This should clear up a bit of the math (as well as a general walkthrough) on the game Build-a-Lot. When all else fails, I’m also attaching a bit of a cheat to open up “casual mode” as well as making all the scenarios accessible at the same time. General rules of thumb:
- It is almost always better to flip your house at 2 stars than 3 stars if you want to just sell it.
- 4 Stars are more profitable on the smaller houses.
- The percentage on the overall value of house that goes into rent increases when you add stars.
- On a Tudor:
- Base house: 3.16%
- 1 Star: 3.45%
- 2 Stars: 4.4%
- 3 Stars: 6.35%
- On a Colonial and Tudor, flipping the house at 3 stars will gain you LESS net profit than if you did it at 2.
- If you need to HAVE a specific house at the end of a scenario, it’s always cheaper to build your own than buy one.
- The above applies to any house. Including lot fees.
- For example, in the “build 5 Tudors” scenario, at basic (no discount) construction costs, building a Tudor costs $55K. If you bought it, it costs $150K. If you buy a Rambler, demolish it, and then build on top, it still only cost $80K. How does that work? When you buy a house, you’re paying $25K of it on the lot. So it’s only $25K extra to buy a house and demolish.
- Always flip your first house. It’ll give you enough startup funds to pay for materials and whatnot. In later scenarios, keep in mind that the most logical progression is:
- Build a Sawmill
- Spend $75k on materials
- Build a workshop
- Build a bank, set it to donate
- Hire a worker if you have to, and build the most expensive house you can afford.
- upgrade the house to 2 stars if Rambler and mansion, 4 stars everything else if you can afford it. NEVER sell anything at 3 stars.
- flip it
- Buy materials at the cheapest bulk rate
- Hire some workers and build the most expensive houses you can
- upgrade those to 4 stars if you plan to keep them. Rent is proportional to the money you spend on it by %.
- Upgrade and inspect houses in between rent periods. As soon as that dollar sign goes cha-ching, click on upgrade. That should keep you from missing payments.
Here’s a table detailing the math. The cost of the houses does not take into account the number of builders needed, bulk / sawmill discounts, or the fact that you almost never get the asking price.
Now, onto the big stuff. Really stuck on a level? Well, there is no difficulty level setting, and it can get pretty hard. So here’s how to open up all the scenarios – don’t go around changing the score though – that isn’t what this is about.
1. Search for the file buildalot.ini – don’t forget to check “search system folders” and “search hidden files and folders” as well as “search subfolders”.
2. Double-click on the file and it should open up in a plain text editor like notepad.
3. Find your profile name. That’s the name you gave the game when you boot it up. Mine’s Sally. You only have to change values after [User 0] and before [User 1].
4. Now, look for “LevelStatus” followed by numbers. 0 means you haven’t played it yet, 2 means you’ve passed, 3 means you experted it. Change them all to 3.
5. Now look for “LevelNumPlays” and change all of those to 1’s.
6. Change all the “CityGift”s to 1’s as well.
7. Change all the “CasualLevelStatus”s to 1’s.
8. Save the file.
9. Close everything and open the game. Now, when you click on the main screen, you should be able to access all the missions as well as all the casual levels.
September 22, 2007 at 4:42 am
Sally, please help!!!Idid everything you said, about build-a-lot, but how can i play levels 36 and 37?
September 22, 2007 at 11:03 am
There aren’t levels 36 and 37 – I think that it was meant to be included but was dropped. There ARE only 35 levels.
September 26, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Ok… Thank u.Maybe will be build-a-lot 2. 🙂
September 29, 2007 at 1:28 pm
Ok I have a question on Summit Ridge, level 29.. Anyone have a hint on how to clean up all the lots? Rid them of no houses at all?
Thank you
September 29, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Peg, the only way is to buy them all and take them all down. Hard mission – took me a few tries, but definitely possible. Make sure you have lots of crew.
September 30, 2007 at 8:17 am
I have the costmart blueprints in my toolbar, but it keeps saying i dont have enough money to get them…yet i have the required amount of money…has anyone else got them?
October 4, 2007 at 11:17 am
Hi. I’m stuck on level 29 Summit Ridge.
Sally, read your answer but still stuck since can’t never get enough money to buy them all on time and get the 5 million as well. Any hint?
October 4, 2007 at 11:18 am
Hi. I’m stuck on level 29 Summit Ridge.
Sally, read your answer but still stuck since can’t never get enough money to buy them all on time and get the 5 million as well. Any hint?
