It depends on a few things. Do you have a location, land, city lot already? Do you know if there are any building restrictions or zoning concerns. Some city neighbourhoods only allow certain types of houses and you have to stick to that design.

You can find lots of home plans online and also in home plan magazines. you can buy a stock plan, or take the aspects that you like and work with a draftsperson who can draw up blue prints to your specifications. It is not too hard to do. I picked 3 house plans that I liked and then put the parts I wanted together into one floor plan.

Then you can either find a builder who will do the whole thing, or act as your own general contractor and hire the subs to do different parts. That is more time consuming but saves money if you have the time for it. Most lumber yards can give you a lumber package estimate, and then you need to factor in all of the plumbing, wiring, etc.

If you hire a builder it is best to get quotes from a few. A custom house can be anywhere from $120.00 per square foot to you name it, depending on how expensive the fixtures, floors, windows etc you choose are. always assume that you will go over budget.

I built my own house 4 years ago ( I was 34), with the help of my dad. I was the general contractor and coordinated all of the subs. It was not as difficult as you may think. The only difficulty is getting the 'vision' across to them sometimes!

Just google "home plans" and you will find a few companies to give you an idea of what you can do.

We don't have any land. To those who've gone thru this, is it a requirement, or standard, to have your own land first? We have a few towns picked out where we'd like to build, but I'm not sure if we can afford the land on our own. Do banks give out loans to buy land? I don't know about prices in the rest of the country, but here in town where we live (~30mi north of Boston) there are very few lots, and what does come up is ~$180k for a quarter acre. If we go another 10-15 miles out, we can find towns with full 1 acre lots selling for ~$280k. Most, if not all, 'new construction" around here (back when there still was new construction happening) is tract McMansions. Soulless bloated rectangular boxes with vinyl everything on clear-cut postage-stamp lots, for $500-$600k+. What we're trying to figure out is, for that same $600k budget, assuming 50% land cost, can $300k build the house we want?

We've looked at all the plan sites, and have zeroed in on what we like/want/need. (In terms of floor plans, size, engineering details, finish materials) But we don't want to commit to a plan without knowing how much it'll cost to build. The plan sites we've seen sell plans for $1000-$3000. If we buy that, then bring it to a builder, then find out we can't afford it, we've blown that money. Plus, I'm not sure if those plans get into engineering details or material quality. If we're gonna go thru this process, we're going to want to be specific with what we get.

Unfortunately, we don't have the time or expertise to GC the job. (Some friends GC'd their home build and have a huge list of horror stories, as well as things still not done years later) We are knowledgeable about knowing what we want, just not how to get it. The right builder would be worth the %$ for their expertise and project management skills.

we began by looking at existing older homes (we love old houses and had already restored one) but then decided undergoing a renovation with two young children in the house wasn't such a great idea. then we looked at "newer" as well as "custom" homes being built by planners. this went on for over a year until we decided to build our own home, according to our desires. we found a piece of property with a home on it and decided we would purchase the lot and live in the existing house while the new house would be under construction.
i spent a very long time (over two years) gathering pictures and making notes of everything we wanted in our new home. i began interviewing architects and finally found one i felt was right for us. good friends introduced us to our GC ...and that's pretty much how it went. we spent 18 months in the design phase with the architect and broke ground last year in september. we'll hopefully be in the new place by thanksgiving.
we never looked at existing plans since we'd already looked at what seemed like hundreds of different homes. we felt we'd seen everything except what we wanted. i did peruse different sites just to satisfy my curiosity but nothing even came close. there are certainly some lovely plans available that can even be "tweaked" to fit your needs but we had very definite ideas about what we wanted our home to look like as well as how it should function. best of luck, whichever route you find yourself taking!

Most people here - NC suburbs - go to builder without land. Most developments in town have land that is owned by builders. Now - if you want to live out of town - then mostly you would buy a lot first. Here - out of town - just means not in the city so you would have well/septic.

Absolutely do not spend $1000 on a plan until you talk to multiple builders first. You can have the tiny sketch plans (that you must get for free) as a basis for starting conversation.

Down here - most people building a custom house - pay a designer for floor plans. Most stock plans require some modification and always require engineering for local code. The modification fees for a stock plan add up and you wind up doing better by just starting from scratch.

You probably have heard this already but a soulless McMansion usually offers good value. A truly custom house costs some $$$$. Many people start the journey and figure out that they can't afford to build what they really want. Our build cost is right around $600k and we have made significant compromises about layout to save costs. Don't get me wrong - it is going to be an amazing house but we wouldn't be getting what we are if we picked a layout from a book that had no attention to cost control.

