What is actually in the price
of a new home.

Walk through a model home in South Jersey and ask what it would cost to own that house, on a particular lot, with the things in it you just saw. The answer is built from separate pieces, and new construction is easier to shop once you can see each piece on its own.

The first piece is the base home. That is the floor plan as the builder offers it, built to the specification it comes with and nothing added. Each builder sets its own standard package of finishes, fixtures and features that a plan includes at its base price, and those packages vary from one builder to the next. Two plans advertised at similar base numbers can include quite different things, which is the first reason a straight comparison between two communities can mislead.

The second piece is the lot. The same house does not cost the same on every homesite, and the difference runs both directions. A larger lot, a corner, a wooded backyard, a cul de sac position or a walkout basement grade will tend to carry more than an interior lot on flat ground. Sometimes a homesite carries less because of its shape, its access or what sits behind it.

The third piece is the upgrades, which are the choices made when the contract is signed and afterward at the design center. Flooring, cabinetry, countertops, lighting, a finished basement, a wider driveway, a structural option that changes the plan itself. This is where the widest variation between two houses of the same model comes from, and it is also the part with the most room to decide what actually matters to you. Structural choices generally have to be made earliest, because they change how the house is framed.

Other things can move a new construction number too, depending on the community and the stage it is at, so treat those three as the shape of a price rather than a complete list. When you are comparing two communities, we can line up what each base home includes, what the homesite adds and what the model home would cost with the upgrades it shows. Anything about what a specific contract says is a question for a licensed New Jersey attorney.

General information about how new construction pricing is put together. What a specific builder includes at base price, and what a particular homesite carries, varies by community. Written by Justin Kelly, NJ Real Estate Broker-Salesperson. More at South Jersey New Construction.