custom homes vs production homes

[ktgrok]

Am I right that custom homes cost way more? I'm assuming they do, but given what they say about assuming....figured I'd ask, lol. 

We've found some production builder floor plans we like, but if we end up building on our own lot vs finding a builder community, we could also do custom build...but that sounds WAY more expensive. 

Custom home to me says "bespoke", lol. But I've read enough romance novels to have a tiny shred of hope that there are these rugged, decent men who own family run building companies out there building affordable places. You know, they live next to the millionaire software designer who now lives in a log cabin nursing wounded wildlife back to help and when he's not protecting innocent women from serial killers. 

[WoolC]

In our area, the custom builds on your own lot are starting 100k higher for the same square footage as compared to production communities with optional upgrades.  Definitely check into each production builder thoroughly, we found one that included a lot in their base price (Extra options in flooring, countertops, fixtures, hardware) that all of the other builders called upgrades.  

[Ali in OR]

Can't answer your question (I've always had the same impression that custom must cost more), but with both of the homes we've lived in, we've been able to make changes during the construction process. Things like moving the fireplace, dishwasher, and refrigerator locations, changing width of doors and having slopes up to entries instead of steps for wheelchair accessibility, adding undercabinet lighting in the kitchen, moving walls to steal space for a dark room once and to make a laundry room bigger, all in addition to the typical choosing paint, carpets, flooring etc. It didn't really feel like we needed to go custom to get what we wanted and needed.

I'll just add that there was no increase in cost for any of the accessibility things--wider doors, the nice ramp up to the front door (not a wood afterthought--the ground is sloped up and held in place with a brick retaining wall), all entries accessible, walls moved to make bathroom bigger, etc.

Edited March 14, 2021 by Ali in OR

[Tap]

Yes, custom will cost more. But it depends on how custom you want to go. They will usually have floor plans to offer you, or you can bring your own. They ones they have to offer will often cost less, because they are familiar with them and most things will be a common size. Sometimes custom plans will also have custom size things like odd size doors, refrigerators, ovens etc. Those can lead to unexpected costs if the builder doesn't notice before you get your bid.  If you just want to customize things like changing a door style, faucets or changing closet shelving, it won't usually cost too much. But if you start moving load bearing walls or moving an exterior wall, that is going to cost a lot.

Production builders will often buy in bulk for an entire neighborhood at one time.  A custom builder will not. The volume discounts can really keep costs down. Some production builders will let you make some small changes. Some will not, it really depends on the builder. The ones that will make changes sometimes upcharge so much, that you would be better off with custom! A production neighborhood will have houses that fit the lot size and shape. A custom home may require a bit of manipulation to get it on the lot (I live in a city of small lots). 

Based on wanting space for both you and dh to work from home.....One thing to consider when you build is that you can often add insulation to interior walls to increase sound proofing. Also if you do an upstairs, flooring choices will affect noise as well. Talk to a flooring Expert about that, don't just go with what the builder says. 

I would big ole puffy heart love to build a custom home. It is just not financially possible in the city I live in and my solo income. I'm super happy to hear you are going to get the house to fit your family and dreams !!!  💙

[Carrie12345]

My take is that custom is still going to vary by what you customize with. Also, the cost of acquiring or drafting floor plans, engineering, etc. And having subcontractors who may be slower with designs they’ve never built before.

I’m working with a company that is described as semi-custom. They have a very wide range of floor plans that can be customized, but you start with those floor plans, not something found on eplans or through a private architect. They also have preset options instead of “find anything you want from any establishment”, which is technically limiting, but also super easy for budgeting! Their high volume orders help with timing and availability of supply, too. No waiting on a one-sale cabinet manufacturer to deliver on the right date, delaying installation of a custom countertop, and then waiting for special backsplash tiles to arrive. Or, at least no more than normal for the builder’s usual suppliers.

[kristin0713]

Not necessarily. We just put a deposit on a lot with a small, family owned builder who averages around 40K less than the big names in the area. We actually have a meeting with him on Monday to finalize our plan and get a schedule outlined. 

