A builders website with prices listed typically would be a deveoper/tract home that would come with the land. You would want an architect to design your house and then a GC to build the house. You would probably be about the same cost as a deveopers house with land as you are building a one off house, which would be more expensive. On top of that would be the cost for the architect. No idea on anything more specific as it is too location dependent.

You will pay MORE than a tract home for a custom home. And that doesn't count the land. Add about 30-100% to a tract home for a custom home price. So maybe think about cutting the size of the home, or you physically building it yourself.

Is your dream to build your dream house, or to just build a home in the country?

Tough question. The property is our dream property out in the country but it still needs to make sense for a sizable family and we also don't want to settle with a cheap builder like Ryan homes which will result in issues down the road. We are in a unique place where we have to sell pretty soon due to outgrowing our current house (3 bed 1 bath). Hoping some conversations with some builders will lend more clarity and direction.

As the home owner you can act as your own general contractor. It requires a lot of research and preparation to be successful. If you have a couple tears the savings can be substantial. The knowledge of your house and its systems while be an ongoing benefit.

Matt Risinger's the Build Show will help you think about this. Matt Risinger - YouTube

Touring new construction homes in your market area is a great way to get calibrated with respect to the cost and quality level you can expect at various price points. As noted by a poster above, building a custom home built on your lot will involve a premium above a spec home.

84 Lumber offers 50 different house kits. homes-catalog-2017-sm.pdf (84lumber.com) . House Plans | 84 Lumber If you don't see a good choice look here. House Plans: The Best House and Barndominium Designs (2024) (advancedhouseplans.com) 84 Lumber can use a plan from ABP to generate a materials bid for you. You can find subs by driving around your area and seeing who's working on other sites. There are lots of ways to save money. You can use some savings to upgrade materials and equipment.

Modular homes can be an option. But a manufactured home is a lesser product. He Bought A Clayton Home And Instantly Regretted It (youtube.com)

More on modular options- Build Better & Faster (youtube.com)

I have two friends in town that have built modular homes and both are of very high quality. We planned on modular but we started right after the pandemic and the factories were behind because of shut downs. Some consider modular studier than stick built homes. Both families chose modular because of the cost savings and ability to control costs better. Do not forget to budget for site work of the home including the driveway and if you need septic and well into the cost to manufacture a home.

I think that it's very difficult to assess the price of the home without personally knowing the housing area where it will be built. $450,000 (for just the home) may work - depending on what you are looking for re: square footage + level of finish + etc. Then again, it may not be enough. I think the only way you will know is to speak with some builders re: what you'd like to build - and if he/she thinks it would be possible.

Tying your project to a small number of local competitors is not the only and likely not the most cost-effective option. Education and time can save money, improve quality and lessen stress.

"I am getting discouraged looking around at builder websites from a budget standpoint."

Here we go again, someone relying on the internet and ignoring real life. Put some effort into it and talk face to face with a few local architects and builders about your dream.

Calm down Mark. I have meetings scheduled with builders to do just that but with a big project like this, using all my resources including the internet makes sense. Especially for someone who has never gone through it before. Not everyone knows to meet local architects right off the rip. Thank you for your help!

Thank you, I think I will take that advice. Breath in breath out breath in breath out . . .

How far away from where your in-laws live is the "nice size piece of land" ?

lol deep breath appreciated. It is literally right next to it. They are connected. If we built a house it would be maybe 200-300 feet away from theirs. 5 acres for one piece and 6 acres for the other. Properties are long rather than wide.

I can't comment on the overall budget, as I am completely ignorant about the cost of things in Ohio. Nor do I have the slightest idea of how large a house you plan to build or what level finishings you anticipate (hardwood vs. engineered plank; tile vs. sheet vinyl, etc.). However, I will give you a few thoughts on things that may /may not be expensive for you:

- I'm imagining you're building on farm land. If so, is it flat? Flat is easier /cheaper to build upon. Moving earth /building on a hillside adds significantly to the cost.

- How far from the edge of the property will you build? The farther you build from the road (where utilities probably already exist), the more you'll pay. Said differently, bringing electricity, etc. into a suburban house is expensive-but-you-can-stomach-the-cost, whereas bringing that same electrical line to the center of a farm can be astronomical.

- Will you need to build a driveway /road into the house, or does a driveway already exist on the farm?

- Will you need to dig a well, or do you have "city water" near your potential build?

- When you choose the house you want to build, a simple design -- a square or rectangle -- will be cheaper than a "fussy" shape with lots of bump-outs and angles. A simple house will also allow for a simple roof, which is cheaper to build and less likely to leak in the future. You can make other choices, too, that will allow for a less expensive build without driving up the price; for example, one bathroom for the parents + one hall bathroom for the kids /placed so it's accessible for guests is a big money saver.

