We're planning to build a house for our retirement years, so this is something I've been researching. I want to build what I want, but I want to do it for the best possible price. My thoughts:
- Build a reasonable sized house. At 1750, you're in our ball park; however, I read another board about custom house builds, and most people on that board are building the most ridiculously over-sized houses: Really, anything under 4000 sf is considered something of "a cottage", and 6000 sf builds are not uncommon! I can't imagine anyone would really want to sink that much money into a house, much less pay to furnish, maintain, heat/cool it!
- Build a house with a simple footprint. A simple square or rectangle is cheaper than a house with lots of jigs and jogs.
- Plan around standard sizes. Standard-sized trusses, off-the-shelf sized doors and windows (which can be covered with inexpensive store-bought curtains rather than custom), ordinary sized appliances, simple 8' ceilings.
- Make simple choices. Straight staircases cost less than switchback stairs. Rectangular windows cost less than arch-topped styles.
- Investigate all your options rather than going with what's trendy. For example, people tend to demand French doors and poo-poo sliding doors as having "gone out" in the 1970s. But if you investigate your options, you'll see that the new gliding doors LOOK like French doors, but they're significantly less expensive, and they don't interfere with furniture placement like French doors do.
- Similarly, ask yourself whether you really need today's "must haves". For example, are you and your significant other really going to use your bathroom sink at the same time? Do you really need to hide your toilet inside a closet within the bathroom?
- Consolidate your plumbing. That is, plan for your kitchen and bathrooms to "back up to one another" (or stack on top of one another in a two-story). The fewer walls that contain water, the cheaper your plumbing will be. Similarly, try not to place your sink on an island; the plumbing is substantially more expensive.
- Don't engage in false economy. Choose good materials that will last and will save money on utilities in the future. Brick may be expensive up front, but it doesn't require painting every couple years. Hardwood floors (or laminate) will not look ratty after a couple years, whereas carpet will.
- Choose your splurges carefully. It's okay to buy that great sink that you really love -- but place it on a laminate countertop or linoleum flooring. Splurge where you will really enjoy it.
- Plan your kitchen to be small . . . but include a large pantry for good storage. Storing your kitchen items in a pantry is cheaper than housing your goods in expensive cabinets.
- Search for less-expensive materials. Habitat for Humanity has already been mentioned; my brother bought a great exterior door for $10. Try ebay, Craigslist, and the clearance aisle at your local Lowe's. For example, not long ago I found 4-5 boxes of lovely blue mosaic tile on the clearance aisle at Lowe's; someone had special ordered it, then didn't take it. It was half price. If the store doesn't have enough of the item, look into whether you could buy that quantity on clearance . . . and then finish off the rest at full price. My brother did this: He wanted to buy laminate wood flooring at a super marked-down price, but he needed two more boxes. A few minutes of investigation showed him that he could buy MOST of what he needed at the clearance price, making full price for those last two boxes quite a bargain.
- Be careful in buying things ahead of time. Some builders won't warranty items if they don't buy them from their usual suppliers. The worst offenders are plumbers.
- Take your time in planning so that you won't change your mind mid-way through. Changes are expensive.