I'd add in, "Listen to your architect and builder." This adds the caveat to make sure they know what your budget is and that you will LISTEN to advice on maximizing it. I've had both of them explain calmly and gently that something I wanted to do is probably going to be ghastly expensive. And then proffer an alternative that helps get closer to what we want without spending needlessly. If you listen at the front end of the project regarding siting, design, and site development, you'll save yourself so much more money than can be squeezed out of the budget by altering finishes at the end. Some things I've just had to give up on entirely, but I think I'll be happier in the long run for having heeded professional experience. Now, I'm not trying to build a house for $50/sq ft or otherwise get ridiculously under the market rate. But my husband and I were just talking about prioritizing our budget. Which, for us, means spending money on the things that either cannot be changed or would be very difficult to change later - structural elements, windows, etc. Finishes can be upgraded later, built-ins can be added, etc. I find that if you are upfront with most professionals you work with about wanting to be cost-conscious, they'll suddenly become a font of information about how to do so. It helps to be friendly, polite, and not condescending when you do so. Often I've had this happen when I go to one of them and say, "I'd like to do A, but it's sort of expensive." It is not unusual for the response to be, "Well, if we do B, C, and D over in these other areas of the house, we can probably free up enough of your budget for A. And that's really cool, and now I want to do it, so let me go think about it some more." Most of the time, they go think about it, and then come back with an even better idea. Cultivate your pros. They know so much more about their craft than a youtube video does. (Side note: Most of them also seem to like homemade chocolate chip cookies). Also note that this approach is more likely to get you what you want than telling them, "I want A, and Google says that it shouldn't cost me more than $X, so I think you should do it for that even though you quote more."

saftgeek I love the name so I must reply. These were things we did that saved us big bucks (a lot of this we learned from the GW posts - so that is tip Number 1 - use the GW forums): - Shopped locally for appliances. Seemed counter intuitive until we actually went shopping and bought from a local dealer - not the applinace person recommended by the builder. - Installed my own home automation (light controls), home security system, whole house audio. Also installed the recessed lighting. Home automation is cool - but very expensive if you sub it out. If you know how to wire up a toy train set you can do most of this stuff. The recessed is also expensive - but really nice to have (was a must have for me). Installing the recessed requires some basic knowledge of electrical and I worked with my electrician to make sure it was done right and to code. - Re-designed the original house plan (purchased on line) to remove what my architect called "ginger bread". Lot's of fancy railings, ornate pieces - these cost big bucks. Also re-designed the roof pitch and floor plan so that standard trusses could be used - removed the fancy roof taper that was in the original design. By doing these thinsg we actually gained more square footage but reduce the overall cost to built the structure. - Went with the first grade of architectural shingle but not the better grads that I wanted initially. It was a lot of money that was better spent in other areas. - Purchased some of the plumbing supplies on line (like stainless sinks) - but only the items where we found the savings to be worth it. - Did our own landscaping which was basically bed prep and mulching. We will do our own planting next year. - Installed my own water softener and whole house water filter. We have a well - hard water and iron. Contractor wanted 8000 dollars to treat it. Read a bunch of posts on the Plumbing Forum and did my own system for 1100 dollars - and it works! - Spent ZERO dollars on interior designers. DW used the GW to learn about colors and posted questions on various design issues. They saved us a bundle - and the advise was really good! - In general, made sure that every price we got from the vendors used by the builder were reasonable. In many cases - we paid a little more for goods but we received design services rhat we felt were worth it. If we found an item that we felt was too high - we bought it ourselves. In a few cases (like our granite) we were very unhappy with the pricing from the prefered vendor so we shopped and found our own - now our builder uses them instead. - Made as few changes as possible after construction started. All of the chnages we made after construction started were very minor - in the cosmetic category. - Got a construction loan that converted to the mortgage - same rate for both phases. Typically they charge more for the construction phase. - Did the double move (sold house - moved to rental - then moved to new house). If we had attempted a single move, we would have been in deep dodo (probably would be paying 2 motgages right now). For the first move, we packed ourselves but had the movers take everything. In the second move, we packed everything, but we moved a lot of the bulky but light stuff ourselves using a rental truck. Second move was about 30% cheaper than the first. - When clearing our very dense tree'd lot, we decided to hide the root matt and brush on the lot to let it rot over time. The cut trees were stacked neatly in 2 places. This was cost avoidance - the cost to take all that bulky mess will be a lot less after it rots for a few years. - I maintained the silt fence myself after I realized I was getting charged a lot of money each time it had to be repaired. - Installed my own humdidifiers and a hot water recirculting system. The combo of these 2 things saved us about 2 grand. That's about all I can think of. Best of luck with your project.

