The concept of "winterizing" a lawn or spreading a "winterizer" fertilizer comes from the people that sell synthetic fertilizers, although feeding turf grasses in early fall so the plants can store energy that can be used to grow in early spring is a good idea. Since one of the basics of organic growing is to make the soil into a good healthy soil that will grow strong and healthy plants that is the area one wanting a good lawn should be looking at and synthetics such as Urea do not contribute to a good healthy soil. Urea is known to adversely affect soil bacteria as well as the other members of the Soil Food Web. If the soil has an active Soil Food Web any of the grains as a meal, Alfalfa meal, etc. will be just fine as an early fall food for the soil. If the soil does not yet have an active Soil Food Web the same materials will aid in making that happen.

DH and I are building what we call a barn-house. It's a pretty standard L-shape with an attached garage. Three bedrooms, 2 baths, plus den, 2016 sq feet not counting the utility room and workshop inside the 3 car garage. The plans are engineered and approved for this state's code (Michigan) and a kit was delivered to us that DH and I started building, ourselves, in August of 2017. The plans/kit cost a little over $50K. What was provided were the beams, posts, trusses, metal siding, metal roofing, radiant barrier, trim, plastic soffits, floor joists, hangers, and OSB subfloor, , the screws for the metal siding and joists, (we had to buy the nails locally), and the house wrap. Also 3 metal exterior doors and hardware, (which turned out to be uglier than I expected, so we replaced 2 of the doors). Also provided is a very large very detailed book on how to construct it. We could have also gotten windows but they only supplied single-hung so we bought double-hung locally for another ~$5200. DH had this wild idea that we could finish it for as little as another $50K, to which I laughed and told him, that might cover the kitchen and maybe the bathrooms. More than likely it will cost us another 100k, for the interior, septic, connecting the well (which was $8000) , garage floor ($7000), So, NOT taking in to account the lumber price increases for the interior lumber we haven't bought yet, we're building a house for $150K. We already owned the land which we bought more than 20 years ago, for I think $65k. We live in rural northern Michigan. and except for things we know we can't do ourselves, eg. concrete, we are saving on labor by building this ourselves. We have decades of DIY knowhow between us, and the time because we are retired. As others before me have stated, it is extremely doubtful you'll be able to pull this off for merely $200K, though I hope you can. This is what it looks like so far. We do hope to be in by Christmas this year, even if we have to do some of the finishes after we move in, assuming the county will give us an occupancy permit. Good luck.

Your architect may have some idea for good contractors for the style you're looking for. And your architect may need to spend more time on site during construction to make sure the design is carried through.

I'm in Clarendon Hills, so a bit south of you, but in case it helps: I used Collins and Sarsfield for a large addition and extensive interior renovation (kitchen and 4 baths.) That was many years ago, but they've built several homes in the western suburbs more recently, including some for friends of mine. One of the business owners lives in Clarendon Hills, so his local reputation is important to him and he's very conscientious. If they don't do work in your area, they may know someone who does.