are you talking about total price including land? I dont think anyone could give you an idea without specifics with finishes inside. If you are talking about total price including land I dont think it is reasonable!

You didn't mention this, but does the $480K price tag exclude the cost of the property? Anway, I'm not that familiar with the prices in Central PA, but I do know that $100 sq/ft for, as you phrased it, very high end quality is going to be a challenge. I think it is possible if the land is excluded, and you are a good negotiator.

We need some additional information besides the number of rooms and a description of it being "high-end." Style of house, type of roof, brand and type of windows, exterior veneer (you mentioned a lot of stone, what else?), type of construction (ICF?), radiant heat (?), appliances (are we talking AGA/Liebherr, Wolf/SZ, or GE Monogram), custom cabinetry vs. stock, size of the front porch and its' flooring material are some starting points. There are tons of variables that can affect the price tag. For example, you said "very nice wood." What kind? There can be a $15-$20 difference per square foot depending on your meaning of nice wood. Same for carpeting.

Good luck with shopping for a GC. Can you post a link to the house plan and include more information?

$100 sf is a spec home price around here if you're having GC do the build. Very high end quality would get you in the $200+ sf range. This is just the house and not land. Hopefully PA is more reasonable. Good Luck. All the researching you do now will pay off. Tom

Am I crazy, or should he be basing his "price per square foot" on the above grade finished square foot? Based on figuring garage and basement, I built my house for $50 per square foot.

Even though he phrased the question as a sq ft price, I think he is more interested in whether he can build the house described for the $480K.

bungeeii:

You're not crazy. Cost is figured on finished areas and for high end will be over $200 sq. ft.

Unfinished basements, attics, garages are figured differently.

I would take a look at another thread on this forum that discussed this topic - search "affording your plan" posted by deanie1 on this forum.

I provided a reference to a home building cost calculator

http://www.ebode.com/us/calculators/cal_build_general.asp#result

There are a number of these calculators that provide ball park estimates for structure. you then have to add in all of the other things like land, site prep, septic etc.

I would add another 15 to 20% on top of the ballpark estimate to give you a conservative number on what the house project should cost.

A "very high end home" cannot be built for $100 per sf.

Well, 480k on what he's described is more like 137 per square foot.

I don't believe you'll find 50% carpet in a "very high end" home, either.

If you already own the property, and depending on what prices are for your water/sewer/utility hookup and driveway, you should be able to build a nice house for $137 per sq foot without choosing strictly the least expensive components. But, "very high end" is such a vague descriptor that each reader imagines all sorts of different things, most of which would drive a house over $200 per square foot.

Our home is 2178 sq ft and we are building it for $220,000. We told the GC we really wanted to keep it at or around $200,000. Now, the GC knows my sister and he is doing a lot of work himself. We also are going with laminate counter tops, and no 'extras' right now, like crown molding, etc. We went with a shingle roof instead of metal roof. We limited our paint colors and we are painting DD's room ourself (she wants a themed paint). We wanted to be able to do a little bit higher end but it is always something we can change/add later on down the road. We really wanted something we could afford right now and I really am not a fan of granite but I love natural stone. Can't afford that right now! LOL! The only problem we see so far is the flooring. We are on a VERY tight budget and I know we will go over on that. Our cabinets, the builder is staining them himself instead of the cabinet maker. We also have been buying light fixtures here and there out of pocket and the plumbing fixtures I plan on getting off of ebay. Where there is a will there is a way! Oh, that price also includes our septic, and well. We own the land. I really think it all comes down to your choices on things as to really how much you are going to spend.

I've built two houses and I am a realtor, so I've learned a lot about building prices for some of my clients. In upstate NY, (albeit a pricey town), $100s/f gets you very little. Mostly tile, low end moulding, lower grade carpet,appliances, etc. Nice house in general, but not high end. At 125-130, you can get hardwoods (alot) granite, nicer mouldings, better carpet etc. I don't know what it would cost to build high end because everyone has a different definition. But 100 s/f here doesn't include lot. It is also important to add that the more work you do, versus your builder, the more likely you are to dramatically lower your building costs. So it might not be apples to apples. Perhaps you are more likely to get a better answer if you give a specific cost for the jobs you can't do, ie, cost of excavation...framing, foundation...

Good luck.
Joanne

Each time I see the title of this post I think: "It sounds GREAT!" If only a 'high end' home builder were saying that to me right now! LOL! Seriously though, we have our own land and we are budgeting about $100-$105 per finished sf for labor and materials & project mgr. fee from excavation to finish. All utilities are in and plans, permits etc will be 'on top' of this number. We also will be doing some work ourselves. If anyone has built a home - exclusive of land - for $100 psf perhaps they could share some details as to what they were able to achieve. I would love to see, and perhaps it would help the OP as well.

This is the mistake we made. Please do yourselves a favor upfront and get good pricing estimates on as much as possible. We took input from several builders to get a "you can build it for $x/sq ft or $xxx" total projection. We've come in over double those initial numbers.

Also, I didn't see that you listed a kitchen. That room alone can cause a huge swing in the price, depending on your finishes and appliances.

Have you allowed for any site prep costs? Well drilling? Concrete? Landscaping? We spent a small fortune on things that don't really show up in the finished product (or the appraisal), but are essential.

You want stone, too. How much square footage of coverage will you need? Are you planning to use cultured stone or natural stone? Have you priced this line item? Our mason is our new best friend. He wants to help throw the moving party!

I'm sorry if I sound so negative! I'm just trying to share what we learned from our experience. We're at the end of a long, stressful year of building. I hope your process goes smoothly for you!

Yes, $100/sq ft for a "very high end" home sounds very good. Not realistic, but it does sound very good.

If, however, you have a somewhat hard budget on this to keep from going to the poor house you need to scale down your expectations greatly.

Not true mike13 there are still many places where 100 bucks sqft gets you super-high-end croatia and tailand come to mind LOL
Actually not including land Im paying around 140 - 150 for moderately high end (all wood stone and tile flooring-48" apliances lots of windows ect.... but nothing real exotic like radiant heat slate roof.