Square Footage vs Price Listings

[Cerys]

In a few seasons I would like to start the process of building a house for Cerys. The idea is in its infancy and a lot of money will need to be accrued, so it's all in the very beginnings of the planning stages.

I've gone through the Price List and jotted down the base listing to all the rooms and buildings I would like, as well as acreage. My questions for this thread though are the options available to changing the square footage of the rooms listed, and therefor changing costs. For example, a simple bath is 200 sq/ft and 200 GM. For Cerys I would want only 100 sq/ft, so with changing the size of the room does it also lesson the cost of building it?

Does less square feet equate to a cheaper room? And once a room is built can you later upgrade it, let's say to elaborate, and save money in doing so?

[Duuma]

Yes, this is how it works to the best of my knowledge. A bath that costs 200gm for 200 sq/ft would cost 100gm for 100 sq/ft, and the same would apply to other rooms.

[Cerys]

Thank you for clarifying for me.

[Firenze]

Hello Cerys!

You are correct, changing the size of the room whether increasing or decreasing will change the price. So if you can't exactly afford an elaborate space and want to upgrade later that is always an option. In the Price List under the Land and Buildings section there is some really good information, don't know if you've read it yet or not.

To help explain it, the ground floor will include all materials, anything above or below you'll need to purchase the square footage (the room itself) and the walls, building materials will effect the cost of the footage depending on the material you use. If you're only building on one level then the materials cost will be included with the initial pricing but if you add levels to the house then that's when you also have to purchase the walls in addition to the footage. (It's the same if you build down, i.e. basements.)

Something good to keep in mind when you build too, if you purchase everything you're wanting upfront you'll get a 25% discount! So if you buy the cottage and then add on your rooms the overall total of everything will get the discount. You can't apply it to updates later though unfortunately

Another good way to get a discount is to buy a used structure and then put additions onto it. So say you buy a cottage and add a bathroom, but the building was used, you can still get 25% off. The only bad thing is that the original structure has to be new for the first discount to be applied, so it won't work if you add on to used structures, you'll only get the 25% off for it being used. However, this could be good to because you could find a used structure for a cheaper price rather than buying brand new and then get the discount on top of that.

Low quality structures get a whopping 50% the total but you'll have to get ST approval to buy it and it might require IC threading, but that's some potential skill building and writing!

Ok so back to the hard part; if you want to purchase a new cottage from stone and it's two levels, a bathroom and kitchen on the main floor and the bedroom on the second floor, here is how it will look:

(First Level)
Simple Cottage = 500GM / 400sqft
Simple Bathroom = 200GM / 200sqft
Simple Kitchen = 800GM / 400sqft
--------------------------------------------
1500GM

(Second Level)
Simple Bedroom = 350GM / 400sqft
Masonry for Second Level (Stone) = 1600GM
-----------------------------------------------------
1950GM

Overall cost = 3450GM - 25% or 862GM and 5SM =

2587GM and 5SM

Note: The cost of the stone is 4gm/sqft so you would multiply the 400sqft to get the 1600GM.

Also the discount will be the same if the cottage were used, but you can ask an ST and they might be able to let you know how much the structure costs so there is potential for a lower price for the cottage.

I hope this helps when you're trying to figure out what the actual costs are going to be when you build your house. If you have any questions please feel free to drop me a line and I will do my best to help.