We too built in Norman and had a nightmare (different builder). I already privately emailed this to "soonermagic," but if anyone else out there is reading this and seeing something similar I would run, not walk away when you get a misgiving. The earlier you exit, the better. If we'd balked at the framing stage when our first major issues appeared we would have lost $10,000-$15,000, at worst, which sounded like a worst case scenario at the time but would have been a major blessing, the way things turned out. We were frequently "reassured" along the way (thinking we'd made changes to get back on track), only to find at the end, when it was way (WAY) too late to do anything about it, that we had shoddy (terrible!) work for double the going price. By the way, a 20% builder's fee is not out of line here for a high-end home. (And with a median home price of about $115K, $415 is definitely high-end.)15% is about the minimum we saw from anyone. And now I definitely wished we'd paid 20% and got someone who knew what the hell they were doing! Like another poster here, our builder (and bankers) also discouraged us from making changes (firing subs, etc.) even when we knew things were going terribly sideways. That was a HUGE part of the problem. Wait and see sounded like our only option, but now I wish wed walked away at ANY point, no matter how much it cost us because now we have a house that cost $200,000 more than it appraised for and probably $250,000-$300,000 more than it would actually sell for. I, too, thought I was "smarter than that" and talked (until I was blue) in the face about what I wanted (submitted a ten page, room-by-room list of all finishes in each room to builder before getting bid), and what I didnt, and then got called "picky" (and a whole lot worse) when I actually had the nerve to say this isnt what I asked for/wanted. In the end, I lost most of those fights and it still galls me. (Our money and they STILL cant do what we want. They just do whatever the hell they feel like and were supposed to be grateful they show up at all.) We researched our builders other homes, and talked to his other clients. We got other bids and references. We checked legal proceedings and court documents. We even priced/sourced all the major materialsfloor covering, countertops, appliances and fixturesBEFORE we ever even signed a contract. We, too, knew we were probably a bit over the neighborhood, but planned to live there long enough not to matter. But wed thought about a $50,000-$75,000 difference--at worst--between house cost and appraised value. Our house is 4,001 sq. ft. total and our appraisal came in at $505,000, or $126.22 per sq. ft. And, that was with a very good, generous (but fair) appraiser. Another appraiser lowballed us at an unbelievable $112/sq. ft. saying that NOTHING in our house mattered except for the sq. ft. (typical in this area) and neighborhood comps. He wouldnt even look inside. Well be lucky to reach the "break even" point of ownership in 15-20 years--which is just ridiculous. Were not "upside down" in the house (in terms of mortgage anyway), because we used our savings to pay the overages. The fact the work we did get was subpar, at best, is the real kickerwe paid top dollar and got bargin basement work that our builderwho hasnt spoken to us in almost a year nowrefuses to do anything about (even big problems like foundation issues). I wouldn't wish our problems and issues on even my worst enemy. -Susan W.

Hi, I did and he has given me a quote. But I have no way of verifying if it is reasonable or not.

I did this last year and paid close to $9/sf for demolition, new 6” thick slab reinforced with #4 bars 18” o/c. I live in Dallas, Texas, and that was the going rate at the time.

Thanks to everyone for all the responses! This is our first experience having a custom home built so any advice on the contract or anything we should be watching out for is welcome. Let me clarify a few things that may help. This is a fixed price project. We used a separate designer for the plans. The contractor's mark up is 10% and, as of this moment, the project manager's fee includes that mark up. There is no additional profit and overhead. There is a "Job Organization" line item of almost 9k and a "Plans & Architecture" line item of just over 5k. Together, those include all the pre-construction meetings, gathering/organizing bids from subs, the bids from our cabinet selections, plumbing fixtures, lighting, etc. plans for landscaping, printing of plans, and other misc. office related work. All the costs associated with the project are preliminary estimates at this time, but based on the contractor's experience with similar size/type projects, and I was curious about that PM cost. The contractor clarified these estimates are conservative in that they would rather be on the high side and come down than the other way around. The project is expected to take about 10 months and we will be living on site. I don't know exactly how much the PM will need to be on site. He would be there to oversee the work of their employees and subs, and to ensure any issues are identified and addressed proactively. I almost feel like I need to hire a separate construction consultant to look over the plans/estimates to look out for our best interests. This is due to our inexperience with such things, NOT as a result of any distrust of the contractor, who has a very good reputation and they have been great to work with so far. I understand we have competing interests in that they probably want to make as much profit as possible, while we want to pay as little as possible (like any other transaction) while being fair and reasonable. Just would be nice to have someone with knowledge/experience looking over things whose "loyalty" is to us alone. Hope that makes sense. Hopefully I answered the questions some of you had. I appreciate any further feedback you may have!