Like you, CarrieB, I started out without a clue how much it would cost to do my kitchen as I wanted (I didn't really know just exactly what I wanted to do, either, before I spent time here and on Ikeafans other than knowing that I would not do any structural changes beyond removing soffits and a nonfunctional cold air return) and restoring a window) and like you, I started out at the big box stores to get initial planning and costs. I probably would have bought the cabinets from one of them if I hadn't read more, learned about Ikea, and realized that I wanted to have frameless cabinets, I talked to 3 different independent contractors who all quoted $10k more than I was prepared to spend. I thought that I would have to either postpone the project, or just settle for repairing a few things, improving the lighting, and maybe refacing the cabs (this was before I learned of Ikea). After learning about and seeing the Ikea kitchens, I started to think I could pull it off if I could find a contractor to install, or at least do all the work except install the cabinets which I would attempt myself. I made one last stop at another local "general store" that sells kitchens. There I got a quote that priced out installation separately --which seemed very reasonable --and gave the name of the contractor who would install and who I ended up using, although I didn't buy the cabs from that store (at that time they didn't carry frameless) I am so glad that I did an internet search and found my cabinet maker. By this time, after spending a lot of time here, I had a plan, could detail exactly what I wanted done, and so was able to go to that contractor with a detailed list of what he would need to do -- and got an affordable price. I bought the cabinets, granite, sink, fixtures, and flooring, the light fixtures and paint -- he supplied the rest. I did the painting. I only had 4 cost overruns as I recall: I paid the wall guy to finish removing the wallpaper (my arthritic fingers couldn't do any more!); I ended up refinishing the floor instead of installing the engineered hardwood that I had bought; I went for more expensive granite counters; and I replaced all of the appliances instead of just the dishwasher. That came to about $2.5k more than originally planned. The contractor did not knock down the price for not having to install the engineered hardwood, but he also did not charge me additionally for adding a light, adding a water line for the fridge icemaker, and moving the telephone jack ( not thought about in the original plan). I also was stuck with the engineered hardwood -- tried to sell it on Craigslist, but it was such a small quantity (150 sq.ft) no one ever wanted it. Fortunately that was a small loss -- I had gotten it at a killer clearance price. I ended up donating it to HFH.

Honestly before you look to save money with this plan, I think you need to look to fix the plan so it will work better because now it will feel dark and closed in. I agree; this first floor just doesn't work. You have to wander through the sunroom AND the dining room to enter the house, and then the master bedroom eats up the whole back wall. You can find LOADS of plans similar to this one with better flow. Here are two examples -- the first one's not quite 1900 sf, the second is just under 1600:Both of these houses' exteriors are very similar to the one you're presenting -- -- but imagine yourself walking in from the garage (as you'll do every single day). Isn't the path better? Imagine your boys coming in from the back yard. Isn't it better? Note the front door entrance too; you want a bit of a transition from outside to inside. Mainly this is about good flow. Okay, neither of those have the two-story great room (that's what you're asking for -- a two story great room; an open floor plan would mean the living-kitchen-dining run together without walls between), so here's another similar plan with good flow AND the two-story great room -- it's about 1850 sf: Note that in these plans the rooms are more proportional to one another, and the traffic patterns are better -- and the master bedrooms aren't hogging the prime backyard access. Bbq'ing will be something we do, but the walkway to the back deck doesn't bother me as much as taking away or rearranging the back of the house would. Wait, wait, you'd rather walk all the way around the house (or through your bedroom) every time you want to use the back yard or barbeque for years and years and years ... instead of altering a drawing now? I mean this in the nicest possible way: Are you perhaps burned out on this process? If you need to take a break, do so! Doing it right is better than doing it fast, and complete lack of public room backyard access is very much not doing it right. You could save money by having only one sink in the bathrooms. A good idea; the master vanity especially just doesn't have enough space to support two sinks, and by using the space for sinks, you give up drawers for storage. I'd also remove the door that divides the boys' bathroom; doors like that are always in the way and aren't really helpful -- two kids can easily share a bathroom without being able to close off part of it. How do you plan to use the den upstairs? Will it overlook the downstairs? Do you live in an area where basements work? If so, would that provide the space you want for your boys' area? In the right areas, basements are super cheap, and you could plan to finish it off later -- like when your boys are in middle school and want some space away from you. If you're really counting pennies, lop off the kids' space -- it falls into the area of "nice but not necessary". Get rid of the fireplace. They are expensive. I personally wouldn't lose the fireplace, but I would consider a woodstove, which