I don't understand how I'm not ready for (ballpark) estimates @JuneKnow? Maybe I worded the original question poorly. We have never built before so I'm not familiar with nuances and implications behind terms like "quotes" - if "getting a quote" implies getting a builder to start getting bids from subs and sitting down with a detailed spreadsheet to start going over estimated costs of the different aspects of the build, etc. then that's not at all what I meant. I certainly don't think we are at the stage of getting these types of detailed estimates. And @Joseph Corlett, LLC once we eventually do get to that stage, I would expect by that time we would have narrowed down which builder we wanted to work with and THEN sit down and get into a detailed, more accurate quote to build. But like @shrip said, if we were genuinely torn between two builders and we needed to get a little more information from each of them before making a final decision on who to work with, that's certainly my prerogative, and I wouldn't go around advertising it and holding that over their heads. Ew.

So let me back up a step and maybe clarify where we are at. We are planning to meet with a few builders to (#1) see their work in person and (#2) show them what we are after and get a ballpark idea of what it will cost... with the intent to find out if this is something we can (in general) afford at this point in time.

I'm basically looking for a builder to say, what you've shown me is generally in the $200 sqft range or $300 sqft range, etc. So back to the original post, what should we/could we be bring to a builder in order to get a realistic ballpark estimate like this? Is getting an estimate like this not possible to do? I genuinely don't know, I had just assumed it was possible.

"If you haven’t been visiting all the open houses, you don’t even know what is possible, or anything really at all about options." What type of options are you referring to here? Upgrades? Newer trends? I honestly don't want to be swayed by whatever the new trends are. We are pretty simple folks and don't envision building some swanky place with the latest and greatest [fill in the blank finishings]. I'm usually tuned off by trendy stuff. We both love old houses and our idea of major/luxury upgrades are stone instead of brick for a fireplace, Hardi over vinyl siding, and a metal roof vs. shingles. If I could have those three "upgrades" paired with the floor plan I really like, I would feel like a king in my palace. Is there such thing as a "modest" or "no frills" custom home? We don't like bells, whistles, or bling. That's never been our personality or lifestyle. We are too utilitarian for that I think. I don't need fancy shower drains, taps or multiple shower heads. But maybe I'm misunderstood and you aren't referring to those types of "options?"

Here is a list items I've already shopped around for and know what I want; type of: roof, siding, windows, flooring (generalities here, not specifics yet), paint, countertops for kitchen, sinks, bathroom vanities, appliances (a couple still undecided), baseboards, doors, door knobs, cabinet hardware, kitchen cabinets (I know what type, size, function, and style cabinets I want, as well as the layout of them in the kitchen, just haven't figured out what route to go as far as sourcing), I already have several lighting fixtures on hand, tile for showers/bathrooms, and so on. The things I haven't gotten into yet are the major systems like HVAC, electrical (though I do have a "desired" electrical layout regarding outlets, lights, and fans), and plumbing.

I know the floor plan I want, though I have no doubt an architect could finesse and improve upon my general idea. I've been pulling this together as a side project for at least 5-6 years.

The way I've been approaching this is we can either afford to build what we want (because we generally know what we want) or we can't. If we can't afford what we want at this point in time, we will simply wait until a later time.

So what is someone supposed to do when they know what they want to build, but don't know how much it will cost? What's the course of action for someone in this scenario? Is this an unusual scenario?

@cpartist - So I'm beginning to think "estimate" is the wrong term to convey where I'm at (see previous reply). Or maybe I'm barking up the wrong tree? Should I be getting with a GC instead?

"So what is someone supposed to do when they know what they want to build, but don't know how much it will cost?"

The key is to get the person that gives you the cost estimate to know what you want to build, and just a floor plan does not do that. They should have at least a site plan, foundation plan, a floor plan of each floor, at least four exterior elevations, building section(s) to explain the construction, interior elevations, finish schedule, electrical plans, and details; all dimensioned and noted and coordinated.

You need to look at custom homes in your area of a similar size that you want to build, and that's your ballpark. It doesn't really matter if they have an open floorplan or not, or if they're modern or traditional. If you can comfortably afford those homes, you can probably afford to build.
Then you get with an architect and builder, get your plans drawn up, and get your project out to bid. Then you get your bid back and realize it's more than you were expecting (and likely the final cost will be at least 10% more than that), and you have to decide at that point, when you're already invested, if you want to move forward.
Oh, and none of that happens without a lot.
So, there's risk involved, and you will ultimately need to spend money to get your question answered. That's what people do when they're trying to figure out if they can afford to build. And sometimes, even after doing the legwork and thinking you can afford it, you can't (or maybe you could, but ultimately you don't want to, because comparably sized houses down the street are selling for 30% less and it doesn't make financial sense).
It's a grueling process. Good luck!

