Cost Guide
What a custom home actually costs, and what decides it
There is no price on this page, and you should be careful with anyone who puts one on theirs. What there is instead is the list of things that move the number, so you can read a quote and know what you are looking at.
Why there is no number on this page
A cost per square foot is an average of other people's houses. It tells you what somebody else paid on a different lot, with a different well, a different slope and a different kitchen. Multiply it by your square footage and you have a number that feels like information and is not.
The honest answer takes a site visit and a set of drawings. Until we have walked your lot we do not know what the ground is doing, what the village will ask for, or how far the utilities are from the house. Those three things alone move a budget more than most of the choices people spend months agonizing over.
What we can do here is show you the machinery. Once you know which decisions are expensive and which only feel expensive, the conversation gets a lot shorter.
The short version
Most of a custom home budget is decided before anybody picks a tile. The lot, the shape of the house and the mechanical systems are set early and are expensive to revisit. Finishes are the part everyone worries about and the part easiest to adjust.
Call (847) 380-8212The variables
Six things that move the number
Roughly in the order they get decided, which is also roughly the order they stop being cheap to change.
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The lot
Flat and serviced is one price. Sloped, wooded, wet, or a long way from the nearest sewer connection is another. A lot that looks like a bargain can carry the difference in its ground, which is why we would rather review it and give you feedback before you buy than price a house on it afterwards.
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Site work and permits
Excavation, grading, drainage, driveway, septic or sewer, well or water main, and whatever the village wants before it will issue a permit. None of it shows up in the finished photographs and all of it is in the budget. Requirements vary by town, sometimes sharply between two towns that share a border.
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Size, and more importantly shape
Square footage matters less than how many corners, roof planes and stories you spend it on. A straightforward rectangle is cheaper per foot than the same area broken into wings and gables. This is usually the biggest saving available to anyone willing to take it, and the one people reach for last.
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Finish level
Cabinets, counters, flooring, tile, trim, plumbing fixtures and lighting. The widest range on the whole list, which is exactly why it is the wrong place to start. Settle the structure first; finishes can be moved up or down late without redrawing anything.
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Mechanicals and the envelope
Heating, cooling, ventilation, insulation and windows. Mostly invisible, largely permanent, and the part that decides what the house costs to run for the next thirty years. Spending here is the one trade on this list that pays you back every month.
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The schedule
Time is a cost. A decision that waits three weeks for an answer can idle a crew, push a trade into somebody else's booked month and move the finish date a good deal further than three weeks. Most overruns we see started as a question nobody answered.
Reading a quote
An allowance is not a price
An allowance is a placeholder. It says the builder has set aside a figure for something you have not chosen yet, and it holds the budget together until you do. There is nothing wrong with that. It is how every quote gets written before the selections are made.
What matters is whether the placeholder is realistic. A quote with low allowances looks cheaper than one with honest allowances and ends up costing more, because the gap arrives later as a change order rather than up front as a number you could have argued with.
So when you compare two quotes, find the allowances first. If one builder has budgeted a tiled shower and the other a fiberglass surround, you are not comparing two prices for the same house.
- Ask what each allowance assumes, not just what it totals
- Check whether site work and permits are in the number or beside it
- Find out who pays when an allowance turns out to be short
Side by side
How to compare two builders without a spreadsheet
Four questions. The answers tell you more than the totals do.
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01
Line the scopes up first
Before you look at either total, read what each quote says it includes. Site work, permits, landscaping, the driveway and the appliances are the usual places two quotes quietly disagree. Make them describe the same house, then compare.
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02
Ask what happens when something changes
Something always changes. Ask how a change order is priced, who has to approve it and how quickly you see the cost. A builder who has a clear answer has done this before. A builder who waves it off will be the one explaining it to you later.
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03
Find out who is actually on your site
Ask who runs the job day to day and how often they are there. Ask how many other projects they are carrying at the same time. The gap between builders is usually supervision, not materials, and supervision is the thing a quote never itemizes.
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04
Be suspicious of the lowest number
If one quote is well under the others, something has been left out, assumed cheap or deferred. Find it before you sign. The cheapest quote and the cheapest house are rarely the same project.
Questions
Cost and timeline
These are the ones that come up on nearly every first call. If yours is not here, ask it on the phone.
Call (847) 380-8212How much does it cost to build a custom home?
It depends on the land, the size, the plan and every selection you make along the way, so no honest builder hands you a number on the first call. What we can do is price your actual specification. We quote the house off that detailed spec, show you where the money is going, and adjust the plan with you until the number works.
How long does a custom build take?
Once permits are in hand, the build runs on a schedule written for your specific house. Size, site conditions and how quickly selections get made all move the finish date. We will not quote you one before we know those things. When we do set a date, it goes in the contract with the full task list behind it.
When do I find out what the house will actually cost?
At the specification meeting, which we run deliberately long. We pin down the details most builders leave vague, quote the house against them, then sit with you and adjust plan and pricing together until it fits what you want to spend. That number is agreed before you sign, not discovered halfway through framing.
Is there a best time of year to start building?
We build through the year. Once the foundation is in, construction carries on through a Chicago winter without much trouble. We have excavated in December and January, though whether that is possible depends on the moisture in the subsoil and how deep the frost has gone at your site. Ground that holds water can stop excavation whatever the calendar says.
What usually pushes a project past its schedule?
Three things, mostly. Selections made late, because a cabinet or a window ordered late does not arrive on time. Changes asked for after the work is already framed. And village permit review, which we do not control. We flag all three early and tell you plainly which decisions are holding the schedule up. Some of them will be yours to make.
The number you actually want
It is for your lot, your drawings and this year's prices, and it takes a site visit and a conversation to produce. It costs you nothing and it is not a sales appointment. We will tell you on the phone whether what you are thinking about is realistic before anybody drives anywhere.
Get a number that is about your house
Tell us where the lot is and roughly what you have in mind. You will get a straight answer about what it takes, what it costs and how long it runs, on the first call.