October 4, 2007 at 4:01 pm
In the buildalot.ini file, are the “HouseConstructed” lines the blueprints we have?
October 4, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Angie/ try this:
Build a sawmill
build a workshop
spend 75k on materials
spend 25k on worker
build an estate, upgrade to 2 stars, flip it
build get more workers and materials
build a bank, set to donate
build a mansion, flip it
get more workers and build castles, upgrade all to 4 stars and collect rent. Don’t forget to inspect.
Build a bank and leave that to collect interest
BUY BUY BUY. If you see it and can afford it, buy it, tear it down and build a castle, upgrade to 4 stars and let it sit. Don’t let your materials drop below 1000. If it’s going close to it, buy more.
Once you have 5 million, (and at that point $ are POURING in) get more workers and start tearing things down. Leave your premium properties and that bank set to donate LAST. If you have extra money, get more workers to work faster.
At the end of my game, with this method (and a lot of really fast clicking), I finished in expert time and had 8 million when it was all done.
Kristen / I have no idea. Go ahead and change them though – you can’t always change it back. 🙂
October 6, 2007 at 4:43 pm
EUREKA!
Thanks a lot Sally… followed your hints and did it
October 9, 2007 at 7:57 am
Blueprints.
Can you tell me Sally hoe you get the blueprints. When I have done this:
Build a sawmill
build a workshop
spend 75k on materials
spend 25k on worker
I have no money left. (I made blueprints for sawmill and workshop.
Thanks Eva
October 9, 2007 at 11:35 am
Eva, which level are you playing?
October 10, 2007 at 6:12 pm
why can’t a draft the blueprint for the costmart? its 200K which i have and it won’t let me.
October 16, 2007 at 2:10 pm
OK…I am STUCK on level 17-where u have to get the blueprint for the mansion and have 1000000 in rent and $…I have played it so many times the last few days I am SICK of this level…can someone PLZ give me a walk through on this?!? PLEASE…I feel like I have tried everything and I ALWAYS get close but always run out of time…PLEAS HELP!!
October 17, 2007 at 11:44 pm
Get a worker, buy extra mats, build an estate, upgrade to 2 stars, flip it. Draft. get more mats, build
October 18, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Does anyone know where I can download a free trial of Build-A-Lot that is based on number of uses before it expires. I tried to do the 60 minute one but I have to pause alot and I barely got a chance to really check it out. I thought I saw one with either 3 uses or 10 use trial period but I can’t find it now. THANKS!!! It looks like a great game kinda similar to sim city….
October 22, 2007 at 10:38 am
The only change I would make is to build a bank first. Immediate income on your money, 10,000 each run while building the sawmill and workshop. Just remember to set to donate once u build your first home. Extra income sure comes in handy for materials.
October 25, 2007 at 9:54 pm
I’ve found this works well on level 29.
First thing, build an estate. Whilst it’s being built, train 2 workers and then buy 100 materials. As soon as the estate is finished you should have enough to build a mansion. Flick the estate. so you should have $300k by then. buy 5000 material, then sell the mansion when that’s done. You should have around 650k. Build a castle, then sell the castle. I sold my castle for 960 and that put me on $1.415M. Then build 2 banks and an estate. Sell the estate. buy 100 materials and then build another bank. You won’t have to click the donate button on any of the banks. As long as you don’t own any properties then the banks can’t sting you for tax. Let your funds reach a comfortable 4 million. Now you have to pick up the cheaper tudors and estates one by one. By this time the interest that the banks are paying you should cover the costs of buying each house. With not much trouble you should watch the money climb to $5M. Keep it hovering around that mark. You might need 3 more workers because the buying and demolishing gets frantic at the end. I was left with 3 castles and 1 mansion and I had 6.73M in the bank. I did it super efficiently too! Good luck 🙂
October 26, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Has anyone experienced the game running really slow? When I get to the end of River Glen or start of Evergreen, I could brew a cup of coffee waiting on it to deliver materials. On the previous levels the hats are just zipping along but then it starts to bog down. I’ve tried cleaning out temps, defragging disk, etc. but nothing seems to work.
October 31, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I am stuck on level 18 (where you have to have 3 mansions on p. lots, I have tried and tried and can never get the rent up or enough money.
November 3, 2007 at 10:35 am
Is there anyway to skip a level in the .ini file?…I have perused it a couple of times but am stuck on level 32 (I have done it 6 times now)
I zipped right through every level before this (except level 16..that one I ended up doing, like 11 times)
I just can’t seem to quite make it too 500K rent, and have everything upgraded in time.
