There are many variables in the cost to build...$135/sq ft is probably a low end starting point. The trades in northern VA would increase the cost.

Depends on where you are located. Low end in Western Washington near Seattle is about $200 a square foot, which would make your 3500 square foot craftsman about $700,000 build cost, which is really close to my experience.

@ syia6699 , Don't know about how much it would cost in Northern VA, but here in central Ontario, Canada, it ending up costing approximately $500,000 for our custom 2,500 sq. ft. (main floor, finished), plus 2,500 sq. ft. poured solid, reinforced 8" walled concrete basement (interior unfinished). The land lot (2 plus 1/4 acres) was another $40,000. But we deliberately built in an area of much natural beauty, but with a downturned local economy, which meant lower property taxes forever for us, with a view (but not on waterfront) of two lakes. To keep costs down a bit, we did a lot of work ourselves (my husband has deep, albeit industrial, construction knowledge), but we were both willing to do many things others aren't, for example we acted as our own general contractors/design team, placed our own rebar, did the strapping on each and every ceiling before the drywall team showed up, prepared our own subfloors, etc.). Overall, the build would have likely cost us at least an additional $40,000 if we hadn't. Best advice: have faith in your own abilities; you can do more than you think, then go for it. Great reference/learning resources are readily available. Do your homework, and have a contingency fund for the effects of unexpected bad weather on exposed wood, etc.

We will be building in MD, not far from Northern Virginia. We talked to many builders and found the $200-$250 per sq ft about the average range. I can't give you more specifics because we are building a one-story, aging in place home, and building out rather than up raises the costs immediately. We did speak with some of the 'budget minded" semi-custom builders, but realized they were saving money by using materials that we would have upgraded. You can probably expect around $200 per sq ft; you should plan 10-20% contingency because you will always need it. It's an expensive area to build in. Houzz recently purchased GardenWeb, and I've used that website a lot for specific building information. Also check out Southern Sales Services south of Baltimore, a monthly auction place for new building materials. Good luck.

@kadodi Thanks for the information! Land is expensive here so I wonder whether it's possible to get a custom build home within one million. Also concern about the loan too.

@Avril Rainville Your location sounds great! I'm not into super big houses. I only want something stylish, lol. Land is very expensive here. A little less than1/4 arc cost around 600k+ and plus the cost to build. We live in a townhouse so we have to purchase a lot first. Here we pretty much can only purchase lots with existing house on it the flip the old one. That cost extra I believe. I wonder if I still can build something within one million at my dream location. It might only be a dream to build my dream house although I think every detail about it everyday =p

@syia6699 , My heavens! If land alone for a 1/4 acre is THAT expensive, perhaps you need to get a lot more interested in the "Tiny House Nation" craze that has been gaining so much strength down there. In the THN world, a 1,000 sq. ft. home is considered nearly a mansion, because of the way storage is so well thought of, items are downsized pre-move in, and permanent fixtures have double usage. Quite clever really.

Building is quite the process - I'd rather purchase an existing home - having been thick in this process since June - closing in just a couple of weeks - I have not been impressed with any part of this process. Hidden expenses and just all in all a really expensive way to get a new house - I would just not do it again. If you are planning - please check out every single detail and get a line item on the cost involved in getting exactly what you want. We did not get enough details on everything - and are probably 25% over our original budget. Thank goodness that interest rates are low right now. Also, hard to get good communications out of a builder. UGH.

OLD POST November 2013

People are always contemplating building so this post floats up to the top periodically.

I'm with Josie Malecha. I wish I could upvote her a hundred times. Another month long delay here. Never again! If I had it to do over again I wouldn't!

This is an OLD POST from 2013 If we want to re visit the subject, lets start a new thread that doesn't have so many comments already to plow through and is of a current time reference.

I have an old "n" number but it starts with a 0.

OLD POST November 2013

I need help to start a new page... share and like ...

thank you

https://www.facebook.com/groups/963933926977986/

I wish there was a way to see the results without voting. I have never built, but I'm interested in what the vote is.

Understand the value a builder/architect/designer brings to the table. So many of the comments above are from "rookie" mistakes. Why? Because practice makes perfect!

We would like to move entrance to master bedroom to where shower is presently. We do not want a tub; walk-in shower only.
While we are considering many modifications to this plan, we have struggled how to redesign bathroom/closet area with entrance moved.
Any suggestions or ideas are appreciated.