Thanks all for all the good info so far. It's helping to clear our thinking.

kateskouros: We've been looking at plans, mostly to "get on the same page" at what we'd want/need for size, layout, and style. The best we've found is a couple close matches, but nothing perfect. If you don't mind answering the money question, what did your cost per sq ft come out to? What are the 'big ticket' items in home construction. Is there something you'd do differently, or wish you'd done?

david_cary: Regarding "good values". That's pretty much what I'm trying to gauge. The prices I see, for the quality I see, is that real cost, or do developers mark up prices and drag down quality. Can I get better quality, for the same or less money, by specifying everything myself? An example: We looked at a new construction home a month or two ago, a couple towns over. It's one of the last few lots in a subdivision of about 200+ homes. There appear to be 5 or 6 home styles in the entire subdivision. All the lots were about half acre and clear cut. Vinyl siding, vinyl windows, basic fiberglass insulation, American Woodmark (Home Depot) cabinets, basic HW tank and non-energy star HVAC, 12x12 deck, stock trim. The only "frills" it had as selling features were granite counters and foyer, and a 2-person whirlpool tub in the master bath. Priced at $549k. Is that really all a half million dollars gets you these days? If so, that's sad. Do you mind answering the same $$ question: Where did you make compromises to save cost? What items in a home are 'big ticket'?

I know your area well having lived in the northern suburbs of Boston (Burlington, Belmont) for 5 years. We're currently building 1.5 hours north of you. I hope things have changed but construction in your area is pretty high.

Before you invest too much time, maybe just call a few design-build firms? They are loathe to give sq ft estimates but usually you can get an average out of them. Just emphasize the fact that you're speaking generally. That's how we started the process a year ago. The averages we received were in the $225-$325 sq ft range, not including the land.

Once you speak with them, it may help you figure out your next move. I wish there were a short cut- we would have taken it a year ago!

Another North Carolinian here...We hopefully soon will begin our second custom build. I'll tell you about both of them since the process was a little different.

Build #1: We knew the neighborhood where we wanted to build. It was in a lake community in the city limits of Charlotte, NC. There was a list of 6-7 "approved" builders, some custom some tract, to choose from. We started out thinking we would go with one of the tract builders and use one of their plans. After interviewing the first one and telling him all of the modifications we wanted to make, our real estate agent told us we would be better off going custom. We selected one of the "approved" custom builders and then he bought the lot through a lottery when a new phase of the development opened up. Because it was a lottery, we had picked out three lots that we could live with in case he didn't get our first choice. Our builder guided us when selecting the lots based on estimated foundation costs. In my opinion that would be the single most important consideration as far as money is concerned. I then drew my own plan which was very rough. It basically was just a sketch of where we wanted the rooms and how we wanted them to connect. Our builder had his designer draw the plans. He presented us with two plans, first the crazy concoction I had dreamed up with lots of juts and jags and then a second plan that was squared up considerably. We worked with the second plan, making a few adjustments. We have a well built, beautiful custom home. It costs more per square foot than almost all others in our neighborhood, but that is mostly because it is actually smaller than most of the other houses. However I know it is much better constructed than the tract homes. The bad news is that it is still on the market as we wait to sell it.

Build #2: We knew we wanted an infill city lot in town in Asheville, NC. We also knew that they were quite scarce and quite pricey for less than 0.2 of an acre. Again we scoped out lots with an eye on potential foundation costs, even more important in a mountain town. After looking at dozens of lots with our realtor, we started investigating ANY empty lot that we found. Yes we even knocked on doors and talked to neighbors everytime we saw a lot that we thought would do. Our efforts paid off as we found a fairly flat lot that the owners were willing to sell us at a price we felt was fair. We bought the lot. Next I started designing the house plan. This time I was much more accurate with my measurements and even drew exterior elevations. I included details such as heat/air returns and proper thickness of walls. I investigated builders by calculating the cost per square foot of their existing stock shown in the local "Parade of Homes." Our realtor took us to see many of their houses both finished and under construction. We interviewed several of them with my hand drawn plans in hands. They were all able to give us a rough price per square foot and most were quite high. In fact most quoted us prices that were well above the cost per square foot of their current inventory. We found a builder whom we liked and talked back and forth for several months. Then he told us that it would be about two years before he could get to our house since he is such a small builder. So onto the next builder. It turns out we really like our next choice even better and think we've made a better choice in the long run. Our chosen builder helped us find a draftsman who charged a very very low fee (like $0.50 a square foot) and he drew up the plans almost identical to what I had drawn. He worked with us on many revisions until we got it just the way we wanted it. We've already presented the plan before the historical committee and have prelimenary approvals.

And that's where the story ends...Because now we sit and wait to sell the first house back in Charlotte. Sorry that was so long, but I hope that helps.

I'm going to add onto ncamy, as I think we are in the same little area in NC. We live in an area that is highly restrictive about growth (one thing to check into). As a result, land is scarce. Driving around our little town it seems to be fairly rural, but as it is a little college town with great schools, the township is trying to keep it from becoming a metropolis, and they have created many many growth restrictions --- i.e. setbacks, subdivision rules (i.e. no giant developments that don't go through an extreme "master planning" process. I mention that because some of the areas you might be considering might look good, but they may have lots of restrictions you'll have to consider.

Anyway, our process was also to look at lots of houses when we moved to this area --- we were disappointed in what we saw. We found a beautiful piece of land (about 2 acres) near some equestrian areas. Then we tried to start making our plan. I took magazine clippings, and my personal sketch of a floorplan to a local architect. He charged hourly ($150), not on per sq. ft basis. I thought this would be better than a design build firm because I would not be locked into a builder. Don't know about this decision in retrospect. Anyway, he took my stuff, came back with basically what I had put on paper --- though it looked much better and then I got the $5,000 bill. Now, maybe I was naive, but I had expected for him to put it on paper so it looked neater, and I could go back and forth and tweak it from there. But, after seeing the bill at one pass, I got nervous and realized I couldn't afford 25 versions! I took this basic plan to 2 different builders at this point to see what we were talking about in terms of price (I didn't want to spend the money "perfecting" the plan if it was "unbuildable"). Anyway, the pricing came back to be $400,000 more than I expected! I was shocked! I had researched avg. sq ft prices like crazy and discovered that here for custom you can expect somewhere around $200/ sq. ft. Without anything that I thought was that awesome, I was WAY over that. I think this got so expensive because there was no really no consideration of efficiency... I called that architect back, told him I'd never be able to cut costs enough to build that house, and I'd need to start with a less expensive baseline. Guess it made him mad, and he never called me back.... So, then I found a house that one of those builders ncamy mentioned had built. I knew how much it cost to build, and I took that sketch / basic outline to a designer and we have spent many months tweaking it, because I know the basic cost. Now, I have a house plan that I really really love. I was able to put my personal stamp on it (because the versions were not so expensive), and now I have several builders bidding on the house, but I am not sure how we will proceed. The market here is OK still, but material costs, and some labor costs are down, which should help our build price. However, now some of the resales are looking increasingly good.

The moral of my story is don't spend a fortune perfecting a plan that may just be too expensive. If you choose a design build firm, at least the budget is clear from the beginning. If you do the architect / designer route, then have your architect / designer run it by any builders he/ she works with quite a bit and just make sure you're planning for a house you can actually build!

GOOD LUCK --- it is also lots of fun to do. I am really enjoying this and GW has so much helpful info.

mdev: As much as we'd love to move further out to save some money, it seems that every 5 miles further out you move adds another 30 mins to your commute. :(

ncamy: So on Build #1, the builder bought the lot then sold it, and the home, to you upon completion, right? Was there any difference in financing the two projects, since one one you owned the land and the other you didn't? Does land purchase get rolled into a construction loan, or is land purchased differently?

my3sonsnc: The back and forth redesign/price loop is what's keeping us from starting the process. We don't have the money to 'waste' on designing or purchasing plans to a home that ends up being too expensive to build. It's a shame architects and builders aren't more closely connected. I guess I should be looking to talk to a design/build firm.

One thing I forgot to say about our 2nd process --- since we have kept some builders in the loop along the way, I already know the price ($400,000 less than before), so that has been extremely helpful. I know the current design can (and will) be built. To me, I'd recommend either the design/build route, or design with a builder involved much earlier in the process. They can make great cost savings recommendations. For example --- our first house plan that was $400,000 more expensive had a porte cochere which was pretty, but it created 2 distinct foundations, a longer driveway, the exterior finishing material had to go around 2 different buildings. The hvac became more complicated, etc. etc. However, in plan 2, our square footage is the same (or even bigger), but it just is planned more efficiently, resulting in huge cost savings. A great builder can help you control costs too.

With house #1 the builder bought the land and sold it back to us. Since we financed well less than 50% of the total cost of the project and used all of our funds first before using the bank money, the cost of the land was the first thing paid out and was put into our name pretty early on.

On the mcmansion question. $549k buys vinyl windows, vinyl siding etc. What does the land cost? If the land is $300k, then yes, $549 buys very little. Be careful when people quote different $ amounts because sometimes land is included and sometimes it is not.

Around here, we are paying $150/sq foot for build cost only. That is for 4,000 sq ft 3 sides brick, 2 story + unfinished daylight basement (sq foot not counted in cost), $28k in appliances, $30k in cabinets, 9-11 foot ceilings, energy star certified (+ some), walnut floors 60% of house, heavy trim, 8 ft solid doors, screen porch with fireplace, 12x15 deck. You will not be able to do that in the Northeast.

Things not included - realtors fees (sometimes you are paying 6% of finished cost in a development), design fees, loan and interest costs. No well/septic.

What we did - regarding costs - is go to a spec house that our builder had in inventory. It was X$. In that cost was all the above that we were able to delete. We then took a pen and "X"ed out the stone work, the finished basement etc. He could then give us a $ cost.

On mcmansions made by national builders - there is not that much profit. There is less profit per house than a custom builder. Ask me how I know this - I don't. But I think that national builders are public corporations and the profit is public knowledge. It isn't that much. The national builders save money in many many ways and they cut many many corners. And their houses cost much less than custom. Around here - they tend to put more money into common areas such as pools, tot lots etc. Around here, a 4000 sq foot Toll brothers house - costs $140/sq foot but that includes land, realtor, all loan/interest/design costs - so build only costs are probably $100/sq foot. Is it comparable - not really - but it might be to the casual observer.

It's about economy of scale for the larger builders, and they achieve those lower prices through uniformity of designs and product selections. You can personalize such a build---by selecting among 3 carpet styles, 4 wood samples, and 4 kitchen cabinet samples. He's already familiar with the price of "his" materials, and the specs, and they are a known quantity. Anytime you venture outside of that known equation, you cost time and money to him to research an obtain the product you are asking for. This is why a truly custom build can be easily twice the expense per square foot as a chain builder's "same" home.

A truly custom build isn't for the average homeowner. It's for someone who has deep enough pockets to be able to afford to pay double the going rate for a new build, or for someone with an obessive enough nature that it becomes their only job to source bargain items and labor, or it's for someone who has enough skill and time to be able to build most of the project themselves with their own labor. Burger King used to have the slogan "have it your way", but, no one would order a custom burger for $6 when they could get the same burger for $3 and just take off the pickles an onions and squeeze on an extra ketchup packet. That's why the vast majority of "custom" builds aren't truly custom. They are at most, semi custom. You can personalize the build with your selections--from an approved list. If you deviate from that list of approved selections, then you are in the $6 burger territory. That's why a lot of people end up actually renovating a brand new house. To actually get what they truly wanted, and not just 1 of the 3 builder's choice, would have cost double the actual cost of the merchandise during the build. Or, they can plan a $6 burger with no pickles and onions ever touching the hamburger patty from the beginning, knowing that all around them are folks with $3 burgers. Some might choose to do that, knowing they can specify only ground black angus steak for the patty, and romaine lettuce and home made mayo on the artisan bun. They know that their materials are in the $6 burger range, but they forget about the labor cost for the cooking and serving of that burger. By the time you add those in, that $6 burger may be $9 or more. So, to keep the price down, you go to regular ground chuck and iceberg lettuce, but still no pickles and onions and you grill it yourself. There are a lot of ways to end up with a $6 burger, but you never get a $6 burger for $3 unless you go to a fast food joint that specializes in making thousands of them--all the same.

live_wire_oak: We understand the economy of scale of tract developers. But we have a couple problems (at least) with renovating one of these brand new houses.

First, the size and layout of most of the new homes we see doesn't fit our tastes and needs. Around here, they're all variations of the same thing. A large neo-colonial rectangle, 4 rooms up, 4 rooms down, with a square box garage attached. A gable or bump-out to make it seem different. More rooms than people really need: a living room, a family room, a den, and a 'bonus room'. A dining room, a breakfast area, kitchen island seating, and maybe even a 'keeping room' off the kitchen. 250 sq ft kids bedrooms, each with their own walk-in-closet and bathroom. A 90-gal Jacuzzi tub that'll get used maybe once a year. We don't want to pay for what we feel is wasted or excessive space.

Second, and more important, is that what we'd want to change or personalize isn't simple cosmetic details. We want a super-insulated home. R-40 walls, r-60 attic. Interior walls insulated (for noise transmission). Basement walls & slab insulated. 4 zone HVAC system. Open-web I-Joists. Rooms designed to maximize natural lighting. Passive cooling via good air flow. Finish details in the Craftsman, Shingle, or Prairie style. Quality over Quantity.

To use your analogy, we want that $6 burger ingredients, just make it slider-sized for $3. Can we order half the house with double the quality, for the same price?

Ok - so it looks like you need to custom build. Around here, there are zero high quality small homes. You may even have a hard time building it from some contractors. They may just demand more deposit since the resale for such a home may be limited and if you were to fade away - the builder needs an out clause.

Now if you handle the financing then the builder will always do exactly what you want.

You should know that you can get better insulation with the semi-custom route and you can get upgraded HVAC. But you can't get things like open web I joists or rooms designed to maximize natural lighting. That requires full custom.

As an aside - R-40 in the walls is overkill in most climates and I am not even sure how to do it. If you foam a 2x6 wall, I think you will not usually get to R-40 (I think it would be R-36). The cost to do that would be significant - imagine a $40,000 insulation cost. Consider that a good window is R-4 and the rationale to going to R-40 on a wall seems wasteful. Better to put that money into geothermal. You can still do lots of insulation but don't spend the money to do R-40 on the walls.

On the 4-zone HVAC - how big of a house are you considering? I have 5,000 sq feet with 4 zones (3 to start until the basement is finished). There is a real limit to the size of zones - ie they can't be too small. Well they can be, they just get horribly inefficient. I got the impression that you were looking to be under 3000 sq feet (just a ballpark) and 4 zones might not be the most efficient. Now if you were doing a mini-split system, that is another story.

Tract builder sometimes build a lot of BS square footage because it isn't that expensive and people are impressed. It sounds like what you want is something completely different - just remember that your cost per sq foot will be higher. I disagree that custom costs 2x as much as tract - it is really not that different. Most custom houses have so much more in them than tract houses but I would say that you are paying 10-15% premium to build custom comparing apples to apples.

We built what is described above as a 'full custom' - we owned the land, had an architect design and my husband was the GC.

While our home is larger that what you want, you do need to know that the per square foot costs of what you describe will be much higher than the tract homes you are currently viewing. There are the 'high ticket' costs of your home (kitchen, bathrooms) that will effective raise your psf costs because you have less 'low costs' square feet to bring down the average psf costs.

Our full custom bild was about $80/sq foot for finished basement or garage and $200/sq foot for the remainder -- we already owned the land. That includes travertine tile, ceramic tile or hardwood (walnut, oak and bamboo) floors throughout, two marble fireplace mantles, and marble tile entryway and stairs, Marvin aluminum-clad windows, 6 sets of French doors, Mahogany front door, etc. So, comparable psf in this area is about $400/sq foot.

We purchased most of the items ourselves and found many ways to save - but it takes lots of time, and my husband's father had been a builder, and he understood the business.

You might want to look at the 'small homes' books of Susanka. She is not my favorite author, but she will also explain why a small home with high-end finishes costs more than a comparable non-custom home.

Good luck whatever you choose.

I don't consider ~2,500 sq ft a "small home". The problem is that most new homes being built are 4000+ sq ft. We don't mind that size, it's just that they're the wrong 4000 sq ft. We don't need redundant or over-sized spaces.

Regarding the R-40, I recently read a very interesting article (http://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-018-westford-house) about a house built by Habitat4Humanity, in conjunction with Building Science on a Dept of Energy "Building America" research project. Walls are R-46, Roof R-60. Walls were 2x6, 24" O.C., with R-20 blown cellulose. House was sheathed with 4" of structural closed-cell foam board, adding another R-26. Article says the house is heated with the smallest available furnace, reprogrammed to operate at half power. So a couple thousand bucks of foam board can have a huge difference on HVAC needs.

I did confirm with a builder who builds 'better insulated' homes. He says that for the extra money he spends on Icynene, he more than makes up for it by only needing a 50+% smaller HVAC system. And that smaller system is way cheaper to operate.

Regarding the 4-zones, I'm thinking: Basement/rec area, main-floor living areas, master suite, kids rooms. At night when we're sleeping, I don't need to heat the living areas. When nobody's in the rec room(s), we don't need to heat that. And in 10 years when my kids move out, I don't need to heat their rooms. (Actually, before then, maybe if they're bad I won't heat their rooms. Really get them to 'chill out'. :) What I'd really love is a heat system on motion (or heartbeat) detectors, like lights. If nobody's around, turn off the heat.

A 10-15% premium would be acceptable to get the right amount of space we need, and the "good bones" we expect.

Actually what oicu is wanting to do is almost exactly what we did in custom house example #1 above. Our custom house was much smaller than the surrounding houses. However the finishes were nicer and every space was designed the way I wanted it to be. In fact there were quite a few of the tract homes that were priced higher than our cost, mostly because they were so much larger. The bad news is it is hurting us now that we are trying to sell now 11 years later. No one seems to care that our 3 bedrooms have heavy molding and our bathrooms are all tiled when they can get 5 bedrooms and 1000 square feet more down the road for the same money.

I feel like I am being negative but .... as someone who has researched this pretty hard - there is no way that foam insulation cuts your HVAC size enough to pay for itself. Here foam was $15k vs $3500 for FG (energy star and attic at R-40 which is above ES standards here). The base HVAC cost $12k. So foam would have meant that I had zero for HVAC. Despite looking at 10 year paybacks, I could not justify foam. Now - YMMV - in your climate. Around here, A/C is what drives HVAC size and that is not very influenced by insulation. Why? - because the delta T is so low (ie keeping a house at 78 when it is 90 outside is only a 12 degree delta T). You know how much insulation matters when the delta T is only 12? Despite the low-e argon windows, half my a/c size is based on solar gain. Another 20% is based on internal heat sources. So even a r-infinity house still means I need 70% of the a/c I would otherwise have. The savings here would be $2000 off of a $12k system.

Lots of people claim lots of things to try and sell you things. The "foam is free" because it saves on HVAC sizing is total BS. Foam is great but don't expect it to be free or even sub 10 year payback. Now - up north - might be different. But a furnace is relatively cheap and the difference between 100k btu and 50k btus is not much.

Oh yeah - find a builder who is willing to do 4 inches of foam outside of the framing. How is the siding held on? I should read the article you quoted but I am not sure how you overcome that obstacle - I guess with some non-conventional siding and occassional supporting 2x4s. Also, I am not sure where 4 inches of foam boarding on a 2,500 sq foot house costs "a few thousand". Don't forget to add some foundation costs since you need an extra 8 inches in width and length.

Gosh - I really don't mean to be so negative. I used to hate when people did that to me. Please build green but don't expect it to be cheap. I did all I could with 10-15 year payback - solar hot water, energy star, Seer 16 zoned HVAC. But foam did not make the cut....

The foam on that project I quoted was not the spray foam (like Icynene, which is indeed expensive) but rather 4x8 sheets of rigid polyisocyanurate foam board, with taped seams. Moisture-proof, airproof, and R13 per 2" thick sheet. Siding just attaches with long screws.

Here in new england, heating is the big expense. We get maybe a dozen days at or over 90 degrees, and that's considered an unbearable heat wave.

Heating equipment may be relatively cheap, but running it is not. My neighbors up the hill spend about $800-$1000/mo on heating oil all winter. I have Natural gas, but even that's a few hundred/mo in winters. (BTW, very few houses in my city even have central AC)

No offense taken, BTW. I'm not looking to do all that stuff verbatim, but if there's something easy to add value, then its definitely worth considering. What I'm thinking is a 1" layer of Dow SIS Plus structural sheathing (like R-10 or something) with CraneBoard 6 foam insulated siding (R-4). Definitely foam the outside & under the basement. New england basements suck heat right out of the house all winter long.

david_cary: What's the cost of running a central AC like? I'm considering a central AC, only to relieve myself of the PITA of installing window ACs every summer. I'm concerned about operating cost. We run 3 small (~5000BTU) ACs in our bedrooms on summer nights (~12 hrs/day) and in summer my electric bill doubles (from about $40 to ~$85/mo) Is a whole-house cooling unit more efficient and cheaper to run than window units? I'm afraid that if I put in a central system, it'll be running 24/7, even when it's only 80 outside.

Central A/C is not cheaper to run than window units. You have duct loses. You wind up cooling areas you don't need cooled. It is a more efficient pump but when faced with the problems of distribution - all those things go out the window. Hard to look at $$ comparison but know that we have $50 bills go to $150 in the summer at $.10 a kilowatt/hr. People with higher rates and larger, less efficient homes certainly can go to $500 a month.

oicu812,
I'm new to this forum, first post. Your ideas re:small, quality, well-insulated, etc. appeal to us as well and we are just starting the process by looking at land, house plans, and meeting with a few builders at a recent builders showcase. When I mentioned that we would like a relatively smaller house with high quality materials, some builders were excited and open to the idea, while others recoiled. These builders were into building tract homes, >4000sq ft in new developments. We have two homes to sell before we can start. We are in MN, so insulation and efficiency are a priority. We also plan to build ~2500 sq ft, craftsman/prairie style. I look forward to hearing more about your progress, and will share ours as we start moving forward. Just wanted to let you know there are others out here who share the same ideas about size, quality, etc.

oicu812,

It's sounds like you know what you want. I agree with you regarding "redundant" spaces. When we were looking at plans, the first thing to go was the formal living area and a dining room (in exchange for a larger open eating area off the kitchen that would hold our large, informal table that seats 12.)

It seems that many of us on this thread have similar taste- DH and I are in the process of building a 2000 sq ft craftsman style house...

3.5" of closed cell foam in our 2 x 6 walls gave us an R-26 I believe- higher in the attic. It was tight enough that the architect/builder wanted us to install an air exchanger as well. No A/C as we are far enough north that we don't need it except for a few weeks in August.

oicu812 ~ You may already be familiar with the Rossetto house in Vermont, but if not, link attached.

re non-central ACs: a pre-planned installation with insulating qualities eliminates the need for annual removal/replacement. I plan on one over-the-window/under-the-eaves installation in each room, copying a system I saw many years ago. During winter, the exterior portion was concealed by a fitted, heavily insulated box; the interior portion was concealed behind doors which slid into the wall during use.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rosetto house

Gosh this sounds so like me.

All I wanted to know was cost to build. All anybody else wanted to know was, well what are you going to build. And I didnt know what I wanted to build until I knew what it would cost :-P

I am a bit different, as I already have land, well, utilities, probably keep same driveway, etc.

But I started by looking at house plans. Found a couple styles I liked on the outside. Insides were basically then same. Showed them to a contractor just to get a rough idea what it might cost to build, and he was able to say that a plan like that might cost around X amount psf.

So that was my starting place. Other researches led me here.

Further researching I discovered things like fewer corners = money saved, etc.

I also learned there are plenty of ppl like me that don't want/need things like dining room, living room etc. Would rather rework for other space or make other spaces bigger.

Did talk informally to couple of different contractors and learned things like the lumberyard have drafspeople that are reasonable.

So I got some ideas together, couple of house plans, showed what I liked and didnt like to a draftslady. The draftslady had her own set of questions for me to answer. The cost for this particular lady is .20 psf, and she doesnt charge for the basement or bonus room. I can have up to 5 major changes, major being foundation changes that change other areas of the house. Minor walls and stuff on the inside does not count. Anything over 5, is $35 an hour but she said in her 10 years, she has never had to charge anyone that.

I also get 5 sets of plans, but she said she would give me 2 extra. And if we use their lumberyard for supplies, for every $1000 spent, I get $20 back on the cost of the plans.

I pay her when we are all finished. So I felt like this was a good deal, a good place to start. Then I can take those plans and start getting my bids and costs.

But since I want things like geothermal, radiant heat flooring, solar panels, I am trying to keep my footprint smaller because I dont know what it will cost to build, so I am very anxious to see what she comes up with, and then I can take my rough draft and try to get an idea of some of these other cost.

While I am waiting, I have been researching each system more in detail. Trying to figure out things like 2x4 or 2x6. I told the draftslady 2x4, so that might be my first major change :-)

But the insulation seems complicated , I read about the zo-e windows which I need something like that also I think, I finally am understanding the geothermal and what I need for that and then learned of a Reverse-Cycle Chiller? (might have to start a new thread for that one)

So now I am trying to pick apart each system and figure out what I want/need.

Anyways, in my area, there seems to be no shortage of people who would want the work, regardless how big or how small.

I have one fella, who has mostly only done ranch styles before, he does a lot of remodeling work, and he said he has never done any monster homes like ours was. The new house, while not ranch, probably wont be quite as big but still alot of newer technology, that he may or may not have experience with. So I am a bit hesitant, but yet at the same time, this might be a good one for him to cut his teeth on so he might give me a better deal? Then again, it might be a nightmare. But being from a small town, I know him, his son is one of my son's best friends... which could be another nightmare....

But I have a couple of contractors lined up to talk to. Several are what I would call conventional builders, but then I plan on talking to a couple of non-conventional also, for lack of better words. Like the Cleary building ppl, like the pre-fab ppl, I even considered a steel frame etc. I have talked to a couple of minninite ppl.

I really do not want a mortgage, so if I can compare apples to apples, basically I want to go with the cheapest if everything else is equal. It it isnt equal, then I will have to decide if and where I want to compromise. I have X amount of dollars and I want it to go as far as it can.

Gosh I babble alot. But this is my "job" now. To get this house built. And my husband is very busy with work, so I have all this babble building up in my brain and no other outlet... aren't you guys lucky? :-)

Oicu, I'm like gopintos -- we had the land, driveway, well, etc. I knew ballpark what I wanted to spend, and wanted something small and very energy efficient. I looked for green designers in the area (SW Michigan). We found one that works closely, but not exclusively, with a green builder. They gave us ball-park costs per square foot on the first meeting. The designer works on a per-square-foot basis (i.e. the design cost was based on the area of the house), so we went back and forth on the design until we had a version that would work for the budget and site. We didn't have to spend more money each time a change was made (until the construction set was drawn up; now changes are charged by the hour).
So I guess my suggestion is you try to find a designer or two who builds the kind of house you want, then see if they will work on a per square foot basis and give them an idea of the budget beforehand (realizing that unexpected items will drive it up at least ? 15 %).

We bought some land in the country and already had our house plan - an unusual funky front.....well, to make a long story short....there were rules and restrictions on houses that were being built and had to go thru an architectual committee....well, our home plan was turned down. Luckily, we sold the land back and found a piece of land that didn't have any (or fewer) restrictions. I would find your land 1st and see if you able to build the house you have in mind. Good luck!!

A follow-up question for all of you who had or bought your land first before designing: Did you finance the land purchase thru a bank, or did you purchase it outright?

Land in my city rarely comes to market, and when it does it's about $750k/ac. It seems that only builders/developers can afford those prices, because they'll put 4 or 5 houses on that acre. If I go 10 or 20 miles further out, I can get an acre for ~$200-$300k. A relative bargain, but I can't imagine how people buy land, even at those prices. I'd also hate to buy a piece of land only to find myself in colleennc's position, not able to build my house on it.

Do banks give out "land loans"? I'm not familiar with any such thing. Would/could the land purchase be rolled into the front of a construction loan?

Colleennc: Any advice on how to determine if a piece of land has restrictions on it *before* I buy?

Hi Oicu812! Any land you buy, simply ask the realtor or the previous owners (if no middle person is helping) if there are restrictions or covenant rules(sp?) that need to be looked at. We thought that our plan would go thru - but they said it had to be a certain height etc, and we decided that we didn't want extreme rules about what we could build. Just make sure to address these issues before purchasing the land. In my area, big builders are moving to the rural areas and eating up alot of land - and you have to choose one of their house plans. Also, you can make an offer with a contingency that if your home plan is not accepted, the deal is off. Good luck!

I'm no help regarding financing, because in my case two instances the financing was private [directly between owner and me] and the rest of the time, I paid cash. One thing to always remember when financing, is that you aren't paying just the cost of the land, but the cost plus all the finance charges and interest.

But I do want to say, don't trust that the realtor knows or cares about restrictions, and don't accept that the owner knows either! Go to the equivalent of the county's building office, look up the plot, and find out if the county has any restrictions or covenents on record. Also check for utility right-of-ways, and future development plans which may affect the lot (widening roads, installing sewer, running electric lines).

We paid cash for the lot we are getting ready to build on. We knew it was in a historical district and had a representative walk the lot with us before we closed the deal. Our lot is tiny...less than 0.2 of an acre and we wanted to make sure that the city would grant us a variance to build closer to the line than the zoning ordinance calls for. Historical commission decisions take precedence over city rules and they had no problem with our proposal to build a detached garage close to the property line because that's the way it was done historically.

Yes some banks will loan to purchase land - expect to pay a higher interest rate.

Most banks would like to see significant if not full equity in the land before they will do the construction loan. At least that is my experience.

Our land was paid for before we went to finance our build.