My typical pattern of start is:
Build a sawmill
Build a workshop
Buy 75K in materials
Train 3 workers
Build a Mansion (rent)
Upgrade 1* (rent)
Upgrade 2* (rent)
Flip for 684K or 648K
Buy 120K in materials
Build a Bank
Set to Donate
Build 2 mansions (rent *)
Upgrade 1* (rent)
Upgrade 2*, 3* (rent *during wait buy materials and train 3 new workers)
Permit, 4* (rent)
Inspect
Once I have around 15 workers I begin building 2 houses and upgrading them, buying the cheaper houses as fast as I can, inspect so they can earn money until I am ready to begin demolishing.
I someone has a tip either to skip this level (I have missed it by seconds every single time) or how to get past this freakin’ level
*phew* rant over.
November 3, 2007 at 11:43 am
Kyra, I don’t have time at the moment to pull up the level and play it again, but you could skip it. Just follow the ini edit instructions and change the status to 2 (that means you’ve passed it.)
btw 34 is a real doozy. 😉
November 3, 2007 at 8:58 pm
Thanks so much…I was really beginning to hate that level.
November 4, 2007 at 6:42 am
Well, sadly the changing of the two didn’t work since I was in career mode.
But the next time through I managed to get through.
Oddly enough, 34 I breezed right through…I seem to be one of those people who only has trouble on the level no one else has trouble on.
On 34 I just began creating castle, mansion, castle, mansion, etc. Upgrading and inspecting to 4*. And buying up all the property with an Tudor and down in price, and demolishing it and putting up more expensive property. Then I bought up Estates and mansions and upgraded them all to 4*
At 6 million I started selling off castles.
I just knew whatshisface was going to show up and make another demand than just the 10mil.
Lucky me, I started selling the most expensive first and had 7 four star mansions when he asked for five.
As soon as the balloon popped up I had met all the goals and passed the level.
I am heading out to level 35….anyone know what mid-level demands they make on you on this one?
November 5, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Thanks for all the great tips, has helped a lot, but I’m on the last level, 35 but I CANNOT raise the 15 million dollars. I can get the 500 thousand in rent, but how to raise the 15 mill? It would be no problem with more time but I always run out of time.
November 5, 2007 at 7:18 pm
ok i must be stupid or something. I cant get past level 25. can someone please help?
November 10, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I know that the museum was the very last thing I built. I spent my time building up houses, upgrading until my rent was around 300K. Once my rent was up I took some of my lower profit houses and sold them. Used my extra money and bought the blueprint and built the museum within the last few seconds, up until those last few seconds I think I had either a 4* mansion or a 4* castle sitting on the property.
I hope that helps.
November 18, 2007 at 12:04 am
Hey,
I noticed that both chris and madison have asked the question, but their was no response. How can you get the blueprints to the cost-mart? They are 200K, and it still tells you that you don’t have enough money to draft the blueprint. I even tried 2mil and it still says the same thing. What do we need to do to be able to build the blueprint?
November 18, 2007 at 11:08 am
I can’t solve level 35! I’ve tried building two banks and everey thing in between. Anybody got any suggestions? Thanks in advance.
November 18, 2007 at 1:32 pm
I didn’t write this. I just have it saved in my clipmarks.
“Level 35
Build estate upgrade 1 start, sell
Build Saw Mill
Buy 5000 materials, build workshop
Train 6 workers
Build estate & sell
Build castles on all lots except 1 for the marina upgrade & inspect them all
Build bank and donate as soon as 1 castle is complete
Sell 1 castle (for cash to buy lots)
demolish small houses as soon as you have the materials/workers available to build castle on lot
or when they need repairs.
Buy the blueprint and build marina
When you have met all requirements except cash, you can start selling your castles. Wait until you have about $10 million cash though.”
November 18, 2007 at 1:33 pm
And this too (it’s just a huge comment thread with hints in it)
http://www.escapegames24.com/2007/09/build-lot.html
November 20, 2007 at 1:28 am
I cannot get past level 28! Someone please help! I have tried it like 15 times!
November 23, 2007 at 2:38 pm
You need to get a star on each level before the costmart blueprint is unlocked so you can buy it.
November 24, 2007 at 3:05 am
I finished the game and got the costmart blueprint, but I can’t use it… it remains greyed out. I’ve seen other people post the same problem, but I haven’t seen an answer yet. Can someone help?