Kerry King Construction, solid, well respected builder of quality homes. Building is hard on relationships and friendships and budget, but in the end you end up with a one-off custom home that reflects who you are. I would do it again, and I would use the same builder. We would have a chance to get it right a second time ;-)

I have built two custom homes, the second a hand crafted log home. I am thrilled with the house (after six years), would use the log crafter and foreman again, but the GC quit on me half way through (quit on the business). His design ideas augmented my architect beautifully, his standards were high, but he just bailed. The foreman was left without a company, but he and his workers and the bank stuck with me and we got it done. I learned how to do a lot of stuff, some I wanted to do and a fair amount I didn't, but we got there. Some parts were really hard, since it is hard to get subcontractors to give you the time of day when you won't have any follow-on work for them, but I was relentless. Some of them felt sorry for me and came and worked on the house on their evenings and weekends because their companies wouldn't put me on the schedule. I'm still working a few issues, some unresolved from construction, but most just adjustment work due to normal log construction settling (about 5 inches, in my case, given 22 inch diameter logs), or finish work done minimally as funds ran low at the time but now can be upgraded. The real money was in the high quality structure, mechanics, and energy effectiveness. It got a 5 star plus rating, relatively rare for full round hand crafted log construction, but well worth it in Interior Alaska where we see temperatures more than 40 degrees below zero. What made it all work was my own planning--lots of details ahead of time--and my relentless search for deals. There are tons of overstock websites, and Lowes and Home Depot employees got to know me by name. They post the weekend sales on Thursday night in store, and returns by builders there and at numerous other supply companies in town typically show up on Friday. Black Friday got me my hardwood floor from Lowes, at roughly 30% of original cost. And I did all the cleanup during construction, all the painting, about half the tile work and nearly all the grouting, to name a few of my areas of participation. So, I'd do it again, and while I'd avoid the GC, there was really no way to know he would suddenly go out of business. Being in on all the details made it possible to finish.

With some hesitation I said 'NO', that I would build again...but not because my past experiences, which haven't been bad or I wasn't satisfied with the final results, but because it's a lot of work, stressful and I've been there and done that. However, I would be very inclined to buy and modify or remodel, if so inclined...but not a ground up construction again. There's no need and it's way too time consuming.

I built a new home after Hurricane Katrina took mine completely away. Fortunately for my marriage, my husband moved to Virginia to take over a new command (Navy), so I could re-build without too much....."interference?"... because a rebuild was never in our marriage plans!!! I asked him his opinion occasionally, and gave him (limited) options when choice was available-- and he trusted me. Now we have a Hale Kai (treehouse) based on our historic home in Hawaii-- the only other home in which we lived besides the one we lost that was perfect in every way. Would I make changes to the new house?? A few, but we are very happy with our home on the Mississippi Gulf Coast-- and are good friends with our contractor!!

Yes! I would absolutely do it again and would want the same builder for sure! I loved planning every detail and having it truly be "our" home. We had the best builder, so our experience was definitely enhanced by this. Quality is important to him and since our moving in (even six years later) if we have had issues with anything his subs show up right away to fix them. We are more than happy with the house that Joe built!

http://newportgroupconstruction.com

Yes I would do it again! Or builder was fantastic http://www.houzz.com/pro/seadarconstruction/sea-dar-construction

There were a lot of decisions to make. The point of a custom house is make it completely yours so we wanted to make all those decisions. But there sure were an awful lot of them!

My husband and I got much much better at making taste and design decisions together and shopping together as a result of the house project. Our first trip the tile store took hours and we walked out with no decisions. One of us would pick something, the other wouldn't like it, and then we would discuss why we liked or didn't like it. We also wasted a lot of time looking things that were cool or fun or interesting but which neither of us really wanted in our house. When a last minute issue towards the end required another trip to the tile store we were in and out in 20 minutes. We wasted no time trying to understand one another's unknowable preferences. If we didn't both like it we weren't buying it and we just moved on.

Would use same builder but would have an inspector to inspect the property once it was completed before making final payment.

queeni1951, there are a number of great options for reconfiguring the transition from the Great Room to your master suite. If you are open to a remote advisor, give a shout. All the best in your project!

Yes, we'd definitely build again. We have built 4 homes over the years but we didn't use a builder for any of them, we were our own general contractor.

I would never build another house. My husband and I felt like we were the general contractors. Had to stay on top of things. No attention to detail.
Overall, the house turned out beautiful but the devil is in the details.