[ktgrok]

2 minutes ago, kristin0713 said:

Not necessarily. We just put a deposit on a lot with a small, family owned builder who averages around 40K less than the big names in the area. We actually have a meeting with him on Monday to finalize our plan and get a schedule outlined. 

How did you find this builder?

[Bambam]

Our neighborhood is all custom homes. They are larger homes on larger lots, but the price/square foot doesn't seem outrageously higher than regular construction. But it is higher - but we have better windows, way better insulation, etc. Our past two houses were regular new construction - one we picked out the carpet/flooring/etc - and those choices were all cheap stuff. We went with that figuring we could pick out what we wanted later and redo it (which we did with the flooring, but that cheap berber carpet was indestructible).  We bought this house used (second owner), and the original owners obviously spent time and money to get what they wanted. Usually houses in this neighborhood are on the market for long time as they are expensive, but the past year, they have been selling (the few on the market) like hotcakes. Our neighbor has his on the market right now - bidding war between two buyers and they are getting more than their asking price - and one of those buyers has only seen pictures of the house/property - never seen it in person. That's wild. 

[kristin0713]

 

14 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

How did you find this builder?

Well, it was very random. I posted on a homeschool facebook group (one for the area that we are moving to) basically asking if anyone wanted to sell us their house because we are having such a hard time finding one. I was kind of joking, but kind of desperately hopeful that maybe someone was getting ready to list and we could connect before it hit the market. Lots of people replied that they were in the same situation.  One girl messaged me to tell me about the house they had recently built.  It was on a piece of land that a small builder purchased and subdivided into 12 lots / one street of houses.  It just so happened that there were 2 lots left.  DH went out the next day to meet with the builder.  He FaceTimed me from the street and said "This is it, it's just what we want!"  

Now, I had never heard of this guy, but our realtor had good things to say about him (although he apparently didn't think to tell us about him in the first place.)  The only builders I knew of were the big ones that came up on realtor.com or zillow.  This guy does not have a fancy website or showroom.  DH said he pulled some plans out of a file cabinet when he told him what we were looking for.  That's ok with us -- the houses on this new street are beautiful and the neighbors that DH spoke with were all extremely happy with everything. 

[kristin0713]

2 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

My take is that custom is still going to vary by what you customize with. Also, the cost of acquiring or drafting floor plans, engineering, etc. And having subcontractors who may be slower with designs they’ve never built before.

I’m working with a company that is described as semi-custom. They have a very wide range of floor plans that can be customized, but you start with those floor plans, not something found on eplans or through a private architect.

Yes, this is our situation as well.  Our builder has plans already.  I mean, he told DH that he can do whatever we want.  But his business has been around for 65+ years and has plans and plans and plans so we will not be starting from scratch. 

Edited March 14, 2021 by kristin0713
spelling

[cjzimmer1]

I bought my home 23 years ago so things very well may have changed but this was my experience at the time.  Production houses were cheaper but the quality was pretty low.  They looked pretty but when you started talking to people who had lived in them 5-10 years, you started to find out where shortcuts had been taken.  I'm sure there are reputable production builders but the 2 big ones in my area were both no go's when you talked with anyone with construction knowledge.

Custom homes CAN be expensive but don't have to be.  We found a small builder who just builds 5-6 houses a year.  So we could make changes but we weren't dealing with super high end finishes (quality build in the structure but just not fancy finishes, you know like basic light fixtures from Home Depot instead of fancy crystal chandeliers etc).  Our custom build was actually cheaper this way than many of the 5-10 year old homes that we looked at of comparable size.  

[footballmom]

We met with a custom builder before choosing the house we are in now with a production builder.  We were going to be in one of the smallest homes in the neighborhood with the custom builder and there was no guarantee on price - I think there was some ranges of material allowances - but I worried we would be over our budget quickly.  We’ve been in this house for over 15 years and it’s been a great place for us, but the builder definitely cut corners where they could (I.e. our HVAC system is a little undersized but “up to code”).  The custom builder wasn’t more at face value comparing the two houses, but costs could have quickly grown if that makes sense.  I’m glad we looked into it.

