OP here--a few other details from the early stage of the process. Besides the builder (more on finding them later), we needed an architect and an engineer.

We found an architect concurrently at the time we found the lot. And the architect gave us recommendations on engineers (builders are also a good source of recommendations on engineers).

We love our architect and discovered her because we went to an open house for a new build, and while the home itself was larger than we wanted, we immediately liked the design and overall flow of the house.

The firm is Upton architecture and Margaret (the owner) runs it out of her home (no fancy office space, meaning less overhead), and she employs a team of architects that specialize in different areas 'as needed'. As mentioned, we wanted a design to accommodate a disabled family member, and she was fantastic on this. She also designed with an eye on our overall budget. I cannot overstate how important it has turned out that everyone is in alignment on budget. There are a lot of choices that can increase or lower the cost of the build that are inherent in the plans themselves.

Architects will generally bill as a flat fee, percentage of the project, OR will bill by the hour. Upton will do either. We chose hourly--which works well in the following situations:

1. Homeowner not necessarily starting the design from 'nothing' (we used the floorplan she'd already designed as our jumping off point and had been researching for a while and knew what we wanted) Ours was 2,000 sq feet smaller, but a very similar layout.

2. Homeowner is decisive and after the 'upfront' investment in time of meeting with the architect is done and the plans are substantially finished, doesn't make a hundred additional changes. I'd estimate we met about 5-6 times in person, for 30 min-1 hour each time. After that, changes made were small and/or part of the permitting process and were achieved via emails or short phone calls.

For a set of architectural plans, as well as the additional plans for lighting, electrical ,etc, and including multiple sets for the permitting process, cost for the architect was 18K. **This can and will go up (a bit) by the time the home is done by having the architect weigh in on the 'guts' of the house, like our roof trusses. Our architect can do more, like taking care of everything from lighting fixtures to tile selections, though we're choosing to work mainly with vendors our builder recommends on these.

Next up, I'll talk engineering and permitting. We ran into issues at this stage--it was quite a stupid process. Y'all will have to take my word that I'm a civic minded, law-abiding person. And by the time we were through, it had me wondering who I needed to bribe, or kill, to get it all done. Will check in, in a few weeks with the next installment.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These "foundation to keys in four months" stories seem impossible. I've never seen a custom project take less than a year. I mean, acclimating the flooring to the conditioned space ought to take a couple of months, and isn't happening while the drywall is off-gassing the moisture, and that's months after the wall close in is done so the HVAC is turned on.

It does not take a couple of months to acclimate floors.

Well, it does if you don't want them to buckle.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you paid $82K for your lot, you -- at best -- live in an exurb. You may be able to put up a house for $1.4M. You are not paying the close in premium for everything from workers, to permits, to lot clearance, dumpsters, landscaping, painting -- even cleaning .

How much do you think it costs to build a house? The builders are selling them for $2.2 on a close in lot they bought for $1m. It doesn't cost them anywhere near $1.4 to build!

Duh, that was my point. If the poster paid $82K for a lot, she could get quite a house for $1.4 M because of the reduced costs I mentioned.

Anonymous wrote:These "foundation to keys in four months" stories seem impossible. I've never seen a custom project take less than a year. I mean, acclimating the flooring to the conditioned space ought to take a couple of months, and isn't happening while the drywall is off-gassing the moisture, and that's months after the wall close in is done so the HVAC is turned on.

I'm not OP, we're building now as well and my wife is scared to death that we're "moving too fast" with the home building project. From what I remember of our timeline: we looked for about a year and a half for a lot. So we started looking when rates were in the 3s and finally locked something in at like 5% 6 months ago.

We were told the entire process takes about 9-10 months, but it includes permits. We closed in late March, and didn't get the building permit until the first week of June, so it was 2 full months of just waiting. Foundation walls have been put in, and framing should start taking place within the next 2 weeks. Overall, we're looking at February before we move in, so almost a year. Months to actually build start to finish is about 5-6.

I could see 4 months if you're getting a spec home from the builder, something that they can pop in and easily do.

Anonymous wrote:These "foundation to keys in four months" stories seem impossible. I've never seen a custom project take less than a year. I mean, acclimating the flooring to the conditioned space ought to take a couple of months, and isn't happening while the drywall is off-gassing the moisture, and that's months after the wall close in is done so the HVAC is turned on.

I own acreage out near Front Royal. A neighbor bought their lot themselves then had a builder take care of the rest. It took 4-6 months all in. But their house is a smaller one story three bedroom, two bath house. I think it cost them in the area of $400k-$500k. No garage and the house is cute but builder grade. Sometimes I think it’s cheaper to buy an existing house than to build.

Anonymous wrote:These "foundation to keys in four months" stories seem impossible. I've never seen a custom project take less than a year. I mean, acclimating the flooring to the conditioned space ought to take a couple of months, and isn't happening while the drywall is off-gassing the moisture, and that's months after the wall close in is done so the HVAC is turned on.

It does not take a couple of months to acclimate floors.

These "foundation to keys in four months" stories seem impossible. I've never seen a custom project take less than a year. I mean, acclimating the flooring to the conditioned space ought to take a couple of months, and isn't happening while the drywall is off-gassing the moisture, and that's months after the wall close in is done so the HVAC is turned on.

We just built a custom home. I really enjoyed the process and would do it again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here--first clarification. In the realm of custom homes, going with a design-build firm that has builder, architect, permitting,and even the lot purchase in house is the generally the most expensive way to go. Lining up the architect, builder, etc saves money comparatively.

