This is a very important question when one pursues their dream of building their new home.
Ultimately, this is a question to ask your architect or builder when you start your new home construction project.
The quick answer is, it depends.
It depends on a multitude of factors dependent on many things including but not limited to the following:
Location
Area of the country
Is your home built in an urban, suburban, or rural setting
Level of finishes
Site conditions, or how complicated is your site?
Is there steep slope, wetland buffers or other hazards?
Economic factors
There are numerous factors which can alter the cost of a house project.
For the purposes of this post and to simplify things, we will only take a look at the house itself and not the site conditions.
In general the initial measure for estimating the cost for a home is cost per square foot.
This is an initial number most architects, builders and other design professionals will give you in first estimating the cost of your new home.
For example, if you live in a region where the cost/sf is $200/sf and you were to build a 2,000sf home, your house would cost approximately $400,000. And again this is just the house and not items included in the site. That's for a different blog post.
Then to narrow this price down further, let's look specifically at the North Central region of Washington State (modFLOOR PLAN LLC world headquarters) since this is where we understand the pricing the best. And keep in mind this pricing is in Summer of 2021 where there are many other economic and world factors effecting pricing.
Let's look at the following three levels: Entry Builder Spec Level, Entry Level Custom, High End Custom.
Entry Builder Spec Level - $150/sf-$200/sf
This is typically what a builder can build a very basic spec home for. And this is typically part of a subdivision.
Entry Level Custom - $200/sf-$250/sf
In general, this is a Level where you would involve an designer or architect. This is typically a one-off custom home built for your specific needs.
High End Custom - $250/sf - ???
Again, an architect will generally be involved at this level. These homes are typically highly customized to the homeowners needs.
One thing to keep in mind with all these levels is the specification package you choose will effect the overall cost as well.
Then to boil this down further, let's use an example of purchasing Plan 001 and building this house with in the NCW region. We would place this in the Entry Level Custom range. And we'll use an average price of $225/sf. Again this price can vary quite a bit depending on the level of finishes you choose.
So at 1,700sf * $225/sf you would be looking at approximately $382,500 to build this house. And again this will vary based on the level of finishes you choose.
Thank you for reading. We hope this helps you in the planning stages of designing and building your new home.
Stay tuned for more blog posts.