When building a custom home, there are a lot of decisions that are needed, but one of the first decisions you need to make is what square footage you want for your home. Here are a few things to consider when deciding the square footage of your new home:
The cost of a custom home in North Texas can vary greatly depending on the size and what’s included, but, below, we offer a few averages for custom homes in some of the areas we service.
Generally speaking, the smaller the home, the more it costs per square foot, and the larger it is, the less per square foot (if all else holds constant); for example, if the kitchen, bathrooms, garages and porches all remain the same between those two houses.
More square footage usually means price per foot decreases.
These price estimates reflect best guesses about the impact additional city fees will have on the price of the home, including: city processes, cost of permitting, water and sewer impact fees, park fees, etc.
In Fort Worth, some city code amendments are more stringent than some of the other surrounding cities, which means additional cost in some areas of the home than others.
Fort Worth also has far fewer lots where an owner can purchase a lot for a build job on their own, and when they do, they tend to cost more because lots are expensive.
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Here are the rooms you can generally fit into these square footage ranges:
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# of Rooms |
Avg. Square Feet of Home |
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2 Bedrooms, 2 Bath |
1,000 - 1,200 |
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3 Bedrooms, 2 Bath |
1,200 - 1,700 |
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3 Bedrooms, 2 Bath, Flex Room |
1,700 - 2,000 |
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4 Bedrooms, 2 Bath, Flex Room |
2,000 - 2,300 |
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4-5 Bedrooms, 2.5 Bath, Flex/Game Room, Possibly 2nd Dining Room |
2,300 - 2,700 |
It's also possible to build a 1-2 bedroom home that is 1,600 square feet with a large great room.
But generally, these patterns hold true.
The size of the home you can build on your lot depends on a few factors:
For example, on a 50' x 125 lot in A-5 zoning within the city limits of Fort Worth, Texas, you could build somewhere between 5,000 - 5,500 square feet of living space. On a one-acre property in Johnson County, you could build that big or bigger.
In many developments, there are minimum home sizes. You can verify this in your deed restriction document by searching "minimum" in the pdf.
The cost of utilities will vary depending on the size of your home. The larger the house and greater the number of people living there, the higher your utilities will be. However, you can also consider some energy-efficient ways of constructing your home, such as:
Consider the options and upgrades you are wanting for your house. If you want a large master bathroom with two closets, a stand-alone tub and a shower, you will need to factor that into the square footage of your house.
Here are a few upgrades and features that add some square footage to your home:
See more upgrades and options available. Most of these will not add much more square footage though.
The price of most homes is directly related to the size...at least up to a point. You can use quick math to back into the rough square footage you can afford. For example, if your construction budget is $200,000, and homes in that price range typically start around $100 per square foot, then you can afford roughly 2,000 square feet.
Don’t forget about options and upgrades! Base prices include the standard features, but be sure to leave room in the budget for items you might want to add or upgrade, like a luxury master bath, a bigger covered patio, tile or wood flooring. It is not uncommon for a buyer of a $150,000 - $250,000 home to include 10%-15% in options or upgrades. In that case, if your budget is $200,000, and you include 10% in options & upgrades, your base house price would need to be $180,000.
Start with your budget, then look at plans offered by builders in that price point. This will tell you quickly what size home you can afford.
If you really need to stretch your budget, there is a way to get more square footage...buy a two-story home (a stacked floor plan). This style of home is very efficient to build because it saves on material and labor due to its economical shape. All bedrooms are typically located upstairs and downstairs you have the kitchen, living, family, dining, ½ bath and garage. If a family needs more bedrooms, or a second living or play area, but the budget is tight, this is the way to go.
One way to save money up-front is to build an unfinished bonus room upstairs, then finish it out down the road. This is a great idea for owners looking for that man-cave, woman-cave, work-out room, play room, etc. The biggest change is fitting the stair into the plan, so in many cases this does mean the plan design becomes almost a new plan. Just run plumbing and an electric circuit up to it, and close it off until ready to finish it out. In most cases, as long as it is not conditioned and finished out, the taxing authority will not consider it living space.
In this case, the added cost comes mainly in structural expense: concrete, lumber, framing labor, and any extra electrical or plumbing labor. This strategy could save you as much as $20,000 or more on a 400 square foot bonus room, like the one on our Bankhead plan.
You still have to pay to finish it out, but if you do the labor yourself, the added material cost won’t be more than $3,000 - 5,000.
In some cases, we have even built an entire upstairs and have left it unfinished, which the owners planned to come back and finish themselves at a later date. In this case the upstairs was approximately 800 square feet, and the owners probably saved $50,000.
We Believe Your Home Should Improve Quality Of Your Life.It Should Be Efficient, Built To Last, And You Should Love Being In It. Hedgefield Homes Designs, Builds And Remodels Homes That Do These Things.
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