$125 a square foot is not bad. My husband acted as his own GC on our home and we built for $109 in the Pacific NW. We thought we were going to do it for 89-100/sf, so just know unless this is a set price, I can see things on here that could change pretty quick.

If you really want to cut, what jumps out at me is between the soaker tub, fixture and glass shower door and marble shower is running $5800. Why not a fiberglass shower with a simple door? That would be under a thousand dollars. I also think you don't have enough money budgeted for bath faucets, or mirrors.

Stone work. Here to save money people wrap their chimneys in Hardie siding, but I see you are using vinyl. Do you need a wood burning fireplace? Is there any other material that can be used to save here?

Some of your allowances seem low. Why isn't a refrigerator included in the appliance package? Is $3500 just for the just three?

Your lighting allowance, and exterior door allowance is also high. That is eight thousand dollars between them. You could do better.

Eight thousand for windows. What kind of windows are these, and how many? I know people on here will spend their life savings on windows, but you could do better here also.

I guess it all depends on what you could live without.

To save money in the future, I would look at how the home will be sealed, insulated and what money-saving fixtures and equipment could be used. LED lighting, hybrid water heaters, your particular HVAC system, etc.

Good luck with your project -it is an attractive home.

I think $125 sq ft is budget building. You won't get much at that price.

4 years ago we built a guest/carriage house here in CA for $300 per sq.ft. with our total cost being 1/3 more than your total price. From my neck of the woods, the quote seems pretty good for a real house!

I think more importantly, if $275k is a scary number, you may not yet be ready to build.

Nothing is in particularly wrong with the estimate...

This is not an efficient structure, thus higher the estimate: larger foundation, larger roof, you are paying for framing of "unfinished sq ft. And all little allowances, except for massive house interior trim. To be perfectly honest you are paying for 3660 sq ft house and getting 2180 sq ft.

I offer no expertise, but I have read this forum for a long time and think that most posters here would suggest that $125/sq foot is a reasonable charge. I live in rural Missouri, and I think that price would be right in line with what I would expect to pay. In some areas of the US it would be quite low. Are you in the US? What state?

Jigs and jogs in the foundation add unnecessary costs - you don't have many but there is a bit of that going on at the right front of the ground floor for that window bumpout. I didn't study the plan in great detail - are you building on a slab, basement, or crawlspace?

we live in south texas, near the gulf considered to be somewhat less expensive than other areas of the country, our home was built 2.5 years ago, we have 2314 heated and cooled and maybe 1900 in porches and garage. the garage is finished (sheetrock and trim) and about half the porches are screened and the flooring of the porches is brick... we ended up paying about 140 per heated and cooled square ft and we thought it was a good price this did not include the price of the land...

that estimate doesn't particularly sound out of line

A few things that might save you a few dollars but honestly if I could build my house for that price I'd be jumping up and down. I'm over 2x that.

Instead of stone, how about something like Boral Stone. We are using that instead of real stone.

For my powder bath, I found an old victorian washstand for $165 which included the marble top. I can get a copper sink on Overstock for under $200, so for under $400 I have a wonderful and unique vanity which includes a marble counter.

For my guest bathroom upstairs I'm doing a Kohler Memoirs pedestal sink and then I'll find an antique cabinet for over the toilet to store things like toilet paper. Again, I'll save a bundle. Maybe you can too.

For my laundry cabinets I'm doing Ikea and saving a bundle. They will hold up great and since no one sees them, who cares.

I disagree with the above poster in that you shouldn't skimp on quality doors and windows. However, that doesn't mean you need to go with the fancy mahogany doors or custom windows. Just choose good quality ones.

Instead of hardwood floors you can save a bundle using Luxury Vinyl Tile and no one will really be able to tell the difference. Look on the Flooring forum. In fact a friend who's building a million dollar plus home in FL is using it throughout their home.

Maybe give up on the oak staircase and do a painted staircase instead.

Use craigs list and resale stores for light fixtures, etc.

The fireplace alone will save you $3000.

Nobody has mentioned Contingencies. What percentage of the whole project should be allowed for unforeseen expenses? An extra 10%? 20%?

Where are you? That makes a HUGE difference.

If you're in shock over that preliminary costing, then you will be in medical care by the end of the build when it's even higher. You have gotten a good price for a large home. The only way to get the costs down significantly is to significantly redesign the home to be smaller and much less complex. Smaller in the right places. Like kitchens and bathrooms. Those are the expensive to build parts. Even then, if you cut off 1000 sf, I don't think you'd make it down to $100 a sf. That's a big square garage with heating and air and a bathroom thrown in.

