How Much to Build a House in San Diego?
building a house in San Diego

San Diego in known for being one of the best places to live not only in the Southern California region, but in the entire West Coast. The climate, security and overall quality of life make it one of the finest cities in all the US. But how much does it cost to build a house in San Diego?

Living in San Diego is a dream for many people across the country. However, due to the geography of the place, constructions costs can be higher than average.

Also, the city has developed in many vocational areas, with a big background of tech, military and tourism industries. San Diego has it all, and, of course, that will impact the price of housing in the region.

So let’s discuss these prices as well as the aspects that influence it.

How Much does it Cost to Build in San Diego?

Talking about housing costs can be difficult. There are so many variables and differences between each home design that overall costs can be a difficult thing to pinpoint.

So first, let’s make some clarifications.

First, the cost of building a house is divided into two costs: hard costs and soft costs.

Hard costs are the cost of everything that is “tangible” in the project, like labor, materials and landscaping.

Soft costs are everything related to planning and permit, including acquiring the land, architecture fees, permits and licenses.

There are basically three tiers of house values you might be going for:

  • Value-Conscious House: which costs on average $200 per square foot.
  • Mid-Range Houses: costing anything between $375 and $500 per square foot.
  • High-End Houses: costing above $500 per square foot.

An average single home family in San Diego, of about 2,600 square meters, costs approximately $225 to $350 per square foot, but prices can reach as high as $576 per square foot when building luxury houses.

What Influences the Price of a House?

What influences the price of a house will always depend on the area we are talking about.

Mainly, what affects the prices more significantly is the land in which the house will be built. Things like size and characteristics of the land can great influence prices.

In San Diego, land is particularly expensive for three reasons:

  • Being on a coastal area, with the ocean right at the doorstep, there is not a constant flux of places available.
  • And the places that are available, due to the high demand in the area, are constantly disputed for, which increases the prices.
  • And even once land is acquired, the landscape can be particularly difficult. Again, being on a coastal area, there are several changes in landscape that needs to be done in order to create a solid foundation for a house.

As we previously mentioned, everything involving the land is considered to be a soft cost. So moving on to hard costs, the areas that are usually more expensive are the foundation, plumbing and roofing.

So let’s talk more in depth about hard costs.

Hard Costs to Build a House in San Diego

A good value to start thinking about the price of a house is $200 per square foot.

With this price you get a purely efficient focused home design, with no flaunt or luxury items. You can still customize some aspects, going safely between 5% and 10% above this budget.

The more luxury materials, customizations and architectural features you incorporate, the more the price goes up. Usually, just the choice of different materials alone can already surmount for $375 per square foot, which is already considered a semi luxury house.

And if you want to go full luxury, be prepared to spend over $500 per square foot in your house. This cost is divided in luxury materials, high quality fixtures and completely customizable architectural choices.

There has been a recent spike in price in materials required to building a house. But even before that, what greatly affected the prices of building a house in San Diego were the fees and permits implementedby the city.

Those fees and permits enter in the soft costs category, so let’s expand a bit on that now.

Soft Costs to Build a House in Sand Diego

When building a house, there are city and county fees that you need to account for. When put together, these fees cost an average of $40,000. They account for park and recreation, drainage, water meter, grading, sewer, amongst many others.

In San Diego, permit costs vary depending on the area you are building. The most important permits to take into consideration are:

  • School fees: Usually not a big problem, costing between $3.50 to $4.50 per square foot.
  • Traffic fees: The difference of prices here really is actually uncanny. Depending on the area you’re building, the cost of traffic fees can be as low as $5, but in some areas it can reach up to $5,000, so be mindful of that.
  • Septic system: You have to have one, no way around it. Tie into the city water system can cost as much as $15,000.
  • Submitting a house plan to the county: Once your plan is done, you will also pay a fee to submit it to the county for approval. If approved, you have building permits, fire mitigations and inspection fees. Putting it all together, those fees cost around $10,000.

Do You Need Help Acquiring a House in San Diego?

san diego house build render

Now that you know, approximately, how much it costs to build a house in San Diego, you can check your budget, start your planning, and weighing all your options.

If you need help finding the right land, neighborhood, or even considering buying a house instead of building one, why not get in contact with us here at The Real State Jedi?

Our combined 12 years of experience can help you locate the best possible real estate deals around.

Give us a call or text us right now at (619) 431-4133. We would be happy to hear from you.

We aim to be your go-to real estate team for life!

Let us know how we can help you!