Costs will vary significantly based on the services you're asking for. Just getting it drafted would be cheap (used on purpose as opposed to inexpensive). Full architectural services will depend on your area. Perhaps some Boston architects can chime in.

Do be careful with copyright law if you're planning to base your home on this plan.

Also, can we find architects on Houzz?

Find Professionals at the top of the page.

I know a very good residential architect in the Boston area. Send me a PM and I can give you his info and web page.

It's not clear from your post, but if the floor plans were generated by the builder, then they own the copyright to the plans unless you have a written agreement that grants you ownership. Designs derived from them may be copyright infringement. Proceed with caution.

Public availability does not equal permission for use - from my understanding.

I live in a lower COLA area than Boston and we pay from $1.5 to $7 a sqft so way more than $1000 and possibly more than $10k. I would expect an architect in Boston to be upwards of $10 a sqft.

Contact a few local architects and ask them.

Looks like I can't delete this post or edit to link directly to the builder....?

I don't get the wiseass remarks. I planned on searching out architects but figured I'd try coming on here first. Figured it was a simple ask for an average $$ number and referrals (usually, people like referrals). Obviously, that was a mistake.

Why would you want a plan where when you enter the front of the house, the first thing you see is the kitchen?

And why would you want all the bedrooms on the second floor but the laundry on the first floor?

One other thing. It sounds like what you want is a draftsman to draw up what you have already. An architect takes your wishes, wants and needs and creates a plan that works for you and your family.

A draftsman draws what you think you want. An architect creates what you didn't know you wanted.

Hi cpartist, I mentioned above that this was a sample to get an idea of what kind of cost I'd expect to hire an architect. These are not finalized or even customized plans. :-)

Yes, probably a draftsman then. I'd have to do research on the terminology and different roles. We need to keep the cost of the house <$700k not including land, hence the reason I need someone to walk us through all this to let us know what kind of home we can expect for that kind of money. I'm VERY new to all of this.

" Obviously, that [asking nationally for local prices] was a mistake."

You're right.

Realize that the cost of an architect is probably one of the best investments you can make in building a custom house because they can find ways to actually save you money in the long run.

If you're in the Boston area, I'd message JDS, an architect and member here who works in the Boston area.

cpartist, that is what I wanted to do, so I asked for him to send me a PM.

Just to give you an idea, since you wanted some numbers. We paid $18K to have plans drawn up for a guest house 7 years ago in the LA area. That did include the architects time to take the plans in front of the building department to get some variances and have the plans approved for building.

Since you wanted numbers, we paid around $60,000 for duplex plans about 5200 square feet finished and another 3,000 in unfinished, but heated and stubbed, walk out basement. That number also included engineering. We also got a basic set of basement plans for the future (which is coming a lot faster than we anticipated at least for our side).

>>>

We were working with a builder to purchase a home in their subdevelopment but the deal fell through.

Is this important?


We have a floorplan of the main floor and second floor (attached) and were getting ready to sit down with the architect to have him draw up renderings based on the floor plan and our 15 different ideabooks (exterior, kitchen, master, great room, bathrooms, etc.)

You paid someone to produce a floorplan (construction documents) that you own the rights to build from, and now want someone to create renderings of the exterior?


While we aren't going to use this builder, we'd still like to have renderings created so we can hopefully show this to other builders in the area.

You will take your plans and renderings and get bids?

Is this what you expect from a rendering?

It fell through because at this time we can't find a suitable lot in this phase of the development. We now wait until another lot *might* open or come next year when a 20 phase two lots will open.

Rather than sit and wait, I wanted to get the ball rolling on my own. We have not paid for customized floor plans - in my first post, I was taking a generic plan to show the scope and size to try to get an idea of what I'd be spending if I found a draftsman/architect to draw up preliminary/rough renderings of floorplans.

Ideally, we want to find a few reputable builders in the area and bring plans to them. We'd have to see if they would be willing to build the home and their $/sq ft cost to build. Rather than show a builder a generic plan with no exterior and a bunch of Houzz Ideabooks, I wanted a preliminary floor plan and some interior renderings, much more detailed than what you pasted above @PPF.

I asked my original question because I wanted to find out how much I'd be spending to "test the waters" with designs to see if I could find a builder.

