.htm) That has to be a pricing mistake.
https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/books-building-plans/home-plans/shop-all-home-projects/c-9919.htm?queryType=allItems&Spec_SquareFootageRange_facet=Over+2300+Square+Foot IDK where you see millions of dollars? $184,933.45 each ($64.51 /sq.ft)
Save big money at Menards!
Menards, and you are just buying the martials to build the house.
Don’t forget - you have to send in for the 11% rebate which will (1) take forever and (2) will have to be used in store at Menards. Dumb!
I'll gladly use that rebate to reward myself with some new tools for that garage I just built!
(1) define forever. I usually get mine 4-8 weeks after sending it in. (2) If you shop at Menards a lot, who cares. I paid $17 for a $250 closet organizer cashing in a bunch of rebates
My husband does the rebates all the time, it's not a scam.
It’s not a “scam” the way they market it is a lie though. It’s not a rebate. It’s essentially a coupon or gift card. Rebates are funds sent to you usually in check form and doesn’t require return business at the place to use it.
You say that like Menards isn't the ultimate one-stop shop here in the midwest.
I need a new grill, some cheese curls, ice cream, motor oil, light bulbs, cleaning supplies, and enough lumber to build a 30x25 ft deck. Do you know a place?
Tell you what bud, not only that you can get your Christmas shopping done early while you're at it.
That's the rub. You now have $11,000 to spend at MENARDS...
Buy your home appliances there after you build it.
I worked for Menards for 4 years up until last winter. They are all about selling the whole project. That's part of why the rebate is an in-store credit. They want to be with you for the entire duration of whatever it is you're working on.
Hell, even if you buy all your fixtures, fittings, and appliances and have money left over, Menards has a non-perishable and frozen grocery section (at least mine do). If you're within driving distance, you can find plenty to spend that $11k on.
If you just built a house I'm sure there will be a lot of other things you need to buy to go with it.
Is it sad that I took one glance at that and instantly knew it was Menards?
May I ask if that really is for a whole home? I’m in Australia and ours start at about $300k for a house to build.
No it doesn't include the foundation, water, or electric hookup.
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And someone to put it there, or you do it yourself if you have the tools
It's materials only, you'll have to do all the assembly yourself or hire someone to assemble it for you. It also does not include a foundation, and of course you'll need to buy the land too, and furnishings. It's very much not a completely built house.
SAVE BIG MONEY AT MENARDS….
I LOVE that the 11% off rebate works on buying a Menards house…still best deal in town
Yup. I have a coworker considering doing that. It's not gonna happen because that is only the cost of materials. Figure x3-x4 the listed cost in land, sewer, water, labor, foundation, and site grading.
I never knew that was a thing until this post
It's the price of the materials only.
Menards rebates are not cash rebates. You get in store credit. Also, there is a wee bit more to building a house than just materials.
Welcome to the Midwest
How does all of that fit into the Menards bag?
Menards is fucking wild
I just want to know where a 3bed 2br is going for 89k LOL!
On a plot of land you already own
I have a house that was bought from a Sears catalog around 100 years ago. Nice hardwood floors still.