Estimate on Custom Construction

$100/sq ft would probably be the low end, but for the extras that house looks to have it could easily get up to $150-$200/sq ft

Are you planning to act as your own general contractor, are you interested in getting it finished to a certain level and doing the rest yourself, or are you talking about a turnkey build? A good custom builder, on a turnkey project, will walk you through the costs on all aspects of the build. If you provide a target number of cost per square foot, the builder can help you to meet that cost, steering you toward amenities/finishes that will fall into line. You don't want to overbuild for the area, nor do you want to spec out a house that won't appraise for what you will spend to build it.

The house you linked would cost between $125/150 square foot in my area. But it could easily be more or less, depending on how much dirt work needs to be done, the size of driveway/lengths of sidewalks needed, whether the neighborhood has landscaping requirements, etc.

If you're still looking for plans, remember that corners cost money, roofline elevation changes cost money, and auxiliary spaces like porches and garages don't necessarily add $$ to the appraisal value, but they certainly add to the cost.

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If you're still looking for plans, remember that corners cost money, roofline elevation changes cost money, and auxiliary spaces like porches and garages don't necessarily add $$ to the appraisal value, but they certainly add to the cost.

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Very true. The roofline some a-hole architect had on the pre-redrawn plan had about 8 extra gables. Redesign of the roof chipped something like $25,000 off our estimate. It seems like most builders can look at the base layout of a plan and the base elevation and make an "expensive or not expensive" judgement in like 15 minutes.

Thanks for the help. I would be super happy to be able to build for $115 sq/ft. Im assuming the company that built this house either still have the plans or can re draw them.

We love the layout of the house and will probably be changing minor things.

I guess my main question was if we was going to be around our budget, instead of going to the builder first and given a number we could do absolutely nothing with. Basically to see how realistic we were being. The number in my head i would be hoping to do it for was 280. With all quality mid grade interior finishes.

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3500 sqft house in that link for $280,000?

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That's $80/sq foot. At that price range, you're gonna get builder grade finishes. Think cultured marble bath countertops and tub surrounds, formica kitchen counters, very basic light fixtures, a single interior paint color, paint grade trim (not stained), hollow-core interior doors, and carpet or laminate floors (rather than tile/engineered hardwood).

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cost me around $125 SQFT 

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Can't even imagine a bid that low. We are planning to build in Washington state on our own property. 3500 sq ft, typical LA finish level and the bids came in at $310/sq ft Some items that bumped it up a bit were metal roof and geothermal heat pump. Our budget is $225. Back to the drawing board.

To my knowledge price per square foot is typically living area not under roof. Garages are not considered living area. That listing says 3496 which is living area right? It's kind of confusing to me because 2450 for a 3 bedroom makes much more sense than 3496. Hell my house is 5 bedrooms with the same square footage.

But yeah if you're talking under roof prices then my house cost right at $80 sqft to build. My builder harped about it quite a bit since 1400 sqft of non-living space was pretty big.

That size house with finishes in house shown could be done around $ $120-125/sq ft., maybe minus the metal roof. If you wanted nicer touches, it would be more. That a pretty basic house.

I would think the 120-125 is based on a gc building the house. And assuming they have their own lot already.

GC fees can range from 10%-20% depending on the market and how busy or hungry the GC is. Be advised that GCs will always have "juiced" numbers in their bid, so if they say there oh/p is 10% that sometimes is not the case.