[Bootsie]

The production builders save money by bringing in crews to neighborhoods to do the same thing house after house.  The crews do not have to stop and think about things; it is somewhat like being on an assembly line.  To replicate the same exact home as one custom home in another neighborhood would be more expensive.   But, a custom home does allow you to choose somewhat about what is important to you and where you want to spend the money.  

[Scarlett]

Is production home the new term for spec house?

[Scarlett]

I have never built a house.....but Dh has built many, just never for himself. 

My thoughts are to prioritize 1) location 2) floor plan 3) space.  Beyond that, as time goes on many things can be updated or changed put like @Dreamergaldescribed above.  

[prairiewindmomma]

11 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Is production home the new term for spec house?

Regional term, yes.

[prairiewindmomma]

My parents custom built a small cottage/home last year.  They had a modest budget, much more modest than the spec/production homes being built in the area.  They paid for an architect to make some minor changes to a plan they found online, then got bids from some companies.  My parents didn't do entirely custom---they had the builder give them options on lighting and cabinets for some things as it brought their price down as he was doing volume buys.  

I will be completely honest, though. Have you thought about the amount of time and energy and amount of decision making that goes into this? It's not a small bit of commitment. Most people who have built rank the stress as being higher than adding a child through pregnancy. It ranks up there with death of a close loved one.

[ktgrok]

20 minutes ago, Scarlett said:

Is production home the new term for spec house?

Production home builders are the ones where a big builder does whole neighborhoods, with a few plans to choose from. 

[cjzimmer1]

22 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I will be completely honest, though. Have you thought about the amount of time and energy and amount of decision making that goes into this? It's not a small bit of commitment. Most people who have built rank the stress as being higher than adding a child through pregnancy. It ranks up there with death of a close loved one.

I find this an interesting comment because I absolutely loved the process of picking out things.  I always wished we could move and do it again so I could change those things I simply didn't know enough about the first time around.  Never dreamed that someone would find that as difficult as pregnancy/new family member but I guess it's just one of the things where we are all different.

[Hyacinth]

We've spoken briefly with two custom builders and they both offered a ballpark figure per square foot, which helps in the very early stages of planning. (And in our case, by "helps" I mean pours a huge bucket of ice-cold water on our dreamy dreams, lol.) Maybe if you call a few builders local to you they can give you a general price per square foot for your area?

The more reasonably priced community builders here have terrible reputations for quality and follow-through (Ryan, in particular). Do check reviews and talk to people who have recently used whatever builder you're considering.

[Hyacinth]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I will be completely honest, though. Have you thought about the amount of time and energy and amount of decision making that goes into this? It's not a small bit of commitment. Most people who have built rank the stress as being higher than adding a child through pregnancy. It ranks up there with death of a close loved one.

 

50 minutes ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I find this an interesting comment because I absolutely loved the process of picking out things.  I always wished we could move and do it again so I could change those things I simply didn't know enough about the first time around.  Never dreamed that someone would find that as difficult as pregnancy/new family member but I guess it's just one of the things where we are all different.

I want three options for everything. That's it. Just three. Show me three paint colors, three countertops, three faucets, three backsplashes . . . and ideally show them to me in photos so I know what they'll look like in my space. Tile stores? Flooring showrooms? The wall of those little paint card samples? Forget it. Analysis paralysis sets in and I'm completely overwhelmed.

[Scarlett]

1 hour ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I find this an interesting comment because I absolutely loved the process of picking out things.  I always wished we could move and do it again so I could change those things I simply didn't know enough about the first time around.  Never dreamed that someone would find that as difficult as pregnancy/new family member but I guess it's just one of the things where we are all different.

Me too.  I love picking things out.  My sister is about to build a house...,probably what y’all are calling a production house, and she dreads it,  she will be deferring t9 her daughter a lot.  

[prairiewindmomma]

I don't think it's the decision making so much that's the problem....it's the overall time commitment.

It's showing up to the site and making sure that things are going according to plan.  There are always little hiccups, right? It's walking the site several times a week if not daily to make sure things are going to plan.  My parents were able to catch a number of things--a door being framed to the right orientation, or to the correct width (they were doing handicapped accessibility as part of the original build).  Some things they didn't--like the elevation of the front steps which was tied back to the original excavation and pour. They ended up having to put in a guard rail on their front porch.

