That’s probably the going rate. Here in Kiawah/Charleston, SC that’s on the low end, so probably similar.

No Florida experience here but my boyfriend’s parents just paid $530/sf in rural TN south of Nashville. One story home on a basement, nice but not high end finishes. They had to come up with about $200k on their own due to several unhappy surprises when they started digging.

What do similarly sized CUSTOM homes sell for in your area?

Almost 15% construction cost increases EACH year in 2021-22 compounded. Its plateaued to a few percent this year due to lumber settling but construction inflation almost never stops.

You have hurricane and high wind codes baked into even a cheap plastic floored virtually a trailer house in your location. Have you priced hurricane windows? ICF building? If you want it to still be standing, you cannot build a ramshackle wood framed beach shack. Thats what you own, and is grandfathered. So maybe decide to show it a little love, and live in it.

Here's the view from the yard of my $737.00 psf Sarasota, Fl condo today:

The white house across the bay was built on a lot that a tornado from Irma tore the house from. It's built 15 feet above sea level.

My audiologist, who was making over 300K a year, quit to join his buddy who is a general contractor down here who made several million last year. Audiology is a walk in the park compared to recruiting and retaining subs here.

Here's what a thousand a square foot gets ya. Lawn and walkway, concrete deck and seawall all under water and high tide's in half an hour. The white house is in the upper left.

Is this a property on the water or near water where you have to build above base flood elevation?

Just wait till you try to get homeowners insurance. Oh and you'll probably need flood too.

I'd skip homeowners insurance if I built new. Maybe save every year and kind of self-insure.

Similar to you, my sister bought an older house in Florida for the location. After going crazy with figuring out how to build a new house to today's Codes and the enormous cost of everything, she accepted the house for what it was, and instead did some renovating, took down a wall between the kitchen and dining room, put in a new kitchen and bathrooms. She also put in impact windows and hurricane strapping on the existing tile roof. And that was it. It still cost really a lot, but a lot less than building a home from scratch, and it was less stressful than building a home from scratch.

As an unexpected bonus, she ended up feeling her home was more charming than a new home would have been, was surprisingly energy efficient with its jalousie windows and old plaster lathe and horsehair walls that seem to magically stay cool. And most of all, when Irma came through, the home was unfazed, as it had been for all the decades of hurricanes before it. Meanwhile, all the homes nearby that were built in the last 40 years or so were damaged by Irma or even made uninhabitable.

"And most of all, when Irma came through, the home was unfazed, as it had been for all the decades of hurricanes before it. Meanwhile, all the homes nearby that were built in the last 40 years or so were damaged by Irma or even made uninhabitable."

This is anecdotal at best. Even the modern tract homes in Florida are shelter-in-place when hurricanes come. They've learned a lot about homebuilding in the last 40 years; the newer the better.

In my market, custom home build costs start at about $500/sqft.

Cost/SF is a terrible metric because a lot of things can get lost in an average and custom homes aren't priced by the square foot.

The best way to get calibrated with respect to price in any market is to tour new homes which are for sale and which are comparable in size, features, amenities, etc. to what you have in mind. Then subtract the cost of the land. If that price exceeds your budget, do not pass "go" and do not collect $200. If the price equals your budget, proceed with caution since there would be a premium to build it on a custom basis, and construction cost inflation will add to the price, too.

Smaller homes end up coting more per square foot than do larger homes. There is a bottom line cost to mobilization, and small homes have all of the expensive rooms, like kitchens and baths, without larger inexpensive spaces like big bedrooms. When building in a challenging climate, like a hurricane or fire zone area, you also have a lot of expensive basics involved, regardless of finishes. Inexpensive builds are only slightly able to adjust the finishes to cut costs. There just isn't any fat in a lower specified build. Everything goes to something important.

I’m between Ft. lauderdale and West Palm, and 70% through my project. We are taking a 2300sq ft single story house down to the exterior walls and roof, but otherwise everything will be new and with a 350 sq ft addition. All the builders I interviewed would only quote a on a cost-plus contract.
In the budgeting process, my builder pointed out that while finishes can be high end or low end, the bigger costs are the things you don’t see (or maybe don’t notice) and the labor needed to put them in place: concrete, roof truss, roof attachments, insulation, electrical upgrades, impact window differences, HVAC unit and ducts, plumbing products - and scheduling subs to start and finish on schedule. We made a budget based on his most recent jobs in this area….
I’ve had a real education and although we’ve already had budget bumps in the road, we’ve worked out solutions that seem fair. But yes - my project is over my “guesstimated” budget so far by 10%….some of it has been my choice, some has been subs’ bids higher than the budget allotment.
As someone else,points out, I got comfortable with the cost of the renovation when I compared what I’ll have at the end of the renovation vs. what something similar (or inferior) sells for near me.