A move in ready home will definitely save on stress, but then of course you're not getting exactly what you want. And as far as total cost, an existing 5500 sq ft, 5 br/4.5 bath, 2 car garage home will run 800k-2M, depending on location. Compared to an existing build, similar specs in Bethesda, we'll be saving money. Compared to an existing build in Fredericksburg, for example, we'll be spending more.

One reason we're building: we have a family member who uses a wheelchair and I was finding it impossible to find universal access. By the time we looked at sinking 75-100K into making a home truly disability friendly, it made sense to build.

Here was how we found the lot: our budget meant that we skipped the close-in mo-co areas, where a sliver of a lot is going for over 300K, and that's if you're lucky. We wanted the following: good school district with diversity (we have young kids), convenient location for hybrid work for commutes into DC 2-3 times/week, if possible, existing sewer/water hookups, and 1/3 to a half acre. We found our lot that met all of these specs by setting up search parameters on Redfin, and purchased it back in 2020. Total cost: 82K

Okay so by somewhere in the DMV region you mean nowhere close to DC.

OP you don’t need to disclose the town or neighborhood but can you say how many miles away from DC are we talking about? A small teardown lot in close-in desirable suburbs would often be $500-700k+ so I presume if you paid $82k you must be out somewhere near Hagerstown out by the Pennsylvania border? (For example https://redf.in/O878ZV)

Finding a lot closer in (Hagerstown would be a hellish commute into DC where we work) for under say, 150K is possible. But there isn't a lot of inventory on the market, so its a matter of being patient, a little lucky, and knowing what you want. If you do a search for existing land for sale, or that has sold in the past two years, you'll see Clarksburg area, closer in Howard County, closer in PG and Anne Arundel (Odenton area) all within an hour commute (depending on where in DC).

I never did find anything in NoVA--not sure if zoning plays a role, but other than tear downs, vacant land there tends to sell in multi-acre parcels.

A few examples I found:


https://www.redfin.com/MD/Clarksburg/22518-Schoolfield-Ct-20871/home/10489818


https://www.redfin.com/MD/Odenton/966-Patuxent-Rd-21113/home/10318402

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Fairmount-Heights/6108-K-St-20743/home/11015713

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Gaithersburg/Brink-Rd-20882/home/10482968

https://www.redfin.com/MD/Gaithersburg/Brink-Rd-20882/home/10482968

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here--first clarification. In the realm of custom homes, going with a design-build firm that has builder, architect, permitting,and even the lot purchase in house is the generally the most expensive way to go. Lining up the architect, builder, etc saves money comparatively.

A move in ready home will definitely save on stress, but then of course you're not getting exactly what you want. And as far as total cost, an existing 5500 sq ft, 5 br/4.5 bath, 2 car garage home will run 800k-2M, depending on location. Compared to an existing build, similar specs in Bethesda, we'll be saving money. Compared to an existing build in Fredericksburg, for example, we'll be spending more.

One reason we're building: we have a family member who uses a wheelchair and I was finding it impossible to find universal access. By the time we looked at sinking 75-100K into making a home truly disability friendly, it made sense to build.

Here was how we found the lot: our budget meant that we skipped the close-in mo-co areas, where a sliver of a lot is going for over 300K, and that's if you're lucky. We wanted the following: good school district with diversity (we have young kids), convenient location for hybrid work for commutes into DC 2-3 times/week, if possible, existing sewer/water hookups, and 1/3 to a half acre. We found our lot that met all of these specs by setting up search parameters on Redfin, and purchased it back in 2020. Total cost: 82K

Okay so by somewhere in the DMV region you mean nowhere close to DC.

OP you don’t need to disclose the town or neighborhood but can you say how many miles away from DC are we talking about? A small teardown lot in close-in desirable suburbs would often be $500-700k+ so I presume if you paid $82k you must be out somewhere near Hagerstown out by the Pennsylvania border? (For example https://redf.in/O878ZV)

Anonymous wrote:If you paid $82K for your lot, you -- at best -- live in an exurb. You may be able to put up a house for $1.4M. You are not paying the close in premium for everything from workers, to permits, to lot clearance, dumpsters, landscaping, painting -- even cleaning .

How much do you think it costs to build a house? The builders are selling them for $2.2 on a close in lot they bought for $1m. It doesn't cost them anywhere near $1.4 to build!

If you paid $82K for your lot, you -- at best -- live in an exurb. You may be able to put up a house for $1.4M. You are not paying the close in premium for everything from workers, to permits, to lot clearance, dumpsters, landscaping, painting -- even cleaning .

Anonymous wrote:We built a custom home in DE 7 years ago using a design/build firm. It worked well and took about 4 months between ground breaking and handing over the keys.

Our relatives, who built on an adjacent lot, acted as their own GC (they've done it many years before, so not total novice). They started around the same time as us, but did not finish until 3 years later. I have no idea if they saved much money after all, but the headaches were next level.

Fully custom in 4 months. Every detail fully open to possibilities and chosen by you. No tweaks from an existing floor plan? That time line surprises me. I have heard of semi-custom being that fast.

I do think a lot of it depends on the jurisdiction. That just isn't possible in some of the close in burbs of DC.

Yes our neighbor did a design build luxury home. Took about 4-6 months. A lot of time went into preparing the lot. Money no object with these people. But it did get done pretty quickly without too many headaches. GL Op !

We built a custom home in DE 7 years ago using a design/build firm. It worked well and took about 4 months between ground breaking and handing over the keys.

Our relatives, who built on an adjacent lot, acted as their own GC (they've done it many years before, so not total novice). They started around the same time as us, but did not finish until 3 years later. I have no idea if they saved much money after all, but the headaches were next level.