And I'll end with this thought: I assume this is family land? Does that mean the expectation is that you can't sell this house you're potentially building? If so, that makes your planning all the more important.

Love this and these are all questions we never thought of initially! Some have popped up during our first convos with builders, others I’m jotting down as we speak!

This may not be helpful but… my friend has designed a second house to put on her property (5 acres taken from 15). The house is designed for a family of 4 or 5, so it is about 3000 square feet. She has told me it would take $500,000 to build. We are 45 miles outside of Nashville, so that number may be helpful. Their property has access to city water, so there isn’t septic and well.

Well I'd say that you are on the right track. You believe that you can handle the job. Everyone starts sosomewhere. I've built a couple homes myself. Lots of work but enjoyable to me. And I cut the price in half. This was starting with a bare acre of land. We, my kids n beautiful wife, all worked together. We rented the heavy equipment to clear the land and install the utilities. Big savings there.

We're just finishing the final painting. Will install the kitchen flooring and red oak floors next. We bought solid pine doors that I will topcoat with a good clear coat.

This built took us 2 years. But saved us 200,000 bucks. So essentially paid ourselves 100 grand a year. And we have the exact home we wanted. And know that it's built correctly.

Id say go for it

"maybe 200-300 feet away from theirs"

Speaking from personal experience, plan your life carefully.

Here's an exercise for you:

Take a walk thru Home Depot with a list of all the finishing items, like paint, trim, toilets and tubs, faucets, sinks, appliances, cabinets, roofing shingles, flooring, tile, carpeting, furnace, water heater, A/C, everything you can think of.

Now, write down the least expensive and the most expensive for every item. You can buy a kitchen faucet for $50 or for $1000. Best quality vs bargain quality. Things like furnaces and shingles will be more costly for longer expected life.

By doing this, you'll get an idea of the costs that you can control.

As others have stated, there are a number of variables that can really drive cost, including whether you need a well and septic. In our neighborhood, land development costs are about 200k, including well and septic. This is what it takes to prepare the site for construction. It includes the building pad, but did not include the foundation or another construction costs. It would be impossible to build a reasonably sized house for 450k when you already spent 200k just to get it ready for construction. But it's also possible your land development costs could be much lower, which changes the equation. As you meet with builders, they should be able to give you a ballpark estimate of land development costs for your specific lot. That, plus actual costs of recent builds, should give you an idea of feasibility.

Thank you! The land development cost is one we never considered when budgeting this out. At the very least did not expect it to be what we are getting quoted for. That’s a big time expense. The septic allowance was 30k by itself.

Having gone through a bid for a new build (with a pricetag that ended up too high for us), I can say that it will be challenging to do this with a builder for that budget. If you are handy and have a salaried job that won't miss you being gone for a few hours a day for the 1-2 years it will take to build, you can GC it yourself, and do as much of the work as you can yourself. But it will take significant amounts of your time and will be added stress. That only saves you in the labor department, though - materials cost pretty much the same across the country.

Of course the cost also depends on what you want to build. Modular or other less expensive options might be in your budget.

On top of site preparation costs, you need to consider the cost of time. Construction loans are not cheap - they are interest only, and are usually at a higher interest rate than a traditional 30 year mortgage. You only pay interest on the draws, but by the end of the build that amount can get pretty significant (essentially equaling the mortgage payment). We ended up building a production home but we still needed to have a construction loan, so we paid interest on our construction loan for 8 months (it was about $1500/month at the end), plus rent at an apartment for that time as well. Ultimately it cost us around $25,000 in rent & loan interest, and that was for a pretty short build time. You also have to be aware that it's possible your house will appraise for less than your build cost, in which case you have to make up the difference in cash. Building custom is not for the faint of heart, that's for sure - and it's definitely challenging on a budget. (Our production home ended up being about 25% less than the custom home bid we had.)

Regarding builders, Ryan homes is not a custom builder (similar to Lennar) and won't build on your lot. You need to look for builders that will do that. Some local tract/production builders might have a custom division but the bigger national ones won't. Easiest way to find custom builders in your area would be to look at parade of homes. Internet search will also find you some but you will need to look specifically for builders who will build ON YOUR LOT. Some of them will have floorplans you can choose from and modify. Others will have designers on hand. Others will refer you to an architect (or if you get an architect first, the architect will know builders). They all operate differently.

You can also look at parade of homes for comparable houses to what you would like to build for an idea of what it will cost. If those houses are production/spec, you will need to add a healthy premium on top of it to account for the custom aspect of what you are doing.