A kitchen reno in our former home was perfect. Excellent craftsmanship. They did over and above what was expected.

Loved our builder and I would absolutely start from scratch with them again (although we would also build the exact same house all over again)! Props to Sublime Development out of Frankfurt, IL for our awesome house! All of their attention to detail and workmanship was so appreciated. I think the only changes we would make would be some of the colors!

We built our home and do not regret doing so, but were dissatisfied with the builder's approach--we had to micro-manage the project ourselves because of the lack of any advice we received from him. I really don't want to go through that experience again and prefer to secure an existing home and renovate it to suit our tastes and lifestyle. While modern homes may be more energy efficient when built, many times after a few years problems in the basic structure can surface. The quality of construction is also not as good today, in my opinion.

In the process of building our 2nd house. Basically the same floor plan as before but without basement and some tweaks! I'm loving it so far!

We are building ourselves and have a "Consulant". We are doing a lot of the work ourselves but worth it. Attached at photos of building site power water and sewer are installed. Just finished trenching for cable and we will start building in a less that 3 weeks.

I would build a house again but never ever use the same builder. he left me to finish things on my own even if they were part of what he had been paid to do. his bids didn't mean anything, but he had some good subcontractors who stayed on time and in budget.

Most definitely !

It's been a while (we used stock plans we modified and subcontracted it ourselves), but yes, it was a wonderful experience, and yes, if I had enough of myself and enough physical health available, I'd do it again!

Yes, I'd do it again with the same contractor - me. I love the process. Friends ask: "Didn't y'all fight a lot about what it was going to be like? "No, my husband got everything I wanted," I say with a smile. Of course he had his say on expanding the garage to twice its size!

Oh, and this was exactly the vision and we are landscaping slowly because we are avid "yard workers". We built around the hundred year-old oak.

We built our home 26 years ago, at the time thinking we would stay a few years and move on. Needless to say, we liked it and stayed.
We didn't think of it as our dream house, and that helped keep things practical. We made sure the spaces were right, the natural light was balanced and we took advantage of views. In the end, that is what is most important.

We did not hire a contractor to build our house; we found and hired all the construction folks. Some worked out better than others. We found the contractors that were recommended by folks we had already used and did good work were worth waiting for.

We had no luck finding a house that fit our needs, so we designed a house exactly as we wanted and hired a contractor to build it for us, with our help. Putting in our sweat equity gave us the opportunity to closely watch over the work the contractor was doing, so we were able to make some design adjustments as the house progressed, giving us a better finished product. Some of the budget decisions we made were to keep costs down; and now we're re-doing those areas 6 years later. I would do it again, but would like to try one of the other contractors we didn't choose the first time around.

My husband and I are building a log home...literally, he and I are doing everything ourselves. We did hire someone to put on the metal roof (although we helped) and also hired someone to frame in our dormer walls as we were under pressure because winter was approaching fast. That being said,

Thoughts:

1. if building a log home, be sure to use someone who has worked on them before. There are MANY unique challenges and while the "friend of a friend" carpenter we hired said it wouldn't be a problem, we spent a whole weekend tearing the dormer walls out and rebuilding them...big time and financial hit to us and lesson learned to do it ourselves.

2. My husband and I work GREAT together- that is an absolute must because I can see how couples could get into trouble if they aren't on the same page and/or can't communicate well.

3. Do your homework. RESEARCH EVERYONE you use and don't take them at their word no matter what they tell you and how nice they seem!!! We purchased a log kit that we had designed. The company had been around for a long time so we figured they would be good to work with. They did a lot of smooth talking initially and when issues started popping up, they were AWFUL! will be contacting the better business bureau or whoever else I can when we are completely done. Of course, after we purchased the logs, we started hearing about all of the bad business practices they've pulled on others. They cost us a lot of money and time...setbacks beyond! UGH! We so trusted that they were sincere... very sad...also cost us heartbreak...

4. Anticipate delays. No matter how much you plan ahead and how timely you are, there are always things you can't control...weather, delivery, shop time, etc...

5. BUDGET ahead...cabinets, counters, light fixtures, vanities, appliances, paint/sealer, hardware, faucets/fixtures, etc. The things you take for granted in a home like doors, baseboards, trim/moulding etc add up quick. Make a list of everything you see in your house and price it out...