OK! Thank you for the clarification all. I didn't realize I was trying to "start in the middle." I have in my minds eye exactly what I want and I thought if I could sketch it out to scale with a rough electrical layout, get it in Sketchup, and put together a somewhat comprehensive list of finishings, that I could at least get some sort of ballpark number, but it seems I was gravely mistaken. I will certainly try to check out as many homes as I can and go from there.

@Sincerely Kristen - Ten months ago, I was where you are. If you haven't done this already, then you need to find and purchase your land, then you need to find an architect who can tell you if some version of your paper napkin plan will fit on your lot given any restrictions/challenges that lot has. Then let him design it for you such that it fits that lot and has enough information for the builder to quote (and the bank to consider financing your project). Until you have drawings, anything the builder tell you is a guess. You'll likely need to compromise and architect will help you make better decisions or come up with good solutions.

I can tell you that if you live in the Phoenix, AZ area you can do something pretty darn nice for between $200/sq ft - $300/sq ft. That's probably a good ballpark cost unless you live on one of the coasts. Then again, material prices are fluctuating (which is making me nervous because my design is not yet finalized). So, who knows. Patience is key and once you have plenty of that, then you'll need plenty of money because everything costs—everything.

Ten months ago, I was as excited. Today, I calmly wait for my architect to finish my design for the second of three design reviews. Progress seems to happen at a glacial pace. I pass the time watching interest rates fluctuate, lumber futures, wondering if steel will be cheaper, wondering if I can convince my wife to get a second job to pay for the Subzero Pro48, and looking forward to the daily updates in this forum.

So, get some land, get a complete design from an architect that fits on it, then get a quote. It's the recipe that seems to be working for me.

"I would never tell you that you are my 3rd estimate, so you would never know that information."

You'll answer every question I ask at our first phone call or it will be our last. Weeding out tire kickers and the budgetless are the first things you learn at contractor's school.

@Sincerely Kristen,

Custom homes--at least true custom homes-- are unique. Building one tends to be a unique experience, but hopefully, for the client and not for the builder. It's not unusual for folks to begin the process at different places and from different perspectives. You have a particular floor plan and exterior look-and-feel in mind. Not too many custom homes begin with a truly blank sheet of paper. You're at an okay place to start, even if it's in the middle.

Your need is to have your ideas/wants/preferences translated into a home that's right for you and your family including the cost to construct it. Getting an idea of costs early on is a definite plus unless you have an unrestricted budget. There are plenty of threads on houzz which relate the experiences of aspiring custom homeowners who waited until the plans were fully detailed to get a good number on cost by competitive bidding. Many of those plans were never built. The problem is that architects tend to be good at translating the ideas/wants/preferences into a set of plans, but not so good at the construction cost part. It's not really part of their day job, and in the current environment of material shortages and rapidly escalating costs, they should be glad it's not.

I recommend you speak with a couple of builders, but not dive into the "how much will it cost to build?" question first. Designing and building a home are both processes; ask process-related questions. Explore how each proposes to take you from where you are to where you want to be. After you've explored their processes, ask to see plans/specs/photos of recently completed homes in the cost range you are exploring. You may have to connect the dots to infer what your home is likely to cost, but at least you'll be doing it starting with real cost data.

Best wishes for a successful project.

I built a custom craftsman style home. One that was authentic enough that it wound up being featured in Old House Journal in the February 2021 issue. When i started our builder estimated our build would be x dollars a square foot based on my rough description of what i wanted. It was almost 1/3 more. Price per square foot is meaningless.

In fact until you pick out every appliance, trim, door handle, door style, floor, roof, etc, it’s meaningless

@Joseph Corlett, LLC, You have not offered one bit of advice to the OP. Why are you trolling?

"@Joseph Corlett, LLC, You have not offered one bit of advice to the OP. Why are you trolling?"

Oh, but I disagree. I've given her the most valuable advice of all. She seems to think that contractors have nothing better to do than to write proposals for unqualified prospects. I want to disabuse her of that notion.