can be less expensive. Keep in mind too that fireplaces don't all cost the same amount. High-end fireplaces take the brick or stone to the ceiling inside and have masonry chimneys outside. Lower-priced fireplaces utilize inserts and have little inside brick/stone ... and vent with only a small flue /no chimney or a wooden stack that houses the flue. Use carpeting instead of hardwood or laminate. I'd go with laminate instead of carpet. Laminate has a longer lifespan and is more forgiving with kids. Eliminate the sink in the laundry. Good call. We had a sink in our laundry room when I was growing up; it was a place for junk to collect. As an adult, I've never had one and have never once said, "I wish..." We could build larger, but the most important thing to us is that I am able to stay at home with the boys if I wanted/needed to and also that we can support them when they begin to drive and go off to college. Building below your means is always wise. Also, if we made the sunroom have a long hallway rather than an outdoor walkway would this help cut down cost? I wouldn't mind a long hallway to hang pictures etc on the way out the back door. Like a breezeway? Perhaps with a sliding glass door on each end? That's a practical choice. Cpartist, where else would we put it? We want an open floor plan with Windows across the front and a loft at the top for our boys. Anywhere except where it is -- the bedroom is really what's throwing off your whole plan. At 1/3 of your first floor, it's as large as your living room, and it's oversized for this plan -- worst, it's preventing you from having backyard access. You can have an open floorplan with windows across the front and a space for your boys without this problem. Google "3 bedroom cape cod" or "3 bedroom Southern House with Porch". You'll find loads and loads of plans with just what you're wanting. Note too that if you bring the stairs to a more conventional center-of-the-house location (essentially flipping the stairs and the kitchen), you will have those windows in the kitchen. About the stairs: Switchback stairs are sf hogs. You could trim your square footage by going with a straight set of stairs. Or you could make the stairs do double-duty by placing a half-height closet underneath. On the subject of the bedroom, if you steal 2" from the bedroom (which you can easily afford to give up), you can enlarge your master closet enough to add 1/3 more storage space. I'm no clotheshorse, but I can't image not wanting this. I agree no access to the deck from the kitchen is a LITTLE inconvenient, but to be honest we had a deck right off of the kitchen in our last home and we never used it...ever. I think everyone else here disagrees with the qualifier "little", and the person who pointed out it'd make your house impossible to resell is right. Bpathome, we would like to cut off about $10-15,000. We are almost at our target budget so I am curious as to how much removing the third door to the garage would cut back (without downsizing.) Building always comes with surprises. If you want to stick to your target budget, you need to begin fairly well under it (at least 10%). Removing the garage door without downsizing will save a few hundred for the door ... but you're talking pennies in the grand scheme of things, and then you'd have a garage with reduced function. I agree with you: No point in this cut. We've a two story foyer in our past 2 houses and our next house will have no 2 story anything because the sound transmission is really annoying, imo. I used to think lofts were great -- until we rented a lake house with a loft. A person watching TV in the living room disturbed a person reading or napping in the loft -- and vice-versa. This was made worse in the house we rented because everything in the house was "hard" -- wooden floors, shutters on the windows, no drapes, the only soft thing was the sofa /chairs. This is not something you want in your everyday house. This isn't about your family being close or not -- as your kids grow older, you'll want some separate space. You're not going to want to listen to their music or them play video games with their friends. Our family's very close too, but that doesn't mean we don't need a space where a couple people can watch TV while someone else is doing homework. You're going to want to make a phone call without hearing the boys playing upstairs; they're going to want to call girls without you in earshot. However, this is only a 1900 sq ft home. We aren't trying to make the powder room it's own wing. If you have suggestions on moving it somewhere that is cost efficient be my guest at letting me know where. If you go with the breezeway idea, the powder room would work great in that area. It'd also be convenient to the backyard. I absolutely loved this plan before posting it on this forum. You guys have picked it apart and not had any positive feedback...except a few of you. I still love it, but I am concerned guest will come over and instead of seeing its charm and open-ness will see the same things you guys have see Honestly, I don't mean to be harsh, but I see no redeeming features on the first floor -- I like the exterior very much, and the upstairs is nice. Other things I can see that'd save money: Look at this circled spot on your plan:Exterior walls are quite expensive compared to interior walls; thus, this walkway is extremely expensive. It'd be cheaper to "bring the house over to meet the garage". Porches aren't as expensive as interior space, but they also aren't cheap. Consider downsizing the porch from full-width ... to partial width ... or even just a stoop over the door -- this could probably be a difference of 6-8K just on the front of the house -- and you could go with a deck out back instead of a porch: