You may want to consider having a builder construct a shell and then you sub out the interior. You should also consider SIPS construction. If you go to www.greenbuildingtalk.com and enter its SIPS forum, you'll find a wealth of information about the product and a number of excellent architects. There's at least one major SIPS manufacturer in your area. I used 6" wall panels and 10" roof panels from General Panel in TN which are the most cost efficient panel around.

The problem with contractors is they like a comfort level. They use the same sub over and over. When you do your own subcontracting get 3-5 bids. My plumbing bids alone ranged from $6,200 to $22,000. The $22000 bid came from my general contractor's regular sub. If the GC had been doing the whole house I would have thrown $15,800 out the window. You should be able to afford a metal roof on your entire house if you wish. I used the Union Corrugating product. I paid about $6.50 for material and labor. Pay for an energy consultant to perform a Manual J (heating/cooling load) calculation and design a a duct system. Have your carpenter run the ducts and have the electrician hook up your heat pump (assuming that's the route you go). I saved at least $6000 doing that. Don't let any sub provide any major components or material. They'll give you a big song and dance about how they can get it cheaper. Usually they can't, if they insist tell them they have to beat your price. Good luck.

I don't think you can build that house (and be happy with it) for $115 psf unless you subcontract it yourself. Even then I think you'll have a lot of difficulty. Some of the items you list add cost without adding square footage (covered porches, insulated siding, large garage, metal roofing). I'm building now in Pittsburgh (Westmoreland county). You might get a KHov home for that price, but you'll suffer with the lack of flexibility and some low-end finishes.

If you use an architect, you're spending thousands more before you even start. I'd look for a plan that's closest to what you want and focus on what's most easily built. Simple roof lines and minimal buildouts for the house or foundation will keep the costs down at every level (foundation, framing, drywall, even trim and carpet). You can always modify the plan and add porches/dormers/etc.

Lastly, if you're looking for a large 1st floor MBR suite, then I suspect you'll have to have more sq footage on the first floor than upstairs. That will add to your costs versus doing a simple rectangle or square house. Think of what size rooms you want for the first floor (not the layout, just the rough dimensions) and see what sq footage it adds up to including possible foyer/hall. The easiest second floor is to build straight up from that, so double it. I think you'll be over 2400.

I saw your post and had to share you my experience. I am building in Va Beach, Va and I am using SIPS panels made by SURETIGHT.COM They can take any plans you have and make the same house out of SIPS. I am building a 6200 sg ft house for about $55 a sq foot but i am a contractor and building it myself doing all the wiring, plumbing and windows, doors etc. if you like you can email me at tayloredmaintenance@cox.net and I can email you my number and we can talk more in detail. SureTight is just outside Pittsburgh and I know you will love their product from the speed and ease of install along with the insulation qualities of this product. My house is 3 stories and I am in my 4th week and we are putting on the roof. Did i also happen to point out that I am building with myself and two helpers. Suretight might have several plans that you can use and I am sure that they can assist in pointing you in the right direction. If you talk to Jim at the plant tell him Ken in Va Beach sent you.....if you like and if you are ever in the area I would be happy to show you my build

I'm in your area. If you find a builder that will build for 115, let me know. I have yet to find one and if you do, don't expect top of the line, but builder grade materials. I haven't heard a lot of great things about KHOV or Wayne and they really are not as custom as you think, but maybe you don't mind? I just had a neighbor build with Heartland Homes on her own property. Other than babysitting the workers a lot and reminding their building manager promises he made in writing, they seemed to be pleased. Again, not a total custom job. They had to pick from Heartland's plans, little adjustments allowed and had to use Heartland's suppliers, (but they didn't care). I've had architects quote me anywhere from around 20k to 65k, some for just the plans and others for complete services before and during construction. A finished basement will cost around 25k to 35k, depending on what you are including in it. If you keep your plan a basic square or rectangle, you will be cheaper than adding a lot of corners, bump outs, etc. Don't forget to factor in permits, utility and sewage hook ups, driveway and landscaping costs.

I would say to visit every new open house you can. Talk to as many builders as you can. Talk to many homeowners too. Compare workmanship, quality of products, etc. Make a wish list of your own from finishes such as exterior brick/stone/siding, roofing, windows, doors, heating and cooling choices to interior flooring, countertop materials, trim/base/crown mouldings, wall texture finishes, lighting, appliances, etc. Comparing the prices of what you get for your money will help you narrow that list and figure out what is really important to you and esp. for your budget, (needs and wants). We went to many open houses of some gorgeous homes, some 700k + and they were only brick fronts, the basement was not finished, nor did they have hardwood in great rooms and dining rooms, no mouldings throughout, fiberglass showers, etc. For our area, that's a lot of money with little in finishes!

Research, research, research. Research plans online to get an idea, then add the cost of finishing the basement. Think about the way you live and how you want to use your house on your property. Research building materials, interior materials, etc. Research types of building contracts, (this forum is a great start).