Contractors are not competing for her business; she's competing for contractors. At least the guys she wants. Just like getting a date, she's gotta look her best. And the best looking prospects appreciate the time of busy contractors.

Answer all his questions, tell him how you got his name, and never play hide-the-budget. Ain't nobody got time for that. Best advice ever.

BTW building is always more expensive than buying an older home

We unexpectedly had to spend an extra 30k on a retaining wall in our backyard.

@Patrick A - Thank you very much for the insight. This helps a bit! And I was hoping find a builder whose work I really like, and if I decided to move forward with them, have them help me locate a piece of land. I have no idea what I'm looking at with land (except I know I want the land to slope away from the house and who doesn't want a nice view?) and I have found a couple builders websites that said they either try to have some lots available, or will help their clients find land. I was really hoping to go that route since I'm confident they will have a better eye for it. It seems this may not be common practice? But I know I saved at least one or two websites that mentioned this.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC Your comments are perceived as steeped in judgement and arrogance. I feel you have misunderstood my intentions, as I'm struggling to articulate what I'm trying to do and where I'm at in this situation. I've never done this before and I came here to *learn* -- Rather than assuming someone's intentions, then look down your nose at them, maybe try educating them in such a way that doesn't leave them feeling particularly awful? You're shaming the puppy that had an accident and it makes you come across as an egotistical troll. My intentions are not as you described. I'm not trying to kick tires nor waste anyones time! I'm trying to *find out* if I *am* qualified to build and (if it isn't obvious to you) I have no idea how to go about doing that. And @shirlpp is correct, you really haven't brought anything constructive to the table here - only backhanded comments. Please refrain from commenting here again.

@Charles Ross Homes Thank you for your input! I appreciate it! And yeah, I don't know of anyone that has an "unlimited" budget. I would imagine even the multimillionaires have to draw a line somewhere. Thanks for the info about the other Houzz threads - I will try to seek those out. And interesting you mention that about the architects not often being well acquainted with the most current costs of building. I've seen some custom builders sites that claim they have someone (I think an architect) on staff? I wonder if going that route would be better since, I would presume, they would be working closely together? Thanks again for the info, what you're saying makes sense!

Thank you @cpartist - It sounds like you had a wonderful project there! It would be a dream to have a new house build to the level of character and craftsmanship of an older home. And yes, I am well aware that it costs more to build vs buy existing. Buying existing is honestly our first choice. But we've been keeping an eye out for over a year now and we haven't seen anything we really like come on the market. We want our next home to be a very long term home; at least 20 years or more if we had our way - we don't want to settle for just anything. Sigh.

@Ac Lb Ouch. That doesn't sound like fun!

Have plenty of cushion in your budget, because even your builder won't get the bid 100% right and things will cost more, sometimes way more!

@Sincerely Kristen,

Designing and building a custom home are highly interrelated processes. You might choose to work with a design/build company which has design resources on staff or an architect who is willing to collaborate with your builder beginning in the design phase. Either approach can work. While nobody can guarantee that all of your objectives will be met, assembling a team--to include the designer/architect, builder and builder's trade contractors--from the outset certainly improves the likelihood.

Just remember if you go with a design/build firm, the architect works for the builder even if he says he doesn't because the builder will be the one paying the architect. So given a choice of having something correctly detailed to look like an older house, or to do it the way the builder always does it, guess which way the architect will do it?

And you could wind up like I did where we were told he had an architect on staff.

Honestly, you'd be better off finding an old house and putting back the charm and the walls you're missing.

@chispa Thank you for that advice. I have heard that over and over again, and also seen close friend go through that as well. I am *definitely* keeping this in mind. Thanks for the reminder!

@Charles Ross Homes That type of arrangement sounds very appealing to me. I really like the idea of everyone being on the same page from the very beginning.

@cpartist Yes, we are still keeping our eye out and keeping fingers crossed. We really enjoy working on the older homes too. That's always been our "thing." Find and older home and give it some TLC. I hope one comes along. It sure would make life easier! And that's a really, really good point you make with the design/build firms. I hadn't thought about that. Hmmm. More to think on.

Kristen:

Please accept my apologies. I have apparently misinterpreted your situation.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC Thank you for the apology. I'm struggling to articulate things. I don't know what I don't know, and I'm just trying to navigate this.

