I am planning to build a smaller custom home 1800 - 2000 sq ft. I have put an offer on acreage in Montgomery county and plan to pay in cash. I am budgeting $300k for the home, but that will include well, septic, driveway and home construction.

Am i in the ballpark?

Well/pump house - $10,000
Septic - $10,000
Driveway - $5,000 (plan on gravel, can upgrade to asphalt/cement later)
Home - $275,000 remaining ($135-$155/sq ft)

Is this reasonable? I am thinking something similar to the home design below. I don't mind spending less on finishes inside that we can upgrade later.

https://www.architecturaldesigns.com/house-plans/split-bedroom-modern-farmhouse-plan-with-with-large-walk-in-pantry-56456sm

are planning to pay cash for just the property or the house is well? if for the house as well, i have to ask why? interest rates are stupidly low.

Plan to pay for the land in cash, and finance the home with a construction loan.

at $150/ft you will likely be in high end spec home or low end semi custom range. Complexity of roof lines, HVAC efficiency, window/door types and fixture/appliance packages would probably be your bigger savings deltas on what you end up with.

I think current lumber prices will push you up higher than you're thinking. Dimensional lumber and OSB are basically 4x the price they were a year ago. It's crazy out of whack.

I've heard that lumber prices are high, but I don't know enough about the market. Are prices expected to remain elevated or is this a temporary spike? I don't plan on building for 6 months.

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Initially when the coronavirus pandemic began, lumber prices slumped. Construction activity had ground to a halt, leaving mills with excess supply of wood. But in recent months, building activity has resumed with a bang.

And mills weren't prepared. With inventories low and demand so high, lumber prices increased some 60% over the past six months, compensating for the loss at the start of the year.

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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/lumber-prices-have-skyrocketed-and-thats-bad-news-for-home-buyers-11594850533

Hopefully the mills start catching back up as we move past the COVID shutdowns. Not sure if the election will play a role in demand, but if anything, I would imagine activity would slow if investors are hesitant about the uncertainty.

We're actually right in the middle of building our new custom home. We poured the slab today. Subbing out everything ourselves.

We ordered all of the lumber last week. Got whole house quotes from McCoys and Woodson Lumber...McCoys beat them. Woodson told me that prices are still rising and their futures buying has it continuing to climb into next year before stabilizing. They were also skeptical that it'll ever actually go back down now that the producers have gotten the prices up to this point.

Are you using the builders network? Or are you a general contractor?

Just using different people we've found, got bids from, and worked with over the years. Have one guy and his crew doing the slab/framing/exterior, a rock guy for the outside stone, another for drywall/texture, Rock-Crete for spray foam, another for painting, Bryan Design Superstore for flooring, an individual for bathroom tile, Kent Moore cabinets, Premier Countertop Design for kitchen and bathroom granite. I did the house pad work and will be doing the electrical and plumbing myself along with fixtures, appliances and some built ins.

You can probably get close on the high end. Costs have changed since I built my house, but here are things to consider.

Here is what is working against you in the plan you posted

1. Porches and Big Garage
a. Covered porches - You still have slab, framing, and roof. They cost more than you think.
b. Extra storage in the garage. You have slab, framing, walls, and roof.
These two items are 1461 sq/ft in that plan. Let's say you can build that part for $35/ft. You have around $50k not in the house.
2. Outdoor kitchen - I would plumb/wire for it, but add it later
3. Finish out - The plans have a lot of interior details and costs, but you can decide.
4. Fireplace - Do you want it?

Now for the really good parts of the plan:
1. The exterior is mostly siding. Limit the masonry and you will save money.
2. It is only 2.5 baths. With Bedroom 2 / 3 sharing, you are saving a lot.
3. If you can live without the dormer, you should.

Can you post an idea of the finish out details you want? Do you want concrete, wood, or carpet floors? Lots of built-ins or few?

Thanks for the feedback. We definitely have a lot to consider, next step is to discuss with a builder.

Does anyone know of any solid builders in the N Houston area? Like I mentioned, we are planning to have a smaller 2000 sq ft house.

Skillet Shot said:

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I've heard that lumber prices are high, but I don't know enough about the market. Are prices expected to remain elevated or is this a temporary spike? I don't plan on building for 6 months.

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Lumber futures anticipate the bulk of the spike ending in November. Looks like prices are set to hit a floor in March of next year. Of course things can change and futures prices do not mean home depot is going to drop their prices immediately.

If you can live with one of the floor plans offered by these guys, you will save a lot of money over a true custom home (or any semi-custom building).

http://precision-homes.com/

We looked into numerous custom and semi-custom builders and plans, but these guys had by-far the best prices. They have a long list of standard upgrades and were very willing to make significant floor-plan changes are very reasonable prices, which are all itemized up front before you sign (no later surprises). We ultimately didn't build anything, but these guys floated to the top of our list before we put the brakes on things.

Good luck.

Thanks, I will check our precision homes.

Has anyone had any experience using Texas Farmhouse Homes off 290?

http://www.texasfarmhousehomes.com/home.html

I like their simple, open floorplans but the online reviews are hit and miss, several are extremely negative.

Nice Floorplan, good use of space. My only comment on the Floorplan is I wish they flipped the location of the kids rooms and the master bedroom. Not ideal to have the master bedroom entrance right by the hub of mud room, powder, and laundry room. I would want master to have the privacy of the other side of house. Other than that, awesome house and I really like it.

Are you looking at 135-155/sqft for livable space or total covered space. That 275k number could change drastically depending on what you consider for cost per square foot. I don't know what industry standard is. I'd assume livable space I guess.

We built a fully custom home with a GC in 2015 (didn't use one of their plans we used a little one man shop architect). Well and septic included for right about 335k. 2785 sqft livable space, 3950 sqft total. We paid for the land in cash. Mid-range finishes. Stained concrete floors. Nice long concrete driveway and 2 car garage with large portecoche for the boat.

Also spent about 32k in cash for change orders. Which we planned 10% of our home price for so that worked nicely. I guess you could say total price was about 367k then. You WILL have extras or changes. Lol.

New construction costs have climbed pretty significantly in the past 5 years.

The big garage/storage and porches are going to add quite a bit more than you're thinking. You can plan on your engineered slab/framing/roof/siding running at least $50/sq ft for that space. That's about $75k. Then if you get your main living space down to $140/sq ft, that's $275k by itself. Lots of variables to change the pricing but in today's market and material costs, my gut tells me this is a $350k build excluding your septic, driveway, etc. To get the total ~3,400 footprint at $275k puts that at about $80/sq ft averaged. I just don't see that happening. But who knows.

AgProgrammer said:

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New construction costs have climbed pretty significantly in the past 5 years.

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Good point. I shiver to think what it would cost to build our home now.