November 25, 2007 at 11:32 pm
It took a couple of tries but here is the Level 35 Solve:
Build Estate
Build Sawmill
Upgrade estate
As soon as sawmill is complete buy as much discounted material as possible (75k)
Build Workshop
Sell estate while workshop is being built
Build another estate
Train 3 workers as soon as workshop is complete
Train 3 more workers
Buy as much material as you can
Build Castle
Sell 2nd Estate
Sell Castle this will give you cash to work with for a little while
Start a cycle of buying property, demolishing houses, building castles, buying material, training workers, upgrading, castles, inspecting, just keep cycling. You need somewhere between 20-30 workers to complete this level. Just keep moving through the cycle. Only inspect the castles you wish to keep for rental. You’ll need 8-9 4 star castles to meet the rent requirement.
Once you have upgraded your first castle to 4 stars then build a bank and set up to donate. This will stop the taxes from coming in.
Sell castles as needed. Preferable those that haven’t been inspected.
Buy Marina Blueprint.
Build the Marina last or when you start getting close to time.
Once you get close to time start selling all the castles you don’t need for the rent. You will need 8 4 star castles plus one other rental that is bringing in 20k. I would suggest that you just count on having to keep 9 4 stars.
It would take 10 3 star Castles. I didn’t play it that way so I’m not sure if it is possible.
I waited to demolish houses until they needed repairs and/or demolished the cheaper houses first. That way you can collect the rent on the most profitable houses until you have the resources to build on the lot.
I only had the one hour trial so I didn’t get a chance to try for the special bonus. I assume that is the blueprint people are having trouble with.
November 26, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Hi,
thanks for the help. I was stuck at level 31-35 to get a “blue ribbon”, was able to finish but never got the expert level at these. I’m addicted to this game! thanks again
December 8, 2007 at 9:43 am
Hi,
I have passed every level so I went back and got stars on all the levels except 35 any hints on how i can pass it so I can get the new building?
December 8, 2007 at 10:53 am
“christina Says:
October 16, 2007 at 2:10 pm
OK…I am STUCK on level 17-where u have to get the blueprint for the mansion and have 1000000 in rent and $…I have played it so many times the last few days I am SICK of this level…can someone PLZ give me a walk through on this?!? PLEASE…I feel like I have tried everything and I ALWAYS get close but always run out of time…PLEAS HELP!!”
— SO AM I!!!
December 16, 2007 at 6:02 pm
For the cost mart thing- I think thats where you have to have stars for every level in career mode before it’s actually available in casual mode- like you see it, but if you don’t have all stars, then it’s just grayed out. HTH!
December 28, 2007 at 11:23 am
I found out how to EASILY get stars for all later levels.
Just flip houses. Don’t even bother with rentals. House flipping is the way.
How do you make regular income then? BANK INTEREST.
As noted by Sally somewhere else, Rental Income gets higher as you upgrade. However, the highest it gets is around 6-8% of the sale value… Bank Interest gives you 10%.
In other words, the absolute best money making scheme is to never donate. Instead, just keep flipping properties AS SOON AS THEY’RE READY, thus you never pay tax anyway.
Not only that, but the bank pays COMPOUND INTEREST. This means it outstrips rental incomes by even MORE over time… quite ridiculous.
January 20, 2008 at 11:57 pm
I bought the Cost-Mart blue prints and built the building. It brings in $2,500,00 about every minute or so. It says that you get materials free but that doesn’t seem to work for me.
February 2, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Hey raylene! How did u build the costmart, i have all the money but its grayed out n it says i do not have 200k when ihave over 2 million dollars!! how did u build it. plssssssssssss lemme kno.
February 2, 2008 at 1:52 pm
anybody please how to build the costmart its driving me crazy!!!!!!!!!
July 11, 2010 at 6:55 pm
I built the costmart after buying the blueprint….I think you may need to play the entire game and then re-start. Once you can do it, it’s amazing how much cash you have. Good luck:)
February 4, 2008 at 11:00 am
The game is running so slow it is stalled on level 31. Any way to fix this? It is not the whole computer… just the game.
Thanks.
February 9, 2008 at 9:29 pm
builderchic, do you have stars on all the levels? that is the only way to buy the costmart blueprint.
btw, does anyone know why it says you get the materials for free when you build a costmart? i build it, but still have to pay for materials?
February 10, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I changed the stuff in the file and it made me lose everything no open everything what did I do wrong..everything is exactly like you said
February 17, 2008 at 9:44 am
like everyone else who’s mentioned it, i have stars on all levels, over 2 million in the bank, the costmart blueprint is unlocked but it won’t let me buy it.
maybe it’s a glitch in the version we have?
