What do I need to get a proper quote from you for a new custom home?

Q:

What do I need to get a proper quote from you for a new custom home?

A:

What you will need is a proper set of plans that are designed and created by a professional. A proper set of plans will have every side of the outside of the home (the elevations) in detail.

The plans will also have detailed floor layouts of the entire home floor by floor. These layouts will have to include the basement including a footing layout.

There will be a roof layout, a roof layout is very important especially with a custom home, custom homes usually have a complicated roof layout with hips and valleys.

A proper architect drawn set of created plans will have multiple cross sections of the interior of the home at key important points. The only way to see what the ceiling heights, stairs and other important features of the home are created is to see them in a cross section.

In the plans there also should be pages that deal with fine details, such as gable end details, or details that have special ceilings or special re-enforcing to help stabilize the structure.

There should be a door schedule and a window schedule, these will not only list the size and shape of windows and doors but will also give the details of the look, make and style of them.

The more detail that the plans have the less questions that your contractor will have for you, the less questions that they have to ask the more accurate and the quicker they can get you a quote for your new custom home.

So make sure that you come with your detailed set of plans when you meet with your contractor and the whole process of quoting will go a lot smoother.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.

When you give a price per square foot on building a new house does that include the basement?

Q:

When you give a price per square foot on building a new house does that include the basement?

A:

When we give you a price to build your new house we do not price the house per square foot. We give you a total price to build the house. For example if you had a 3000 sqft house and we quoted you a figure like $600,000 to build it, then that would mean that I would be charging $200 a sqft.

When a home builder or real estate agent tells you the square footage of a home it never includes the basement. So in the price for your home at $600,000 that would include the basement as well.

So to put that in perspective if your 3000 sq ft house has a basement that has 1000 sq ft and it was finished then you would have a house that has 4000 square feet of livable space. If you were to calculate the amount of livable square footage compared to the price of the home it would be $150 a sqft for the livable square footage.

Any price that you get for a house will include whatever level of finish that you have speculated in the basement. The more finished square feet in your house the more that your house will cost.

This is the reason that I have always stated that you should only use a contractor that will give you a detailed quote that explains what you are getting in your home for the quoted price.

Thanks for your question,

Rob Abbott
Operations Manager
Village Builders Inc.