Looking on line builder / tract homes are 350-450K, so yeah you seem about right. Builder dependent he most likely is tacking on a premium since he is only doing the basic work. Most builders do not like to operate that way.

Plant City | 84 Lumber homes-catalog-2017-sm.pdf (84lumber.com) Talk to the guys at 84 Lumber. With a kit, you don't need a builder. They can list rough crews, etc. that have worked with their product. It'll take more initial effort from you. Money will be saved.

See this is why im confused. You're pointing out prices for fully built homes in prime areas. I'm getting a house with 0 kitchen. No bathroom. We're cutting major expenses and still getting quotes in that range.

Colin:

Labor is in short supply and the people you want are busy. The marketplace cannot lie. Get your checkbook out and get in line please. Good luck.

Builders don't want to do a shell-only job as the profit for them is minimal. "You just want the shell? Sure, but the price is the same as for the completed house." If you want to go this direction, pretty much the only way is to be the GC yourself - hire the subs (framers, foundation guys, roofers, etc) yourself.

It's almost always more cost efficient to buy an existing home than to build, unless you are in the trades professionally.

Florida used to be a place where you could build for a reasonable price. That is no longer true for most areas of FL. I live in a nice area of FL and a new build house sold recently for $775/sq.ft. Before covid it would have been half that price. For those coming from the west coast and the northeast, Florida is still cheaper!

Why not buy a place you can fix up? Here's one for $25K!

Advice for building in Florida?

Know what your taxes and insurance costs will be before building. When you arrive don’t complain that its hot and there a bugs, lizards, gators and other critters.

How would the building permit be issued? Would you or the buildier be respsible for the whole project or would the building department transfer responsibility part way through the project? How would it be insured? Sounds like a high risk expensive way to build.

This is only doable as an all cash build. No loan. No bank wants a half of a house as something they could repossess if it goes sideways. It has a huge chance of going sideways. Especially since you have such sticker shock.

res2architect:

A homeowner can build his own home in Florida, acting as a General Contractor, however, he cannot sell the property until a year after his CO, or else he's guilty of contracting without a license.

If you had been planning on doing finishing work on a new construction, then buy an existing house that needs cosmetic work, AKA a fixer-upper.

Bartow? If you must live there buy a house already built. Right now Zillow shows many listings with twice the house you want to build for under $500K, already done. Dozens of New construction in your size for $175 per square foot or less. I even saw a few new 2000+ sq. ft. homes for a hair under $300K. Piles of older homes in nice shape for half the new home prices.

For clarity, I live here lol so no need to bring me up to date.

I did find a fantastic builder willing to do it. As for new builds: I absolutely don't want tract home. I'm looking at a 1900s plan and I'm doing the work myself using historic materials. (Which I learned from my builder is absolutely doable- the others just are afraid to try things different than tract)

As for fixer uppers: I've exhausted looking there. They all have issues far more expensive than building. I get the impression some of you don't actually live here lol

Plan for floods and hurricanes and the resulting ever-increasing insurance rates. There's going to be plenty more of each in coming years.

Insurance rates are already skyrocketing in Florida. And it may get to the point a Florida homeowner won't be able to get insurance at all.

There is only one reason people move to Florida, air conditioning. Without it the population numbers would still be stuck in the 1950's, with the main source of GDP coming from agriculture and phosphate mining which is the only reason Barlow even exists today.

I applaud your desire to replicate a historic home from the 1900's, and in doing so I might suggest also incorporating the techniques used to keep cool before A/C. A smart builder of the time would position a house for the least amount of solar gain, add deep overhanging eaves that extended far enough to shade the windows from the sun and build High ceilings to allowed heat to rise with operational transoms above the interior doors , They would also add Opposing windows for cross breezes, build large sleeping porches and plant shade trees on the east and west sides of the house.

Today Florida (and much of the south) is possible only because of air conditioning. Without it people who stayed would be wearing stinky sweaty T-shirts and sleeping on a porch at night to keep cool.

Do you expect to get a loan and mortgage for thsi? Because you won’t be able to.

Can I close this post because so many of these comments are off topic, offer no help, or are incorrect.  

No, you can never close a post. It can get resurrected years later. Right about the time you finally finish DIY building.

Besides, what is so ”incorrect” about anything?

You are talking about building something custom, right? And want it to be cheaper than an existing build, or a new tract build? That does not happen.

If a number of quoted prices qualify for the "insane" category, the "insane" label may be misdirected. What you think it should cost is a thought. Quoted prices represent real world prices in your particular market at a particular time.