BTW, I don't know why you aren't counting the porches and garage etc. You pay to build that too. It's not just about heated and cooled square footage. It's about the overall build. And you don't have an economical plan.

I don't think that you have a realistic budget to custom build what you want. You should look at existing homes, where your money goes much further. Or, look in a cookie cutter subdivision. Those are the cheapest new builds available. No real customization is how the costs are kept under control. Customization costs. Majorly.

Here's the thing: We all know that custom houses are very expensive, and when we look at other people's budgets, it's easy to say, "Yeah, yeah, that's what things cost. What did you expect?" But when it's your own name at the top of the estimate sheet, your own wallet that has to open up and let go of your own hard-earned dollars, it feels more personal. I understand the shock value.

Out of curiosity, what kind of number were you expecting?

Having said that, I think three big points are being made over and over in this thread:

- From an outsider's point of view, yeah, the estimate's about what one would expect. If this is the house you want to build, this is what it'll cost -- actually, it'll probably cost a bit more; just cause things always cost a bit more.

- You can go through this estimate and cut out a few things. You can have solid doors without spending 8K. You can cut out the fireplace and trim 3K. I forget the shower door cost, but it could be done for a couple hundred. I'm not sure why anyone even wants marble, much less cultured marble. You could cut the window budget. And after making all those cuts, you'd see maybe 20K disappear from your bill ... and then that same 20K'd come back in overages later.

- You absolutely can build for less money. You have made some expensive choices in this layout. You could have a more simple, more efficient house with this amount of usable space without spending this much.

You didn't mention where you live. That alone can make a huge difference. In Texas between $100-$125 per square feet for a custom build is normal, but other more expensive cost of living states are going to be like "uh, I'm paying double that so you should be happy." it's all relative and hard to help with pricing help unless you have someone experienced in building in the same cost of living area.

One question though, is Temp Toilets referring to Porta Potties for the construction crew? If so why in the world would you need 6? More like one. Although I could be an idiot and that's not what that referes to. I hope that's the case

Lindsey -- probably one porta potty for 6 months - the month is the quantity.

Yeah, on our site there's one toilet for two houses being built. Actually one for 3.

Has the OP left the building?

I absolutely love being able to stick to a budget, but you really don't have a cost issue, you have a budget issue. Making the changes necessary to get any meaningful reduction in cost is going to drastically reduce some of the features that make building appealing to be begin with. My advice is to either not build or pony up the extra money. If you can't increase your budget then I wouldn't build.

To echo what Charles Ross said, $ per square foot is a very inadequate measure. It can be used effectively to communicate finish levels in similar homes but can do little else. Homes are a mix of fixed costs, variable costs and premiums. Fixed costs are the things that every house has to have regardless of finish level, variable costs are the actual raw cost of square footage, and premiums are costs associated with finish level (granite instead of formica, etc.)

Even the actual raw cost of square footage isn't really variable. Adding one more foot to an 11 foot room may cost almost nothing. While adding a foot to a 12 foot room may cost a fortune (carpet comes in 12' widths). Also note that all under roof square footage has a cost, whether it is heated or not.

When you have a house with a very high finish level cutting square footage can make sense. In a home that comes in at $400/ft² cutting out 500 ft² may save you $100,000. But when you are starting with a budget build then cutting out square footage can sacrifice too much. At $125/ft² the square footage that can be sacrificed is probably around $50/ft². To make meaningful cuts you are going to have to lose like 800 square feet of heated space. At that point why bother building?

Just my 2¢

>I'm going to post more later but one of the main things i am learning
is that it's not all about the heated square footage. We are going to
have to go back to the drawing board and reduce our footprint.

FACT: You are paying for 3556 sq ft of framing See: 3556 x 5.50 sq ft

FACT: You are charged for 3556 sq ft of material See 3556 x 8 sq ft

FACT: You are paying for 40 sq of roof (about what you expect for 3556 sq ft house)

FACT: You are paying mostly fixed cost for kitchen / bath / septic

FACT: Windows cost is fixed as you are not likely to reduce them.

FACT: Your foundation 1765 sq ft foundation ( nearly what you expect for 3556 sq ft house)

FACT: 20k in stonework

FACT: you are getting 2183 sq ft house on the slab. Because of 1.5 story layout.

Are you really in shock? 1500 sq ft two story [3000sq ft] will cost less!

If my project comes in at 125$/sq ft. I will be dancing for joy!!

I think your dreams are too large for a small budget. Too much acreage. Too much house.

Think about less acreage and a much smaller simpler house that will fit with your budget. If budget is the most important consideration, you are going to have to make some pretty extreme sacrifices to meet it.

Or, look at existing homes for now. They will be cheaper. And keep saving.