Wife and I are in the market for waterfront (Lakefront) second home and just cant find the perfect place. We are looking at several lakes in Northeast texas and have decided that the only way to get all the stuff we both want is to build. Was trying to get an idea of the current cost per sqft of new construction, I have seen everything from $198 to $400, thats a broad range.

Understanding that the lot is going to contribute to a large portion of the already built home prices.

Any ideas or has anyone had one built recently?…even better if there are any contractors on here that are building in the area?

Also is there a better/slower time of the year to engage with the builders?

TIA for the responses….

Agree with the above. Also, good local architects/draftspersons can give you an idea of costs for certain types of homes and/or put you in touch with builders who can. So you don't spend the money designing something you can't afford to build.

$200-$225 per heated and cooled square foot, assuming nice but not crazy finishes and not a ton of dirt work would build a nice house. As a data point, my house cost $202 a foot construction cost as more of a luxury home whereas I build rent house quality finishes for about $130 per foot (no builder fee so add that in). Also, I'm in Tyler if that is around where you are

If you have a square footage in mind, multiply it times $300/SF to give you a ballpark.

I went through this recently.

I finally found a cost plus builder that shared with me recent projects and pricing.

MASSIVE help.

I didn't want to commit to plans until I could get a ballpark for size and price. Luckily for us, he also draws up his own plans. Made it a lot easier as he just charged an hourly rate to work on basic plans and then we could price off of them.

We built a barndominium so a unique build compared to a house. That was also really frustrating trying to figure out pricing because there's even more variables as the metal building price was a swing by itself.

Take the land price out of your equation and focus on build cost only. It'll be easier to keep the two separate and then just add them together when you're closer to the budget you want.

I agree with the others if you want rough ballpark go with :

$200/sq fr - basic build
$300/sq ft - medium/average build
$400/sq fr - higher end

You're not building anything cheap and you'd be surprised the swing on appliances, plumbing and lighting fixtures, flooring, trim, and cabinets.

Hell, variable HVAC units will run you $5K more each.

$250/sqft +/- (conditioned space excluding lot/pool/etc) can get you some darn nice finishes in Houston area

Chewy can you shoot me an email at Bullard 21 k at gmail?

I had a few random questions for ya if not too much trouble

Chewy doesn't have stars - can't PM.

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but you're telling me you can't build a nice but not extravagant 3000 sq foot house for under $950k? I mean what are we doing here

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Of course you can - but not with certain builders/architects.

MAS444 said:

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but you're telling me you can't build a nice but not extravagant 3000 sq foot house for under $950k? I mean what are we doing here

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Of course you can - but not with certain builders/architects.

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No I understand that but is this more of a function of some builders refusing to build under a certain threshold per sq/ft …possibly due to location

We are building near Stratford memorial area so I was wondering if that has something to do with it and the "memorial price bump"

But we have also talked to a few builders in smaller towns outside of Houston and gotten feedback all over the place so we don't know what to make of what's what

I don't think location is necessarily the reason directly - but indirectly, yes, of course. I think it's more a direct function of certain builders overhead/marketing/costs/etc + demand. If they're plenty busy building 5000ft2+ homes at $400+/ft, why build something smaller and cheaper?

I'll also say as you get to the million dollar price point things like luxury ranges, tall ceilings, etc. are expected.

A range alone can be an upgrade of $10K, fridge to match the range an extra $7K, AC's another $10K (if going variable)....

Late to the party. As others have said, way too many factors to give you a number. I will say, unless you have some unique needs for floor plan itself consider a build on your lot home from an established builder. They are more cost efficient than doing a full custom build. It's all about the selections you make. Same floor plan can look drastically different based on that, as will the final price.

Feel free to shoot me an email. username@gmail.com. I can put you in touch with folks at castlerock communities if you have any interest. *disclaimer* While I have no direct affiliation with the company, my family does. I also live in one.

Started a pretty nice 4,400 truly custom home in rural north Texas for about $250/foot in January 2020. "Pretty nice" meaning:
- 3/4" white oak hand scraped floors throughout
- at least 11' ceilings throughout …some 28'
- Marvin real wood windows throughout
- all stone exterior
- standing seem metal roof
- Thermador appliances
- natural quartzite counter tops throughout
- heated bathroom floors
- whole home backup integrated generator with 1,000 gal propane tank
- $40,000 in lighting
- multiphase and split Trane HVAC systems.
- about 1,800 SF of covered porches
- custom built interior cement storm shelter / safe room

Moved in in January 2021. Both insurance company and builder said in January 2021 it would cost $325 a foot to replace. That's just the house…no land, dirt work, utilities or septic.

So an increase of $75/foot in just 12 months for construction of an identical house. You should be able to build (no land) a pretty decent house for $350/foot.

Chewy said:

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I went through this recently.

I finally found a cost plus builder that shared with me recent projects and pricing.

MASSIVE help.

I didn't want to commit to plans until I could get a ballpark for size and price. Luckily for us, he also draws up his own plans. Made it a lot easier as he just charged an hourly rate to work on basic plans and then we could price off of them.

We built a barndominium so a unique build compared to a house. That was also really frustrating trying to figure out pricing because there's even more variables as the metal building price was a swing by itself.

Take the land price out of your equation and focus on build cost only. It'll be easier to keep the two separate and then just add them together when you're closer to the budget you want.

I agree with the others if you want rough ballpark go with :

$200/sq fr - basic build
$300/sq ft - medium/average build
$400/sq fr - higher end

You're not building anything cheap and you'd be surprised the swing on appliances, plumbing and lighting fixtures, flooring, trim, and cabinets.