I've surprised many builders with my knowledge and I still have a lot to learn. After owning our property out right for 3 years now, I have yet to build, but we don't have enough space or time for that, LOL!

If you have anymore questions, feel free to email me. I'll help you with what I can. If you are serious about a quality build and staying within your budget, then you need to prepare yourself and coming to this forum is a great start! Good luck!

BTW Fish7577, would you mind sharing which builder you are using in Westmoreland County? I'm thinking Arisonn a fellow GW member and friend would like some info. about them too. If you prefer to email that to me, that would be great. I'm wondering if I have ever spoken to them? LOL! But if you don't feel comfortable about that I truly understand. Hope your build is going well!

We are 1 1/2 years into a 2 year build. Our situation is rather different, in that the house is extremely custom, but.... We have an excellent contractor, and an even better architect. The architect has cost quite a bit, but because he has an excellent raport with the county, permits were easy. His plans are so good that the build has been going fairly easily (aside from the pool - long story).

To choose our contractor, we interviewed a bunch, and checked references like crazy. We went out and looked at homes built by the contractors we were interviewing, and talked with those homeowners. It really paid off! Our contractor is conscientious, meticulous and does great work! We have a covered porch all around the house and wouldn't have it any other way. We chose a metal roof for the entire house (think large victorian, many dormers, crazy rooflines). The roof added about 30% over the cost of a good asphalt, looks great and is essentially fireproof (important, since we are in central California, way out in the country in a high fire danger zone). The metal roof is guaranteed for 50 years, so no replacement costs in our lifetime!

Also, when interviewing contractors and their clients, find out how they did in regards to sticking to budget, and "change orders". Ours is really good, and has had zero "change orders". Some contractors can double the cost of building just with those things (we have a friend that had that happen).

Good luck!
Cindy

To eventhecatisaboy-
We're doing an owner-builder build. We had gone through the full process with a GC, then had to change. The planned GC price came out to about $162 per square foot, and it did not include the geothermal we wanted to do. He wasn't willing to do geothermal because he didn't want to use a subcontractor he didn't know. As it is now, I'm very glad we're doing it ourselves. We already made a lot of little changes to the plans and even some in the construction (we are just starting to frame) that would have been a lot more difficult to do if we were going through a GC. The difficult part is cost estimates. We may end up near the GC price, but we'll have a lot more features in the house that we wouldn't have had otherwise (little upgrades like acrylic tubs instead of fiberglass, cast iron tub in master, maple floors instead of oak, etc).

Ha ha, eventhecatisaboy, I beat you to it. I already emailed fish7577 a few weeks back to ask who his builder was. We should all form our own little GW Building a Home Forum Pittsburgh club.

Anyway, jjt17, listen to these people, it will save you a lot of time and effort because in the end youll end up realizing what they say is true even if you just spent a year or two searching for the holy grail of a million dollar house for $115/sq ft. (If you happen to find the holy grail, please share the info with the rest of us Pittsburghers.)

Two years ago the house I wanted to build looked pretty much identical to what you describe and I too wanted it for $115/sq ft. At this point IÂve reduced square footage, moved the master BR upstairs (for the reasons fish7577 described), moved a bedroom to the basement, nixed the cathedral ceiling, attached the garage, and learned to like houses shaped like boxes.

We looked at Wayne, Schumacher, KHov and Ryan. IÂd recommend going to their showhouses and even getting them to quote you a house which they can do very quickly in a couple of hours. Of the 3, Schumacher seemed the most willing to modify plans and offer more finish choices. The inability to modify plans is my biggest sticking point with these types of builders. But the other big thing is the limited selection of finishes. If you are okay with picking from just a few choices for each decision, then this may be a good way for you to get a house for the money you can spend. Some people actually find it a relief to not have thousands of choices. But if youÂre building because you want something unique, it probably wonÂt work for you unless you want to rip stuff out when theyÂre done and redo it.

Back to the holy grail thing, last year we got 3 bids to build a deck which were all around $12,000. We ended up building it ourselves for $3,500 in materials. Multiply that by every little thing that goes into building a house and youÂre spending a lot of money for labor. Not being a contractor, I canÂt speak from that perspective, and though I know they need to make a living, as the consumer, it seems kind of outrageous. ($8,500 in labor for a simple one level deck). It seems to me that if you just paid an hourly rate the overall cost would end up being lower. As a part time wedding florist, I do know a little about pricing jobs where the actual cost is unknown at the outset. IÂve done a few jobs where I made little to no profit. If you can find someone early in their career and inexperienced in bidding or ignorant of what the "going rate" is, you might be able to get them to bid really low on the labor part, but thatÂs a risky gamble. I think youÂll find that unless youÂre willing to take the Wayne, Schumacher, KHov etc. route or you GC yourself or you do most of the work yourself, the price tag will be more than $115 for what sounds like a better than builder grade house.

But, by all means, if IÂm wrong, please enlighten me. IÂm still looking for the holy grail myself.