February 20, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I finished career mode with all gold stars, it said that if I did a new building would be available in casual mode, which I guess means the costmart, but its just not there nowhere, not even grayed out..
Anyone know why ?
March 1, 2008 at 10:44 pm
I need help on level 25.
March 11, 2008 at 3:00 am
Can’t build Cost-mart? You cannot build the Cost-mart in the pre-release version of the game. How can you tell if you have the pre-release version? If you go to causal play and hit the High Scores button it will tell you if you have a pre-release version.
March 25, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I have had no problems and can build costmart just fine… and u do not get all of ur materials for free just a portion of them…. Also there is a build alot 2 it is still in beta in the 3rd test trial now. it is great i have played it and finished it as well. there are new challanges and i think it will be a bit more challanging then the first one was for most
March 25, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Any idea when Build-a-Lot might be finished and ready for release? I missed out on being a beta tester cuz I never read my email. LOL I’ve beaten the first version over and over and want a new set of challenges.
March 28, 2008 at 10:46 pm
omfg suck my oriental weiner
this game is a bit gay 😉
k later nigs
March 28, 2008 at 10:46 pm
f
asdfasdf
April 2, 2008 at 9:47 pm
lol no thanks i dont like cocktail weinies. And as for the release I do not know as I already have got mine for free for being a tester on all of the betas
April 20, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Hey Sally,
have you figured a way to unleash unlimited $$ yet?
May 5, 2008 at 3:40 pm
[…] Hints: Build-a-lot – A general tips article for the first Build-a-lot game. Most of the strategies still apply to the sequel. […]
May 22, 2008 at 10:38 am
I am stuck on level 27! Someone please help! I can barely get through before the time limit runs out, but it is possible. The problem is even though there is a house or building on every single lot, it says that one is empty.
July 19, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I’m having trouble getting expert score on 33, 34 & 35. I can get everything going good but having trouble raising enough $ in the time alotted for expert score. I’m missing somthing and it’s driving me nuts! Any ideas???
July 28, 2008 at 2:37 pm
For those of you who asked for help on level 17 here it is:
-Build a workshop
-Buy 1 worker
-Buy enough material for an estate
-Build an estate
-Don’t upgrade estate
-Sell estate for no less than $285,000
-Purchase mansion blueprint
-Buy material for an estate
-Build an estate
-Sell estate for no less than $285,000
-Build and upgrade 1 mansion at a time until you have 4.
-Inspect each mansion
-Wait until $1,000,000 reached
-Level Completed. Should be before mid-way deadline!!
August 14, 2008 at 11:20 am
I have the option to build the Costmart, but does anyone know what benefit it will give the game? I’ve looked all over the internet, but comments only say that it is available after completing all the levels at super-efficiency.
January 17, 2009 at 10:46 pm
I can’t get passes level 32, plz help anyone
February 17, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Thanks alex for that level 17 guide! Does anyone know of a website that has guides for EVERY level?
October 20, 2009 at 9:53 am
im stuck on the level for drafting the Estate Blueprint. Please help me!
October 23, 2009 at 2:13 am
Cost mart was a waste… gives like 25,000 and a few materials (like 500) every minute. It costs 2000 materials to build as well as 200,000 for the blueprints… overall waste of money flipping houses = more profitable and much faster. oh well shiny gold stars
November 7, 2009 at 10:59 am
Hey, you got any of this same info for build-a-lot 2 or 3?
January 4, 2010 at 2:24 am
I really need help with level 32. Its driving me crazy!
Does anyone know any tips on how to pass that level?
I would greatly appriciate it if someone could please help me out.
February 13, 2010 at 7:16 am
Hi, I am using the latest update of Safari web browser and your blog seems to be chopped in the middle, is it not supported by this version?
February 22, 2010 at 11:59 am
Can any one tell me were are the premier lots on level 27 it does not mark it like the other levels.
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July 27, 2010 at 2:47 pm
I am on level 45 and I just can’t solve it. Can someone please help me?
October 31, 2011 at 8:25 am
I am having problems to inspect the house? how do u do it? it doesnt let me
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March 3, 2012 at 6:07 am
I cannot get past level 19 as I am having problems to “inspect the houses “?
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July 14, 2012 at 2:16 pm
I completed level 25 on career mode but it won’t let me advance to the next level. What am I doing wrong?
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