"Hey Bob the Builder, here are floor plans that I had drawn up for a 3500sq ft, 4BR, 4BA house, along with renderings of the exterior and interior to show you the flow through the home and finishes that we're looking for. Would you be willing to do this, are you available and what's your price?"

I'm certainly not going to drop $50k on designs and then hope I can find a builder and if not, throw them in a filing cabinet to collect dust.

Why would that happen?

You do not need to spend $50k on designs. But there is definitely a big budgetary problem with custom. Pay $X to find out you can't afford it is hard. What you can do is go to a builder and ask how much to build this plan. You can't actually build it but it would at least give you an idea. He could give you a ballpark at least.

We used a designer to do our plans. Draftsmen implies no design talent, designer is one step up and then there is architect. We paid $6k or so. More complex but similar size house. Our build cost will be about $700k in NC. Building in the Boston area will be more - just climate alone. I would think that labor is about 50% more.

There are significant costs that a custom house incurs compared to a development. One thing I would look around and see if there are houses in the custom spec market around your price point.

Most people buy in a development partly because you get better value - at least superficially. At the price point you are looking at, most would say you can't get custom in your area for that size and complexity of house.

CP is right - this plan has some awful stuff.

Adam, I'm sorry that you feel attacked on this forum--unfortunately once you open yourself up to questions on the internet you have no control over what comes back.

I agree that you should select the building site first--then the architect designs the house to maximize the views, light, etc. depending on the orientation of the land. Start investigating local architects to see their work, how they charge, and their personality to see if you would enjoy working with them. You will be spending a lot of time with anyone (builder, designer, architect) involved in creating your home, so you want to make sure you have a rapport.

As for the plan you posted, I don't think it has "awful stuff." It may not be optimal for your site, but it's a start, and can give an architect an idea of what is important to you in a home. When we built our vacation home we pored over home plan books for many months to get an idea of what we might like. Then we found a local design/build firm and used their architect to create a custom home for us. The architect's fee was included in the cost to build.

Good luck with your search!

My architect had a program for $3K to do a "feasibility study" that had an output that you could "generally" provide a builder to see if you were in the ballpark or drunk and disorderly with your $ expectations. If you went forward, the $3K was credited to his full fee. Very helpful. (Although we later fell into the drunk and disorderly area - that was our own fault - LOL!)

Not paying for a good design will end up being much more expensive in so many ways. Bad design costs you in comfort, usability, and mistakes. With building in a boom phase, and everyone overbooked, and hurricane rebuilding affecting the lumber market, costs have risen bigly.

700K in Boston is not a custom home. Unless you envision a small maybe 1500-2000sf simple home that could be added on to when more funds were available. It’s a 2500-3000 Sf tract home, built by the hundreds, in a builder owned and controlled subdivision. Where there is little choice in plans, materials, or individuality. Individuality is much more costly.

Or buy existing. And save up for eventual renovations.

Thanks for all the feedback.

I think the gist of this is that I'm going to need to find a balance if I want a new home, but also stay under $1MM budget. (I can't believe $1MM is the new norm)

The goal will still probably be to find a sub-development where the builder will be very open to modifying floor plans and customizing within reason.

It certainly seems that paying tens of thousands for designs to only find out that my resulting home would cost me $1.5MM isn't going to work

@Adam you state: The goal will still probably be to find a sub-development where the builder will be very open to modifying floor plans and customizing within reason.

^Not very likely to happen.

Those developments are with production builders (typically). The reason production builders can provide the homes at a comparatively lower price point is because the plans are stock plans to that builder. Generally shortcuts are taken in the high dollar areas such as kitchen and baths as well as other areas of the house. You don't really discover the shortcuts until you get into their 'design studio' which is set up for you to upgrade to anything resembling normal, not even high end.

The builder that makes significant modifications is going to cost you more because your home will be a one time build and not a production build. Not custom because you are using one of that builder's plans, but not entirely stock either.

Thirty years ago, I bought a lot in a subdivision. The homes built there weren't custom homes, but not tract homes either. There was a particular house plan in the neighborhood that I liked, I met with the builder who built those homes. It was a fairly small construction firm in a semi rural area. He arranged for me to meet with several homeowners who had built homes from that plan. I toured a few of the homes and talked with the homeowners about features they liked and didn't. The builder was amenable to changes. The builder built me a home that I loved, it wasn't custom , but I got to pick out my flooring, countertops and options from a number of floorplan changes. And it was within my budget and I was able to get a price (before upgrades.) I'm not sure if this approach would work for you, but my guess is that to have a custom home designed and built will be very very costly.

