Where I live, the average is a mere 32 inches or so. This year, we ended up with 42 inches. Plus, it's cooler here than say, Oklahoma, although it can get hot. The weirdest thing is how dry this winter has been so far. By this time last year, and the year before for that matter, we were running out of places to pile snow. One of my kids moved to Olympia, WA recently. That locale seems to be getting plenty of moisture lately! I think 'effective precipitation' is really the key, as others have already pointed out. Overall, I think we're seeing fewer "three day rains", where it comes down slowly but for a long time. It's all big downpours now, with the accompanying runoff. But with this current drought, gotta wonder where we're headed for the next growing season. +oM

Hey bobyoe! Glad you straightened that out for everyone! However, your comments do raise an issue that "$ per sq. ft" obsessed folks need to think about when they talk to a builder. It's the cost of the whole project that counts, not just the cost of the house. Plus, the features, finishes, and location of the house within a market area can make a 10,000 sq ft house cost less than a 6,000 sq ft. house. No one gave us a good ballpark estimate for things like professional fees, permits, impact fees, drainage systems, or site work before we started. Most of those items were not related to the size of the house. Those costs will end up being about 18% of the total project costs. No one could convince my "$ per sq ft obsessed husband" that the features he wanted in our house were equivalent to building multiple luxury kitchens. He is convinced now :-). Same thing goes for the outside entertainment areas. He thought the covered areas should be priced like a garage. Wrong. The spec'd finishes bring the entertainment areas to a higher cost for build out than any non-plumbed room in the airconditioned space. The thing that I think we could all agree about is that you can buy an existing home at a significantly lower cost per sq. ft. in today's market. Major builders are dumping new 5 and 6 bedroom 8,000 sq ft homes in our county for $600-$800K. Yeah, they are in outlying areas on small lots, but they are brand new homes. So, in addition to size and features, you have to price in: 1. supply and demand, and 2. location within a location. We are in Palm Beach County, Florida. Our lot costs vary from $20 million per acre on the ocean in Palm Beach, $10 million per ocean front acre 15 miles south on the same island, $2-5 million per acre intracoastal waterway on the same island, and $50,000 for a 1/4 acre builder's lot 15 miles west of the ocean where the national builders are dumping their inventory. Why bring lot costs into the discussion? It's because builders will hit you hard for building in an area of high land costs. I guess they think they are entitled to a big premium if you are paying premium prices for your lot. That's my 2 cents for the day!

Do your homework - lots of it. Find an honest contractor - talk to his last three clients. Did he finish on time and on budget? Were there tons of adders to his bids? Simply doing this will potentially save you thousands. Not a theoretical answer - this is what we did. We have about 4200 sq ft finished - 4 car garage - 3 sides brick w/ custom rock retaining wall and all hardwood floors on the main - ground source heat pump and all LED lighting - 9' - 8' and 18' ceilings in various rooms on the main. Attic storage - Storage in the basement - 4 br / 3.5 bath w/ patio and a large screened in porch. All concrete decks and extended concrete driveways on the upper and lower garages - all of this is on 20 acres w/ a road - well - and septic. Septic was engineered to code. All of this -including the land - was less than what you're talking about spending. This is how I saved money - I cut the trees and took the saw-logs to the mill to have our hardwood flooring made - I installed all of the ceramic tile in the lower finished basement - I installed all of the light fixtures / fans / and networking cables - I hauled in gravel for the roadway - I did all of the final landscaping and final seeding - I built the custom rock retaining wall (that saved $12k+ right there). I guess what I'm saying is you can save real money if you get in there and work it...

Assuming California ballpark utility rates of $1.25 per therm and 15.34 cents per kwh, a 3.7 UEF Heat Pump Water Heater is cheaper to operate, than any available gas model. I agree there are many situations that call for tankless gas but for most new construction, HPWH is now best choice. New designs can account for space requirements. Cold climates are the toughest fit, but think a good case can be made for them when incorporated into design. For existing replacements in temperate garages, large utility rooms and basements, HPWH should be the first choice. Just make sure the space matches the headroom and volume requirements. Some don't seem to make a distinction between high efficiency gas models that have fairly safe combustion venting and cheap gas models that are atmospherically or naturally vented. The only safe place for atmospherically vented models is strictly outside of the building envelope. Backdrafting so regularly, they should be illegal inside a home and someday will be. We do combustion appliances for clients that want them but will not do natural vented gas models inside the building envelope. They are a serious liability whether the home is tight or leaky. 30 years NG transition seems about right but that's for utility scale generation. Burning it inside residential homes adds too much unnecessary risk. The backdrafting issues are not compatible with efficient construction. Especially now that heat pumps are cheaper to heat with than NG in most utility markets. ETA: I appear to be way off with current ballpark CA utility pricing. At 19 cents per kwh and $1 per therm, NG is cheaper to operate assuming high efficiency units. Sorry CA! That's ignoring monthly utility fees and reduced cooling loads which if included, could make HPWH the better investment. Agree with David that NG is artificially low there compared to electric and is likely to change soon. ETA 2: Digging deeper into average CA prices, 1.25 per therm may not be too far off. Lots of regional and yearly variances in that state. In San Fran's current market, the Prestige beats NG but in San Diego it does not. Let's just say it's competitive there, for now.. :)