You say you have friends who have built custom. If you can afford their house(s), then you can afford to build. You're on your way. Just be aware that covid has thrown a wrench into costs (we bid in August 2020 and even our builder was surprised at how much it came back at, and costs have only increased since then). You won't be able to get anything definite until you go through the process. I know you think you're helping by picking out all of your finishes now, but ultimately what you're doing is removing your ability to compromise when your budget is blown. It's fine to pick the big things (have to haves), but if everything is a have to have, you might be unpleasantly surprised by what it costs you, and then you'll find yourself in the unfortunate position of deciding between the cultured marble bath vanity you don't want and keeping things in budget, or that beautiful soapstone that you had your heart set on and sacrificing your kids' college funds. I exaggerate, but going too far down the path you're on - if you don't have buckets of money to spend - will ultimately mean you're stuck compromising. But none of us know your financial situation. Maybe "afford" to you just means convincing yourselves that it's ok to spend this much money on a house, not whether or not you have the money. I'm speaking from the perspective of someone at the low end of having enough money to build a custom home (my definition of "afford"), who compromised on some things (carpet upstairs instead of hard wood, 36" induction cooktop instead of the 48" pro range, cultured marble vanities in the kids' bath, etc.) and still had our bid come in well over budget.

Many, many years ago an executive showed me his stunning Architect drawn Craftsman house plans. The design-build firm had quoted $500k. Said exec was happy until I asked if he was prepared to spend another $250/$300k for the appropriate finishes. After another meeting with the firm (regarding finishes costs) the house was never built. The details will always bite you in the butt.

What do I need to bring?

Donuts.

@anj_p & @chiflipper - It's starting to sound like meteorologists are better at predicting the weather than a builder the cost of a home.

So when I go out to see/tour these new homes and then hear how much it cost to build that particular house, is it not a good idea to make assumptions based on that (as far as what level of house we could afford)? Would an acceptable question to ask be "what was the initial budget vs. the final cost?" Or is that type of question out of line? I could see where builders could potentially boast about helping clients stay close to their initial budget (provided they have a realistic initial budget). Do builders like to take pride in that sort of thing? Or is that not "a thing?"

My personality is such that I like to plan ahead, have multiple back up plans, I typically do a ton of research before starting any sort of project, and I like to know as much as possible up front. I know I don't like "unknowns." I'm a planner. I like to know. - Hmmmm I think I need to ask myself if I'm ok with knowing there will be (potentially massive) unknowns. My initial gut reaction to that idea is, "ugh."

I was in your shoes a few years ago. I loved my house, but it was going to be too big for the next phase of life. “Let’s build!” was exciting! So off to look at this great new neighborhood around a lake. Or the infill development down from the college. That excitement lasted until I got to the reality of building, and builders, and builder’s wives acting as “designers” to tell me “no” or “that will be extra” to things I wanted. Thank goodness that I signed no contract!

Cross off a production build, and call up my friend who is a custom builder, who I was reluctant to presume on the friendship to begin with. But I really needed advice. We had dinner, and he was honest with me that I’d spend way more money to get a smaller nicer house. I’d have to pick a hot couple of areas in specific locations if I wanted to create any equity in the home, and build bigger than I wanted. I’d lose 150K right off the bat, building, over buying an existing home.

That talk was sobering. But it did get me to explore an area that I wasn’t considering before, and the older homes there. Lots were being sold as teardowns, but I didn’t want to do the big house. I needed the smaller house. I bought a smaller single floor house on the edge of the hot area, and remodeled a few things with my designer before I moved in. Now the tear downs and spike in values has passed my door, and my new master bathroom that I‘m planning will be “free”, with the refinance cash out sitting in the bank, waiting on contractor availability sometime next winter.

@Sincerely Kristen THAT is exactly how to do your initial research to get good numbers. Then design a home with similar complexity and finishes, add ___% (provided by same builder) for construction inflation and you should be close. Remember your home will start 12-18 months after the homes you have viewed.

