how much is this going to cost me?

Well, there are a variety of factors that control costs….

Scale : how big are you going? Obviously the smaller the project the lower the costs. Typical costs (in Seattle) are running in the range of $400-$500 per square foot. This includes your design and the build.

Location : Seattle is hilly, and has some interesting geological conditions. If you are in an ECA (environmentally critical area), design costs and construction costs are going to go up. For a complete list of ECA’s check out SDCI. Sometimes it is difficult to know if your property is in an ECA, reach out to us, we can help. Some examples of ECA’s are: steep slope, liquefaction zones, peat settlement, shoreline, and riparian corridor.

Quality : Quality is an interesting term. We are not necessarily talking about gold toilets (although this will help in inflating the budget), what we are talking about is a few things. Are we building a standard wood framed building with minimum code compliant insulation and openings. Will your project have an air and weather barrier. Will you be looking into thicker walls, CLT wall construction, prefabrication, etc etc etc. When we talk about quality, we like to think in terms of sustainability and longevity. 

True Cost : Ultimately we won’t know how much your home will cost until we create detailed drawings, choose doors, windows, fixtures, etc. and all the specifications that go into a complete home design. At this point we will get material costs and we will price out labor costs from sub-contractors for the specific scope of work. We will tally up everything along with the cost of managing the project, as well as a healthy contingency for the unknowns, and then you will have an accurate number for how much it costs.

Design Costs : In order to get a design to the point of bidding we recommend spending at least 6-8% of your rough budget based on costs per square feet, this will give us enough information to get through permitting and a design that is complete enough to bid out to subcontractors, and create the specifications and material orders needed to build.

example : new residence

square feet 1,000 sf

cost per square foot $450

rough estimate of $450,000

6-8% of total project costs $27,000-$36,000