It really isnt a Guestimate (No more than $1 a sq. foot off) I have 100% of the framing done All 2X4 ($650) I have 100% of initial Electric done (Inspecting both Wed) I have basically everything bought to finish (Toilet, vanity, mirrow, doors, knobs & locks, drywall screws, drywall mud, casing, baseboard, fireplace etc. Basically the only thing I still have to pay for is the drywall which I priced out at $600 ($650 delivered)and the Carpet which I have a budgeted amount at $23 a sq. yard ($1540) I am saving on the follow: Drywalling the celing (Plus I like the look of it. I have a few monster soffits that I can view 75% of all plumbing and ductwork from the large unfinished area) Newly constructed house (Already Insulated to code)(just insulating ceiling in the media room and walls surounding, and around the 1/2 bath) Paid a family member to do the Electrical & Plumbing (cheaper than contacting it out but made sure they had a little money in their pocket when complete) Did all the other work myself and will do the rest. I have discounts on Carpeting and primer and paint. Had a one time 10% off coupon for Home Depot (Bought all doors, knobs, locks, mud, fireplace, drywall screws, drywall accessories, base board & casing. I am using left over flooring from when they built my house for the 1/2 bath. I have gotten ALLOT of help but even if I hadnt I would have done the electrical myself and hired a plumber which would have been a wash. Either way it would have been under $10 a sq. foot easy. Total Project = $5,100 + or - $200. Please note I used basic doors, casing and base board. step up from the bottow of the line.

So we have had two more guys out. One guy agrees with you all that we could probably get away with the 4 ton and offered to do the manual J to figure out heat loss. He also agreed that would likely work best if the playroom was sealed and if we were the type of people to keep the house continually cool and not try to cool it off from 85 to 70 all the time. The difference is only $400 and my husband is very reluctant to go that route. He's really concerned that the system won't work how it used to and doesn't want to risk it. His estimate for the 5 ton system is $5450 which seems more in line with what I was originally expecting. I mean the labor should be minimal. We're keeping the lines and the attic is a walk up with tons of space for the newer, larger units. He plans on using Ruud sp? equipment with a 10 year warranty. The other one hasn't given us the written quote yet. He did say that he recommends the 2-stage unit and was going to keep us at 5 tons. He's typically a commercial guy but came out as a favor to a friend. He says the job is as easy as it comes so it's no big deal to do for us. I'm expecting the quote to come in between 6-7. Oh and he wants to use York equipment with a 5 year warranty. I'm leaning toward the first guy but the second guy seemed really thorough. He didn't like how our ducts were long and kinked in one spot. He says you see "all sorts of stuff in the world of residential." We'll have to see what his quote says. I'm so confused :( All I know is first guy is out. Too shady.

Do you have a two story foyer? possibly combined with a full height living room? How about an open staircase with lots of spindles to paint or, even more money, a railing going across the front of the loft overlooking the tall space? If so, the price is probably reasonable. If you don't have any of those features, it sounds high to me. I am in the collar counties and we don't have the access and parking issues often found in the city so the jobs here would be cheaper. I suggest asking about the proposed crew size and length of job to get a feel for the amount of work they expect to complete. Your house is very important and quality of work is a major part of a satisfactory job. If the work is well done and the prep work is extensive, spending a bit more money is still a good value. I prefer to work with small companies where the owner does the estimates and either leads the crew or closely supervises the work. If it is a poorly trained and under paid crew, the result will look cheap, even if you paid well. My partner once bid a job but the homeowner went with a different company because they were cheaper. The homeowner did not compare the time estimates so did not notice the per hour labor price was quite a bit higher. The other company was about 25% cheaper but they only worked about half the hours he had estimated. The crew skipped much of the wall prep and sped through the painting to get the job finished on time. My partner was in the house some months later and his comment was the homeowner wanted a bargain and that is what he received.

Unless you have significant trade skills and will help to construct your own home, I think building a custom home is something for the rich who want what they want at a premium price. Most people cannot afford the premium in a custom home, and it certainly is a losing investment nine times out of 10. Reading your remarks, I think you are clearly the person who should be looking for a premium-built used home that is selling below its cost to build. Such homes can occasionally be purchased at steep discounts. I was toying with the idea of retiring to Nevada, and one home I saw had outrageous build quality. They had high-end stone masonry everywhere and things like custom arching beams. They spent about $375/square foot to build but because the neighborhood had homes with $150 to $200 build cost, the resale value of the home was $240/square foot. I would rather pay $250/square foot as an investment, and buying $375 for $250 is the way I would want to invest $250. I think the problem for people building a custom home with a tight budget is they can be easily fleeced on the home build quality without ever knowing what hit them. For example, to get costs lower the builder may switch to 2x4 framing on 16" centers instead of 2x6 framing on 24" centers. The 2x4 home will be much less insulated and will have very shallow window bays. It will feel cheaper. The odds are you would never ask about the framing. The homebuilder saves a ton of money on his material costs by switching to 2x4. You end up with a home that does not feel quite right and never know what hit you until much later down the road. Where custom home building really shines is in the ability to select high-end materials and building approaches that are never seen in tract homes. For example, when you do the framing you can use new stud designs that incorporate closed-cell foam into a truss design inside the studs. Normally a wood stud in the framing has very poor insulation and directly acts as a heat/cold sink that bypasses your home's insulation. The newer style studs (e.g., "T-Stud" is a brand) have an R-value of 20 (versus 6 for a normal stud) and have four times the strength because of the engineered design. Alternately, you can insulate the outside wall of the home and use SIP insulated panels on the roof, to directly overcome the insulation problems with normal studs. These things can greatly increase the comfort of the home, but they also increase build cost, and in any case, they are rarely done outside of a custom build environment. In a perfect world, in addition to an architect, it would be great to find a home builder that you could hire as a consultant - at an hourly rate - to help educate you about key variables in building a home, and that person could help you to understand budget impacts of various build choices, as well as help you specify things to the builder and architect. I wonder if there are retired home builders who do this on a consulting basis, even remotely.