@MaryKat Thanks for that insight. Yeah, we like to put our money into good investments. So far we've always bought older homes, given them a little TLC while we are living in them, and then end up reaping the rewards when selling because the house increases in value (above and beyond whatever the current market is supporting) and curb appeal. I really don't love the idea of going into a house where we've paid more than what it would worth on the market. Humph. I mean we are comfortable with money, but we didn't get where we are by throwing money away at bad investments, that's for sure. BUT if the intent is to get *exactly* what one wants and for it to be a forever (or at least a very long term home) then I think that "investment" is a moot point because an "investment" per say is no longer the intent/goal. I think we are going to rent for a year and let the market calm down, continue to keep an eye out for an old house with a little land (what we truly want), and start looking for open houses and checking out other new builds to get a better idea of the cost to build. We did just find a rental that's in an old mansion. So I can still get my little "old house" fix. Ha! I'm still clinging to my floorplan though. Haha. I'll just keep developing it over time as a side project. Maybe one day it will get built!

Honestly, right now is the absolute worst time to build a house. Supplies and LABOR are limited and the prices are insane. Builders are already behind because of the lack of supplies and it’s not getting better.

Right now builders have waiting lists of people who want their tract builds because the lack of real estate inventory. They can build 3 of their tract homes to 1 of your “custom builds”.

Id definitely put this project off until things settle down.

@Sincerely Kristen - This is a little off topic, so feel free to PM me. Would love to see some of your inspiration photos, as I think we may have similar tastes. Also happy to share about my experience building a custom home.

@JoeCorlett-

You should know that I think you are marvelous, but I don't know that I would have answers to all or even most of the questions.

When I went to meet the divorce attorney she asked what I wanted.

I said, "I don't know. What should I want? I don't know anything about this. Isn't that what you're for? Why don't you tell me what I should want?"

Did JuneKnow write a comment? It was referred to by the OP but I don't see it, drat, she writes such good stuff, I could have learned something!

JuneKnow, please come back!

Sincerely Kristen- I am more than a bit confused by your saying you have your "house plans."

For example, you wrote,

"The things I haven't gotten into yet are the major systems like HVAC, electrical (though I do have a "desired" electrical layout regarding outlets, lights, and fans), and plumbing."

For me, those are the most important things, and very big ticket items that also affect the land you buy.

Do you want to connect to municipal plumbing or are you willing to have your own septic system?

How old are you and how long will you live in the house?

Is is economically feasible to get solar panels or windmills or a hydroelectric turbine (ok, so you probably don't live in Alaska, and I have been watching those Alaska TV shows too much, but you do want to think about electricity and what you want to do about it.)

I would be thinking about that stuff, and the foundation of your house first.

What kind of foundation do you want?

Do you live in a state affected by drought? What is the soil like where you are? What will that do to your house?

It seems to me that you are thinking more about the design of it all, the bells and whistles, and what you have are thoughts on the design, a "look book, " rather than a plan.

@Sincerely Kristen So glad you took the comments in stride and came to the conclusion "I don't know what I don't know" and are willing to learn & continue to research. Great idea to rent while continuing this process. Just curious about some things that really come before the decision to build in my mind: your age range, do you have a partner, children, location States/Canada/ Australia) ??? Also how many of these older homes have you purchased and updated?? Thanks

One other thought. You have a house in mind, but that house may not fit the land you eventually buy. One doesn’t just plop a house on a piece of property

There are a number of alternative approaches including designing a home and then finding an appropriate site on which to build it; finding a property and designing a home that suits it or a hybrid of the two.

@loobab T& @jck910 To answer some of your questions I have "floor plan" (i.e. a layout of rooms, halls, stairs, windows, doors, kitchen, etc.) I also sketched out where I would want electrical outlets, lights, fans, etc. I have some guesses as to where HVAC returns would go and air registers would be placed but I don't know enough about those systems and nothing about those codes involved so I didn't attempt to sketch the placement of those things. I did try to leave room for those things while guessing as to where they might go. I would obviously need to work with an architect to get the real deal drawn up. I have a code book (you can laugh, I'll take it) that I refer to (it's not deep into the codes, just generalities that skim the surface) to guide me as I drew the layout. So hopefully it's not a total disaster.

We are confident we would have septic and well. We like living outside city limits. We've always had septic. Only have experience with one well, but it doesn't service the house. Actually, it's plumbed in such a way that the well can service the house, but after seeing what comes out of the yard hydrants (and being fairly certain there is no filtration system for the house) I wouldn't elect to turn on the well water service. It was on my list to start looking into well water quality in that area (if such things are documented) just to have an idea and then start looking into filtration systems. Though I'd want a water quality test done from the actual site before purchasing a system.