Sonni1 - not sure that exists anymore. It certainly might in certain areas.

In my area, we are done for the most part with subdivisions like that. Land prices are high, banks are tight, and only the large national builders can afford to get a subdivision going. Also what you describe would be more expensive than tract with really very little advantage. More expensive because the builder is not working with volume discounts.

What I see is we have a 2 class system. Tract and custom. And generally it sounds like most tract is moving away from even appearing to be semi-custom - as in partially customizable floor plan.

In this region, there are local/regional developers which offer choices for building, based on one of their plans, but able to be customized. There are also the "here ya go, better love it" type, too, but many do offer options.

Adam, I sent you the info.

Here's my numbers. I designed the floor plan and elevations myself. My drawings had all dimensions, window sizes, roof pitch, etc. as well as all the finishes picked out. I had the ceiling heights, window heights, wall thicknesses, interior elevations and sections, cabinet drawings, and every other detail I could think of that was pertinent to building the house. I created a detailed site plan showing the setbacks and the finished floor elevation as well as driveways and drainage. We even had some of the structural elements on there as suggestions.

I took my very detailed drawings to a structural engineer who also had drafters on staff to design client's houses. They transferred my drawings to their CAD program, figured out the structural engineering, gave me 4 sets of stamped plans, emailed me the files so I could print plans to get bids, and charged me $3,500.00

$1M for the land and a 3500 sq foot house in the Boston area? I live in the Boston area (so much so I am in Boston). Where would that be possible? The prices around here are absurd (which I am currently enjoying since I already own my house). Maybe OP is just in Boston, but is looking to build elsewhere. Sorry to go OT, but I can't fathom how bonkers this RE market is around here and would love to know it isn't completely absurd.

Well, same here . . . 3,500 sq feet in any one of the popular/nearby Boston suburbs is $1.5m to start. In a nice city neighborhood, $2m would be amazing. I can't figure out who buys all of these homes.

1.5 is a tear down here...not a 3500 square foot anything.

Cheapest house in my area currently is 1.6 for a 3 bed starter home.

Insane . . . sorry for the hijack.

So, it sounds like you know what it costs to build with a developer, in your area. Are you asking what it would cost to build the same size custom home? And the drawings would be your tool to communicate with builders to try to get an accurate statement of cost?

I'm not sure that's going to A. work out all the accurately or B. be worth the cost to have drawings done that are that detailed.

As my builder explained to us, every custom home is a prototype. No one has ever built it before, so there is no handy-dandy cost chart. There are some very, VERY rough "houses about this size are built for about this much" answers to that question. OR - you take your pretty nearly finished drawings from a person of design talent and let the builder get specific bids from his subs to frame, roof, HVAC, plumb, etc. And even make some basic specs about finishes. And that can give you a decent bid for the project. To get that far effectively requires a significant investment in the design.

Part of the value of the architect who designs the project is that (at least for us) when we've gone back and said, "Nope, can't make that work, it's out of our budget", in the rough estimate phase, the next version was not just smaller, but simplified and designed to be more efficient to build. (Helpful hint - you'll affect the finished price of the house more with things like excessive corners and enormous roof profiles than you will with your finish choices, unless you get REALLY extravagant).

But I get not wanting to dump 5 figures into a design that you'll never be able to afford to build. Custom is something of a leap of faith. (Even out here in Fly Over Country, where we paid ~$8K/acre for our parcel and I cringed)

One of the best cost control strategies for a custom home is to retain an architect for the design and construction documents, and at the same time a compatible builder to advise on costs in the early design phase.

Working together with an owner, experienced and compatible architect and builder can develop early conceptual drawings which can be priced for budgeting purposes.

These early drawings shouldn't take more than a week's time and cost by an architect, plus the daily rate for a builder.

Good luck on your project.

Economy of scale and repetition is totally absent from a custom build. Even if you use "the same" floor plan that a tract builder uses, and have another builder build it "exactly", expect least a 20% price increase. If you want changes? Start at 30% more. It will only go up. It will never be cheaper.