Total Cost Estimating

[Katy]

Hi, my family and I are gathering ideas to build our first house. We're first trying to decide if we want to go through a bank or with a company such as United-Bilt (we're in the southern US). But we kind of wanted a cost estimate to start off with.

We have a few plans in mind, but were told we can't get any estimates for total cost to build until we present a deed to our lot. The lot is owned by a relative and we just haven't had a chance to get things together yet, but are going to acquire the deed in the near future. There will be no problems with that.

Can someone explain how we can figure out the total cost of a certain plan? One plan is - http://www.ubh.com/homeplans_detail.phtml?storey=1&bedroom=3&mid=27

Thank you.

[Rich]

That's probably the single most asked question of me. What is it going to cost? I can give you a ballpark of around $100 / sf. It can be above or below that depending on finishes.

[Katy]

We want to do the painting and floors ourselves (plan to stain the concrete). Would that save much money?

[Rich]

Anything you do would decrease the cost. The finish items are usually more difficult to install but on the other hand can save you more money because of it.