You asked my age *gasp* but I will tell you that we are somewhere in our 30's and want our next house to be very long term, as I've mentioned previously. At least 20 years if all went according to plan and we had things go our way. It's just the two of us, our only debt is our current mortgage, have excellent credit, and in general, we have tried to be smart with our money. I think we have a fairly healthy budget. I don't feel comfortable disclosing that publicly. I'm not asking anyone here if I can afford the house I have in mind. How would you know? I'm sure we are in different areas, so how could anyone know. Apparently even the builders themselves in the area with all the proper items and documents already in place/established don't really know how much things will cost in the end! Ha!

So maybe the exactly dollar amount of our budget is a moot point anyhow? My question was essentially, how do I find out if I can afford the house I want. I know what my friend paid for hers, so I have at least one benchmark to go by. And I think building in general is doable with our budget. But I just don't know if my "must have" list is doable if there ends up also being massive $$$$$$ surprises involved along the way. That could potentially put us in a stressful situation and I'm not interested in taking that gamble. I really like having a comfortable mortgage the we can double down on.

Not interested in solar panels or turbines. I appreciate what they do, but IMO they are a huge eyesore. I've seen them "worked in" in attempt to be disguised, but my eye is always immediately drawn to that. I like the concept of geothermal (though I'm told it has some shortfalls, just like anything I suppose) but am assuming we couldn't afford these up and coming technologies that have to be worked on by few-and-far-between specialists. I think we'd be just peachy with upgraded insulation and perhaps a few better-efficiency systems like tankless water heaters. We also like gas, so that might help offset some of the electrical use.

Definitely crawlspace, at least 3' tall if I could have it my way (I hate slabs, I hate living and walking on slabs and if you ever need work done, well just forget that hot mess), with a partial unfinished basement for purely storage and storm shelter. And it makes any work to be done a little easier. Ok, a lot easier. I pay attention and chat up the guys that come to the house for repairs, inspections, and such. In fact, when we purchased this house we asked the inspector if we could hang out with him and ask questions. He was very gracious. We loved it!

We have clay soil and have had basement (cinderblock) walls leak due to poor grading around a house before (though I suspect there is more to it than solely grading - I think there was a system fail on the other side of the wall. I can't imagine they put straight blocks against dirt... too porous right?) so I'd be extra cognizant of that and request special care and attention so we don't end up in a situation like that again. Definitely would want a drain in the unfinished basement floor (I think those drain into the sump pump?) just in case. I don't ever want to be in a flooded basement with a wet/shopvac again. No thanks. This was also the same house the contractor flipped and we had the roof leak issues. What a piece. It did have Hardi siding though! [rolls eyes] I cringe to think what was laying behind those at install. I'll never buy a "flipped house" again. Though, to our defense, we didn't realize that is what it was. It was our very first house. We've learned a few things from the school of hard knocks since then. -- We've also had a full septic system from land getting waterlogged from torrential downpours out at the drain fields, so I definitely would want this house to be built up on a slope with proper grading to avoid all of these "water issues."

Believe me, I'm not just thinkingabout design. I'm thinking about as much I can, or at least as must as I'm aware of. But I obviously need to get with the professionals. I'm not trying to do their job. I'm trying to apply what little I've learned to the layout I want, in the hopes it won't all have to be thrown into the crapper when someone who knows what they are doing gets their hands on it.

@cpartist Indeed. I am aware of that, and so I was hoping I could find a builder that has land inventory (I know of at least one builder in the area that claims to offer this on their website), and/or find one that helps clients find the right piece of land (I would imagine these might be the design/build firms?). We would hope to have a couple acres (we have 4.5 now, all cleared and maintained by me and that's about the max we can handle). I will miss our chickens when we move away from this house, and I hope to be able to have them again at our next place. If I have enough room for a BBQ, a few chickens, and a big garden I'll be set! It is a rather simple house, rectangle (almost square) footprint, so I assumed it wouldn't be too awfully difficult to orient on a lot... but again, this is beyond my wherewithal and I could be mistaken. It's also why the idea of having to buy land before even talking to an architect or builder puts me off. I want to make sure I can build this particular layout and I want the land to be able to accommodate that.

If you have questions about construction cost, you'll be better served consulting with a builder or design/build firm than an architect. Architects don't write checks for construction materials or trade labor. The best they can do is guestimate cost from previously built homes which may or may not be similar to what you have in mind. Indeed, if the homes are custom and vary in size, architectural style, finishes, etc., they may not be useful cost benchmarks. Throw in supply chain issues and rapidly escalating material prices like we have currently and the estimating error will be even greater. When a construction cost estimate is being produced, don't forget to include the design cost--it can be a significant component of the overall cost.

