re: New Home Construction $/sqft

We paid 139 per foot (living space only) including contractors fees. Not including the land. Also spent about 40k out of pocket on upgrades etc throughout building process and that kept out price per square foot down and prevented us from going over budget at the end of construction. Our budgets were very generous on many things such as plumbing and lighting etc, but then incredibly off on areas like garage doors. Budget was 2000 for 4 doors. Completely impossible to find. Stuff like that cost us out of pocket. Appraised for 183 per foot 3-4 years ago. Should be higher now. We are now within city limits and have continued with many upgrades such as an outdoor kitchen, planted lots of large trees and dug a private stocked 1 acre pond. I'd expect closer to 200 per foot now considering the rest of the property.

You should be looking anywhere from $70-$80 sqft total sqft. The items and finishes can push it up from there, but if it's not basing there, your paying too much. We build really nice stuff for that budget. Our company can draft tour plans for you and save that fee. Check out our plans, mybuildercares.com

Seriously. Tile countertops or marble? Custom cabinets or box store? Rohl fixtures or Home Depot? Sheetrock ceilings or pecky cypress?

This is like asking how much a bag of groceries cost. Bare bones you're looking at 85/sf minimum, but if you wanted to you could spend over 300/sf. Your builder should be giving you allowances for flooring, tile, appliances, trim etc, that way if you go over budget on your selections it's on you.

If he says "I'll build this house for 135/sf," without detailed a detailed specbook or your selections, you're literally begging to get screwed.