re: Building a house - looking for some advice

I'm going off of the little info you've provided, but here's my thoughts. These deals have a few pros and a lot of cons...

pros:
- usually get a decent price b/c the builder already knows exactly what it will cost and he should have eliminated construction waste
- also cheaper b/c the builder will keep you from over spending on the finishes.
- faster process than a true custom home b/c you aren't waiting on plans, bids, etc


cons:
- That's not really much of a 'custom' home. It's sounds like a tract home or at best a pre-sold spec (or custom spec).
- little room to negotiate anything, b/c the builder probably has many things already picked out for you.
- resale value can be lower if this is more like tract building. you may have a the same house built 5 doors down from you
- builder has all of the control and leverage which bring me to the next point...
- in my experience, builders in this situation will almost always cut every corner they think they can get away with. I'm not saying it will have structural issues, but you'll get cheaper finishes than you would normally choose for yourself.

Builders offer these deals b/c they can make very good money on them. Most buyers going this route have never built a house before and don't realize all of the 'builder grade' materials going into the house.

I've seen homeowners actually take a custom set of plans with a decent amount of detail and get bids that have a $80k variance from one another ($400-480k). This difference isn't really in the profit, but in the finishes. I built my house for about $110 sq ft. I could have built it for $90/ft or I could have spent $150/ft by only changing the details (type of windows/doors, flooring, plumbing & electrical fixtures, appliances, trim, ... the list goes on.