6. Be ORGANIZED with details big and small; whether these are timelines, specific orders (i.e. windows/doors, fixtures, roofing materials, etc), plans and permits, etc.

7. Talk to your local inspectors (building, electrical, etc) beforehand and get on the same page.

8. If using a contractor, any professional for that matter, nicely discuss what you can expect from them and the job process and what happens if things don't happen as expected; as in, what's in it for you if they "mess up". Who absorbs the cost of labor and materials in that case? Will they have hard feelings or skimp elsewhere to recoup losses? I've heard so many say that they paid a "professional" that never came back or they require more money before finishing the job and then do poor work or use poor quality materials. You are the one stuck with it remember... You have to check everyone's work throughout the process.

9. Be flexible... this doesn't mean you have to settle for less than the best, only that sometimes, when issues arise, they can be opportunities for something better that you hadn't thought of. Happy accidents I call them...: )

10. I could go on forever (and already have but this has become a nice opportunity for me to vent along some of our challenges), but lastly, breathe and be sure to spend quality time with your spouse, kids, animals, friends, whoever. While taking time out from building is tough, we've found that when we do, we recharge and are more focused when we return to it. Even if it's for a few hours or knocking off a bit early. STAY HEALTHY!

We built our home in 1990 and would definitely use the same builder again, but he is now retired. We are in the process of having plans drawn up for our second custom home. Building a home is stressful but worth it.

I'd do it over, but with a different builder. This time, I feel I'd get it perfectly correct....larger spaces in some rooms, decks, etc.

I think we were lucky with our builder. I'm very satisfied but even so there are a few things I wish we had done differently.

No would never want to do it again unless I have no budget and a dream team.

We are currently building our home and acting as our own GC. This is the 3rd house we have built. Our first house was with a production builder. We basically went to a design center and made all our selections and then waited for the house to be built. Overall, the process went pretty smoothly and we were happy with the end product. Our next house was what I would call a semi-custom. We used a builder's plan and made modifications. We were responsibilty for shopping for much more stuff than the first time. The experience was "eh". We had some battles with the builder over the quality accepted from subs and were not real happy with the quality on some items. However, the house and floor plan ultimately turned out nice. We just sold that place and now are building our 3rd house. This one is 100% custom. We had the plan designed from scratch and we are picking everything from lumber to door knobs. We are acting as our own GC because we want to have more control over the quality of the build. It is a stressful process but very rewarding. We have a lot of our own blood, sweat and tears invested in this house. I'll let you know if I'd do it again . . . . if and when we are ever done!

In a heartbeat! I was my own builder. My customer was of utmost importance....me :-)

Liz H, we used Castlewood Construction in Montgomery County, and I would use them again in a heartbeat!!!

Liz H, we used Castlewood Construction in Montgomery County, and would use them again in a heartbeat. Outstanding work, attention to detail, and fun to work with.

Joseph F. East Aurora, NY. My wife and I were looking for a custom builder who could build us a spectacular home within our budget. We hit a home run when we found Zamkro Builders in Orchard Park, New York. Dean Kroll is a true professional who had the expertise and knowledge to deliver exactly what wanted. Prior to starting the project he went over every detail and always delivered as promised. We were amazed at the quality, material, and craftmanship techniques that Zamkro used in or home construction. The home he built was sensational. Dean was on the job site everyday to deliver his quality products and give his expertise and direction . The entire job ran smoothly and Dean was able to make any and all necessary adjustments as needed. He was so easy and fun to work with from start to finish. He built our Forever home which will last the test of time. . We would not hesitate to recommend Zamkro Builder based on quality, craftmanship and attention to detail. Simply put, it was a "Wow Factor House" when completed. . Trust us, you will not be disappointed with Dean Kroll and Zamkro Builders and his team. He is the absolute best custom home builder our area.

The very best experience comes from getting a plan from a professional designer and getting the construction from a contractor. When the builder tries to be an architect there is a conflict of interest. There are two reasons it can be trouble in a situation where the builder tries to be both. First, builder skills are different that designer skills. A builder should concentrate on the delivery of workmanship skills and price. Second, the homeowner cannot shop for the best price when the plan is owned by a builder. There is no competitive bid. The homeowner is best served when there is a collaboration of visionary thoughtfulness that results in a design they own, followed by a contractor selection process that is distinct from the design process. The selection of a contractor should be shopped by the homeowner after the plan is distributed to more than one qualified contractor, for a competitive price. Everybody wins this way.