Thank you @Charles Ross Homes! You're not the first to tell me this about the architects in relation to construction costs. Very valuable info. Someone explained to me the potential downfall of working with a design/build firm, but I'm starting to think I would rather accept that potential trade off, than working strictly with an architect first, only to find out later that it will cost 3X what we can afford. I like the idea of having everyone on the same page from the beginning.

@Sincerely Kristen I did not ask your age. I asked range. Building a house for 20 years in your 30"s is different than same in your 50"s. I also did not ask about your finances. Just trying to get a picture of your lifestyle

@jck910 No worries. I was kind of teasing about the age thing. I understood where you were going with it. And apologies about directing the money answer to you. A couple ppl here asked or hinted at it. I'll have to go back and see who. A lot of back and fourth here. Oy. --- Side note; is that "910" as in area code in NC? I have family there!

I suggest you start by identifying the items you - and anyone else involved in the decision making - do not want to compromise on and fully research those items. We ran into budget problems before we even started. Identify roof, exterior trim and finish, insulation, heating and AC, windows, floors, kitchen cabinets and counters, appliances, bathrooms, any special features and don’t forget landscaping. Add a general contingency percentage and then add more for building in these crazy times. For example, just windows, interior and exterior doors was a huge eye opener for us. It is expensive to build quality with respect to the big ticket items. And don’t fool yourself thinking you can “save” money in other areas.

@shivece Thanks for the insight! Yes, I was just started to look into windows, narrow down the exact flooring, cabinets, etc. Each of those is a seemingly endless rabbit trail. We have decided to just rent (we found a rental in a mansion that will allow us to vacate early if we find a house to buy, which feels like a miracle!) for a year and let the market settle down. The inventory is so low in our area right now for existing homes, anything that needs fixing up is being gobbled up by flippers (if I see one more old house "destroyed" I might just cry) before it even hits the listings, and of course building right now feels completely unpredictable. *IF* we had decided to continue pursuing building we were considering starting with a detached garage with apartment over it, and live there for a year or two until the prices of lumber and such start to level out again. But after seeing what folks are writing here I think it would be better to just push "pause" and let the dust settle. In the meantime, we will keep our eye our, and fingers crossed, for an old charmer.

@Sincerely Kristen Haha September 10 my birthday

@Sincerely Kristen. My husband and I are now in the process of looking for a piece of land to build our dream home as well. I am on the same boat as you where I want to get a ballpark estimate with my rough drawing and to speak to builders to get a sense of what is realistic. In my mind, I want what I want in my dream home in terms of look and feel with all the bells and whistles. When purchasing a piece of land first, there is no guarantee my dream home can be built on that land.

Unfortunately, as others have pointed out, unless there is an approved plan, the builders really won’t entertain the idea. I spoke to a builder who knows the listing agent for the piece of land I was going to purchase so he gave me a very rough estimate based on what I told him I want to achieve. The real estate agent is looking for something built for themselves so they shared with me some figures as well. I am not sure what area you are from but if you message me I am happy to share with you what I learned. I am looking for something in the Orange County area in NY.

I am completely with you on wanting to know all the details first but in this market I doubt they will spare their time in speaking with prospective customers like us. Hope this helps.

Thanks! We ended up buying an older home (our favorite) and are under renovations to make it ours and also undo all of the sins of past owners. Lol! We like to renovate and restore as much original as possible and keep the interior to the era of the house. We are thinking we will do an addition so we can move the laundry out of the basement and also have a mud room. It just didn’t seem like a good time to build and we don’t want to be house poor. So I gave up on the dream house. I still have my sketches and maybe one day will do something with them.

Thanks for the update, Kristen. I’m thrilled you have a new (old) that you’ll personalize. That’s a lovely area too. I hope you can post some pix sometime. I’m on the hunt for my next home and I’m gathering all information and ideas. Congratulations and I hope things work out well for you.

Thank you! I might share some before and aftershock in the coming weeks/months! And best of luck to you as well! The prospect of any new home (old or new) is exciting!

Before and after photos*** (darn auto-incorrect)

I am working with a contractor to build my home, do I ask to see the quotes that he is showing me for budget?

You want to ask to see what he is showing you?

Start a new thread and be succinct.