After seeing my neighbors invest thousands in addition plans only to learn that they could not afford a GC to build it, I worked backwards. My neighbor's architect estimated less than 300 per sq ft when in actuality work bids were between$500 and $600. They ended up selling and finding a house that already suited their needs.

I payed gc's to come and see what I hoped to do with out plans. I found quite a few who were willing to do this. They gave rough estimates. When I found out we could afford to do the project I than paid an independent architect for plans plus a retainer fee to keep him available during construction incase we ran into issues. I then took this plan to the Gc we liked best to work with. He then did an in depth cost proposal with a contract. We used a designer from the bath and plumbing store to help with aesthetic choices.

Hi,

In either case you've got a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. You'll need at least a concept plan to get a reasonably accurate estimate of construction costs. You'll need to invest some amount of money to develop the plans--whether by an independent architect or design/build firm. The good news is that you don't need a fully detailed, fully-engineered "biddable" set of plans for that.

Absent a set of concept plans, you could use cost data published in Remodeling Magazine's Cost-Vs. Value Report to infer the likely cost for your project http://www.remodeling.hw.net/cost-vs-value/2017/

In our market we've found the cost data to be pretty good for budget purposes.

If you go the architect-first route, get your remodeler on board as soon as possible so the design can be informed by real-world cost information. Architects don't typically build stuff, don't write checks for materials and labor, and don't get a heads-up from suppliers about pending price increases. The cost information they'll have is for completed projects. With dimensional lumber prices up as much as 30% in the last year, using even 12 month old cost data is like driving by looking in the rear view mirror.

Best wishes for a successful project.

Thank you both. I first spoke with a high-end design-build firm, who provided a proposal with explicitly very approximate total cost estimation. It was at the high end of my tolerance, so in general I think I have some sense of the order of magnitude. But the nice part about that firm was that their next step was a $1800 deposit to develop three design options, with more specific costs. I'm totally prepared to put that kind of money on the table with an uncertain outcome, and I guess I figured that architects might have a similar phased set of options.

I'm going to call in a few other design-build firms and also see if I can pay a contractor to come out and give me a better sense of what is possible and what it might cost as @roarah suggests. I'm really feeling the differences between these two possible routes (architect/contractor vs. design-build) and I'm very unsure which way makes the most sense for us.

smalloldhouse_gw Checking back in on this thread to see what you ended up doing. I'm at the stage of making shortlists of architects and design-build firms to interview and would love to know how this played out. Did you end up with a combination of personnel and budget you were happy with?