Hi samjal Be very careful with the numbers you are receiving from both builders. I am certain those are not apples to apples comparisons. We live in Cleveland, OH and the our two markets are VERY similar in terms of price and construction. We are in the process of designing and building a custom home in the suburbs and know that a high end home costs, on average, $150-$200 sq ft. Your finishing are what will really increase the price (in addition to complexity of architectural design and interior features). We checked with multiple award winning custom home builders (all with architects and interior designers) and all of them were around the same price range. Didn't matter if the house was 3000 sq ft or 7500 sq ft, same comparables in terms of quality and construction. One of the parade of homes in Cleveland was 5800 sq ft. That house was 1.5 million and the land was 300k of that. So $206 per sq ft. And that was a phenomenal award winning builder. Even in the 600k range, you should be able to get a high end custom home builder in Ohio. However, you will likely be looking at $150+ if you want anything close to luxury. Anything Sater designed is luxury / custom grade NOT builder (i.e. cheap) grade. As far as design costs go... we are paying $22,000 (50% up front, rest due when designs are 90% complete). That cost includes: 1. A custom designed set of buildable Architectural Drawings that incorporate all of your personal design specification, based on lot requirements and restriction, deed restrictions, personal input and budget. The architectural plans will include foundation plans, first and second floor plans, elevations, all relative sections, a roofing plan, a proposed basement finished plan and all other drawings required for home completion. 2. Interior Selection/Design Services - The cost will included 10 - 4 hour design/selection meeting at a variety of locations and detailed interior drawings and layouts as needed. We will be doing some computer generated images of specific interior design elements for some rooms / basement. 3. The structural design will be stamped by a Profession Structural engineer and will account for any unique soil conditions existing on the site. 4. A detailed survey will be included with existing topographical information, driveway layout, house layout, house proposed floor elevations and a proposed rough grading plan. 5. Time and effort required to receive zoning approval and any zoning variances required for the proposed agreed upon layout. Any applicable variance fees are included. 6. Final drawings to be given to the purchaser in electronic reproducible format. If you do not have a contract for design services that is close to what I posted, do not even consider the builder. You should also retain full rights to your plans and designs. The construction contract would be separate, however with our builder at the table... we have been able to keep a firm check on construction costs and several times have the option to discuss costs with subcontractors to make sure they were within budget limits. Since our markets are very similar, please make sure you are getting the same quality treatment and not getting ripped off by a sub-standard builder.

While there are some exceptions, such as suzi's example above, I don't think you need an agent for a new house. I say this as a person that has built 3 houses that ran the spectrum of builder types: large tract, national builder, semi-custom (builder owned lot) and built our house based on a design his draftsman drew (some choices in options--not many), and a custom home on a lot we purchased (with no obligation to use a certain builder). We used a realtor for the semi-custom home and to purchase the land for the custom home. The agent for the semi-custom home was paid for nothing--literally did nothing after we made the initial offer on the lot. He called us to find out when we were closing so he could pick up his check. He also stopped at the house with us after closing to take a peek at it. There was no value in using him for the purchase. Later I became an agent. I still would contend you don't need an agent--even after "helping" a sibling buy from a new home builder. We educated ourselves on the building process and had looked at new houses in the area to know what others were doing in the interior in our price range. A smart attorney and a few good books on construction will cost less.

Insane numbers.....welcome to the world of regulation and it's direct affects on making homes outrageously more expensive (and we thought it was all because those pesky developers just want 100% profits). Generally speaking, you can expect 25-30% of a new home's costs to be directly attributed to regulation (zoning, permits, impact fees, meeting EPA standards, road requirements, sewer/water, the list goes on). California as a state has some of the most stringent zoning/regulation laws in the country, it's not unusual in some cities to see 40% of a homes cost due to regulation. So, it's not a coincidence that CA has really high home prices compared to other states (ex. Texas with some of the least restrictive regulations). So, I don't know San Diego specifically but given it's in CA, I would not be surprised if these numbers aren't accurate. Pony up and enjoy the ride, there is no lee way with your local planning department, etc. as they look at you without a care in the world telling you why rule #........means an extra $$$$$$$. Or maybe they just randomly decided they aren't going to follow their own rule, absolutely nothing you can do except open your wallet. We just got told for a one home build in an older neighborhood with all homes on septic that the new house would be required to tie into county sewer. Bringing the sewer would require going in the public road and re-paving the entire thing to public road standards. Meanwhile, the site was already approved to allow sewer through an easement previously established between two houses (obviously the cheaper alternative). Why the county decided their own rule already approved is no longer valid? Well, that's the beauty of govt., they can do whatever they damn well please. Probably not what you wanted to hear, just a cynic's take on years experience. Happy building and hopefully no NIMBY's on your block during your build job.

No one will notice the depth. Everyone will notice the width. If you’re nuts over symmetry, why hasn’t that made your radar before the inconsequential 1’ difference. If you didn’t notice that, then the 1’ depth issue is just a burr in the top side of your saddle blanket. It won’t bother the horse or the rider, or the next cowboy over either.