It's walking through with the electrician when questions pop up on outlet placement, or when things aren't mentioned on the plan. x everybody and everything.....

There's an in-between ground, where you pick a plan, and you pick finishes....but a truly custom house is next level in terms of planning. I LOVE those kind of decisions and have had pinterest boards with all kinds of sourcing along the way, but I also know that just dealing with remodels and watching my parents build house after house has been enough to cure me out of wanting to build while I have little kids. All of those decisions would fall on me, as dh works IT hours.  We have remodeled three houses in the last six years (this one only exterior work plus some flooring and appliances in this house) so I have a good sense of what I'm getting into.  There's nothing like trying to teach chemistry to one kid and math to another and reading along in OPGTR with another and then running outside when you realize the roofing crew isn't putting adhesive down on the starter strip of shingles and trying to explain in Spanish what is wrong and then getting a call that your appliances are back ordered and then your whole afternoon is shot because you have to deal with it right then. When you homeschool disruptions to life just have so much more impact when you are the cog that holds the whole dang thing together and YOUR time is what is being called upon.

I'm not trying to talk her out of a custom build. Seriously.  It's just understanding what you are getting into and arranging life to set aside enough time to really address how much time it is going to take up. As she is asking a lot of beginner questions, I don't think she has a lot of background necessarily to jump into this with a good sense of that and how the impact is different as a homeschooler v. a "normal" person.  It was seriously so much easier to do our bathroom remodel 14 months ago when the kids were in school and I had a "normal" life.  I get why it isn't a big deal for some people.....because they have more availability than we do.  Homeschoolers may have flexibility (especially when everyone is young) but we with larger families don't have availability.

 

[Carrie12345]

10 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

I find this an interesting comment because I absolutely loved the process of picking out things.  I always wished we could move and do it again so I could change those things I simply didn't know enough about the first time around.  Never dreamed that someone would find that as difficult as pregnancy/new family member but I guess it's just one of the things where we are all different.

I’d find adding a new human easier, and I don’t like pregnancy, lol. After #3, new people just seemed routine.

For me, there’s just a lot of different aspects that stress me. For example, the strength to stay within my self-imposed budget. The prioritization of the parts that can never be changed, vs. the fun stuff. The fact that all builders are known to have longer build times in our area right now, but my location requires builds to be finished within 6 months. That we have multiple wall placement changes that I have to be sure aren’t overlooked. That I don’t really know how everything will look just based on small samples and architectural drawings. And then all the normal moving stress I haven’t experienced in nearly 16 years.
Right now, paperwork is burying me alive, and I’m normally a big fan of paperwork!

That said, I don’t think there would be a huge amount of stress difference for *me between custom and tract. Both have a ton to do. One may be a lot easier to visualize ahead of time.

[Carrie12345]

Adding more on the paperwork angle - the time to pour over it and keep tabs on changes/pricing. I would think (but I can’t be certain) that true custom would be more complex.

My “first round” contract isn’t 100% accurate, and I knew this. It’s close, for the purpose of the loan application. But I’ve been making notes all morning so I don’t lose track of needed change orders and itemized costs. But they had all of the main specifications for this model ready to plug a few changes and print, so I didn’t have to wait for someone to build a specifications document from scratch in order to file my loan application.

I also found a “double charge” already. I do believe it’s an oversight and not a sneaky thing, but I’ve got to iron it out.

I feel like I’m managing a super complex health insurance claim.

[birchbark]

18 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I don't think it's the decision making so much that's the problem....it's the overall time commitment.

This. We are in our 8th month of a custom build. I remember reading before the project that you should consider having a home built like a part-time job. And like PWM says here, you have to be ready to jump up and run somewhere at a moment's notice. I am SO glad we aren't trying to do this with little kids. Also the whole project takes longer in general when it's custom.

The style and size of the plan, and the finishes chosen, will have more of an impact on the final cost than whether the house is custom or tract.