I've been paying roughly $1000-$1200/month for myself since my husband's retirement over ten years ago. That does not include kids. We covered them on student health plans, which turned out to be cheaper in sum. I can give you a couple of tips: Don't bother with the Federal Health Exchange site unless you will qualify for a supplement of some kind. It's not a terrible site, but you'll have to do everything yourself. You are better off contacting a local insurance broker (I found mine on NextDoor). It may end being a very simple decision because in many markets there is only one company that sells to non-group members. So I can buy a gold, silver or bronze plan, but only from Community Health Choice (Houston suburb). My plan offers a 10% discount for completing an annual survey. I'd had the same plan the year before but never knew about that discount until the agent told me -so ask about that. Try not to panic when you read the crazy deductibles. I think mine is $5000 (whereas ten years ago, it was probably $500), but so much preventative care is now covered pre-deductible, thanks to Obama care, that I think I'm spending less out-of-pocket than I did before. But I'm a pretty healthy person who doesn't use a lot of medical services except preventative, so your mileage may vary... When I first began to buy my own insurance plans (after DH's retirement), I made the mistake of picking the plan first, rather than the doctor. The last few years (when I had a choice of at least 2 companies to choose from), I compiled a list of at least a dozen primary physicians I could abide, and then called their offices to see if they were accepting new patients, when I would be able to get an appointment, and whether they had any plans to cancel coverage with insurance company X the next year, etc. I had learned the hard way (in January), that I may have had a great plan, but I couldn't find a dr. on that plan who would see me as a new patient before August. I kid you not.....So that year, I was paying $1200/month and actually didn't have a dr. I could see until August.....

So, it sounds like you know what it costs to build with a developer, in your area. Are you asking what it would cost to build the same size custom home? And the drawings would be your tool to communicate with builders to try to get an accurate statement of cost? I'm not sure that's going to A. work out all the accurately or B. be worth the cost to have drawings done that are that detailed. As my builder explained to us, every custom home is a prototype. No one has ever built it before, so there is no handy-dandy cost chart. There are some very, VERY rough "houses about this size are built for about this much" answers to that question. OR - you take your pretty nearly finished drawings from a person of design talent and let the builder get specific bids from his subs to frame, roof, HVAC, plumb, etc. And even make some basic specs about finishes. And that can give you a decent bid for the project. To get that far effectively requires a significant investment in the design. Part of the value of the architect who designs the project is that (at least for us) when we've gone back and said, "Nope, can't make that work, it's out of our budget", in the rough estimate phase, the next version was not just smaller, but simplified and designed to be more efficient to build. (Helpful hint - you'll affect the finished price of the house more with things like excessive corners and enormous roof profiles than you will with your finish choices, unless you get REALLY extravagant). But I get not wanting to dump 5 figures into a design that you'll never be able to afford to build. Custom is something of a leap of faith. (Even out here in Fly Over Country, where we paid ~$8K/acre for our parcel and I cringed)

Unless you have significant trade skills and will help to construct your own home, I think building a custom home is something for the rich who want what they want at a premium price. Most people cannot afford the premium in a custom home, and it certainly is a losing investment nine times out of 10. Reading your remarks, I think you are clearly the person who should be looking for a premium-built used home that is selling below its cost to build. Such homes can occasionally be purchased at steep discounts. I was toying with the idea of retiring to Nevada, and one home I saw had outrageous build quality. They had high-end stone masonry everywhere and things like custom arching beams. They spent about $375/square foot to build but because the neighborhood had homes with $150 to $200 build cost, the resale value of the home was $240/square foot. I would rather pay $250/square foot as an investment, and buying $375 for $250 is the way I would want to invest $250. I think the problem for people building a custom home with a tight budget is they can be easily fleeced on the home build quality without ever knowing what hit them. For example, to get costs lower the builder may switch to 2x4 framing on 16" centers instead of 2x6 framing on 24" centers. The 2x4 home will be much less insulated and will have very shallow window bays. It will feel cheaper. The odds are you would never ask about the framing. The homebuilder saves a ton of money on his material costs by switching to 2x4. You end up with a home that does not feel quite right and never know what hit you until much later down the road. Where custom home building really shines is in the ability to select high-end materials and building approaches that are never seen in tract homes. For example, when you do the framing you can use new stud designs that incorporate closed-cell foam into a truss design inside the studs. Normally a wood stud in the framing has very poor insulation and directly acts as a heat/cold sink that bypasses your home's insulation. The newer style studs (e.g., "T-Stud" is a brand) have an R-value of 20 (versus 6 for a normal stud) and have four times the strength because of the engineered design. Alternately, you can insulate the outside wall of the home and use SIP insulated panels on the roof, to directly overcome the insulation problems with normal studs. These things can greatly increase the comfort of the home, but they also increase build cost, and in any case, they are rarely done outside of a custom build environment. In a perfect world, in addition to an architect, it would be great to find a home builder that you could hire as a consultant - at an hourly rate - to help educate you about key variables in building a home, and that person could help you to understand budget impacts of various build choices, as well as help you specify things to the builder and architect. I wonder if there are retired home builders who do this on a consulting basis, even remotely.

I’d add that the pictured countertop looks thicker than standard, whether due to a built-up mitered edge or to the purchase of extra-thick slab(s). Either way, that adds a lot of cost. And that thicker counter needs sufficient support under the span where the stools are, so add more cost for that. Then you need the expertise of a top-notch fabricator. That counter may be beyond the skills and equipment of the average fabricator so add to your budget for a high-end fabricator who will charge more.