Hell, variable HVAC units will run you $5K more each.

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Any cost savings going the barndo route?

I haven't sat down and tried to do a true apples to apples comparison because there's so many variables but I believe so.

The exterior metal structure is definitely cheaper and more durable than a traditional wood structure of similar size.

Then it's basically a framed wood box inside of that.

Bullard - shot you an email to that address but never heard back. Not sure if you got it.

Corps_Ag12 said:

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A house like that is probably over $400/sf at this point.

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Important to note it is a two story house….so less expensive per foot than a one story.

HarleySpoon said:

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Corps_Ag12 said:

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A house like that is probably over $400/sf at this point.

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Important to note it is a two story house….so less expensive per foot than a one story.

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I've heard this before. Do mind explaining why this is the case?

bullard21k said:

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HarleySpoon said:

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Corps_Ag12 said:

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A house like that is probably over $400/sf at this point.

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Important to note it is a two story house….so less expensive per foot than a one story.

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I've heard this before. Do mind explaining why this is the case?

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Up and down square footage shares the same slab and same roof which are $$$. Same reason covered porches on slab add so much to the cost as they do not share slab and roof with HVAC sf.

HarleySpoon said:

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bullard21k said:

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HarleySpoon said:

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Corps_Ag12 said:

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A house like that is probably over $400/sf at this point.

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Important to note it is a two story house….so less expensive per foot than a one story.

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I've heard this before. Do mind explaining why this is the case?

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Up and down square footage shares the same slab and same roof which are $$$. Same reason covered porches on slab add so much to the cost as they do not share slab and roof with HVAC sf.

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Gotcha so very crude general statement could be that if you keep the outside porches and outdoor kitchens to a minimum and add a second story that would theoretically help your pet sq footage standpoint.

Is that the general idea?

Going straight up just adds the marginal cost of subfloor.

No additional slab or roofline.

Anyone built in BCS lately? In the very early stages of looking at lots to build on

bullard21k said:

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HarleySpoon said:

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bullard21k said:

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HarleySpoon said:

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Corps_Ag12 said:

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A house like that is probably over $400/sf at this point.

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Important to note it is a two story house….so less expensive per foot than a one story.

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I've heard this before. Do mind explaining why this is the case?

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Up and down square footage shares the same slab and same roof which are $$$. Same reason covered porches on slab add so much to the cost as they do not share slab and roof with HVAC sf.

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Gotcha so very crude general statement could be that if you keep the outside porches and outdoor kitchens to a minimum and add a second story that would theoretically help your pet sq footage standpoint.

Is that the general idea?

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Yes…..that's the general idea. My porches were very expensive but we are on decent sized acreage on a hill will large hills in distance so we spend a lot of time on the porches. No way I would spend that on porches if we didn't have great view in 270 degrees of direction.

Currently in process of building a barndominum in the "Wellbornish" area.

Jeff Jones is my builder.

chrisfield said:

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Yep, the above is right if not a little low. $200/foot is very hard to hit these days for a real custom, and it's much more likely you'll be at $250-300 depending on finishes. That's all without lot, pool, etc.

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Is this just the cost of building new vs buying existing? I ask because our home is 4300 sq feet, semi-custom with higher than average finishes, on 1/4 acre cul-de-sac private lot with a very large pool and patio...and it would list right now for $850K... so right at $200/ft (North TX golf course community).

I sure as heck wouldn't want to build this house for $250-300/ft without the lot and the pool.

bullard21k said:

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HarleySpoon said:

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Corps_Ag12 said:

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A house like that is probably over $400/sf at this point.

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Important to note it is a two story house….so less expensive per foot than a one story.

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I've heard this before. Do mind explaining why this is the case?

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Not every square foot costs the same. Especially when you go 2-story as others have mentioned.

Another anecdote: cost to build a 4/2 versus a 3/2 is only marginally different and your plumbing bid will be the same as well as your kitchen (generally) but now you have another room, so your kitchen and plumbing/bathroom finish out costs are spread out over more square feet. This allows build price per sqft to lower, but because of the extra space, you'll have a higher sales price, in theory.

One more thing that I want to mention that I think would be very helpful to fellow Aggies thinking about building a truly custom home….Aggie builders do not read:

I found a very high quality builder willing to do the project for cost plus a fixed fee. Not a fixed percentage fee..just a fixed dollar amount. This works and is fair to the builder so long as you are not adding to the scope of the project. The rationale is that any changes in the cost of subcontractor labor, materials or finish materials, windows, appliances etc doesn't affect the effort/ cost of the builder. For instance, I expected to spend about $20,000 on lighting but wound up spending about $45,000 on lighting. My incremental cost was only $25,000…not $25,000 plus 10%-13%. Didn't cause the builder any more work or costs…and he didn't make any more $$.

Really only works for a truly custom where great variability can be expected on costs and where you don't change scope by adding rooms, pools, landscaping etc….. things that genuinely do add to the effort/costs of the builder.

I had a genuinely great builder and this was just as suppliers were starting to refuse to lock bids for more than a week or two. We were very fortunate to have locked in our lumber package, steel roofing etc….and all the contractors and material suppliers honored their original bids from a few months prior.

Last thing….. a builder really is only as good as his subs. You don't want a builder who has twelve projects going while he is building your home, but you also don't want a builder that only builds two or three houses a year. Need a builder that the good subs want to please but who also has adequate time to focus on your project.

My two bits.

you can definitely buy an older home for substantially less than replacement value.

this is why people get so shocked when the insurance company jacks up their values.