The NAHB puts out this type of breakdown but for an average production house. Your roof, windows, and other deviations will throw off any percentages though. I suppose you can see how the total compares to cost of comparable homes where you are, adjust category costs accordingly, and add some cost premiums for what you think are upgrades from what a builder would use.

A better resource is the latest RS Means residential cost data, which you can buy online. If you're into detail and numbers there are a few methodologies in there that you can apply to your project to get fair estimates. Everything from general square foot costs for houses with various levels of finishes to unit material/labor costs for every item that goes into building a house. These numbers are then adjusted with a factor for locality. A pro might use this as just one of several resources to put together a bid, you can use it for budgeting and to assist in bid evaluation.

But for the work you're doing yourself, the ultimate resource is going to be your building supplier. In that case, the RS Means would still be able to tell you how long experienced tradesmen would take to properly lay tile (so you'll know based on your skill and standard of quality that it will take as long or longer). In some instances this labor component might also help you decide whether it makes more sense to hire a pro, or to purchase (and later sell) equipment instead of rent it.

You're very fortunate, for your bottom line, to have low permit/fee costs. In my jurisdiction the impact fee alone is $36,000.

Daderini, thanks. I will check those two sources. I know I can estimate things like the 2*6 on 16 centers that hubby wants by a quick calculation of difference between 2*4 and 2*6. Obviously some of the other stuff, just add 15K and 20K, etc.
Thankfully we can do some of the labor ourselves to allow for some materials increase. And yes, I do plan to get estimates also. If I can get a framer for 2K like one estimator showed, probably worth it! I also don't want to do the drywalling, and hubby Hates drywalling....thankfully we don't mind painting, and he is willing to do at least some of the siding and roofing.
Yes, VERY fortunate for the bottom line...did I mention hubby will do most of the "rough" excavating too? I wish we could do a well, but our area has high iron and mineral content :(
Since we are in the country and have other projects that will be going at the same time (like putting up a 2000 total sq ft barn), I want to get a better grip on some of these prices to keep the build cost inline but not shortchange my house size.

$100 a square foot in the NE? Not for a long long time. Here, you can still get a pretty basic home for that, but I'm in another low cost area of the country. And that wouldn't be a custom build. Those cost more. $100 a square is a generic subdivision with 4-5 plans available that get built over and over. With a significant DIY labor portion, you can get that cost down below that $100, but at the cost of time. Which costs you interest if you are dealing with a construction loan. (And there aren't many of those as readily available to owner builders anymore.) Of course, if you're doing a cash build over time as the cash comes in, you can take as long as the codes office allows for the permit to remain open.

We are just across the river in Western Iowa, so our costs may be similar. I struggled with this same issue when trying to determine what type of house we could afford to build. Builders wouldnâÂÂt get into the details of costs until we had a plan and I couldnâÂÂt get a plan finalized until I knew more on the approximate costs. So IâÂÂll give you my numbers as a reference. I donâÂÂt know if our choices are similar so these may be close or way off depending on the style of home you are going to build.

We are also building in the country and our cost from the builder will be $118/s.f. for a 1-1/2 story farmhouse-style house, 2495 total square feet, main floor master bedroom with 2 bedrooms upstairs tucked under the eaves, unfinished basement, 3 dormers, front porch across the entire front of the house, 2-car attached garage, medium quality finishes. This is our contract price to essentially build just the house. Additional items we are providing ourselves push our final cost per square foot to $138. We are doing (or hiring) the well, septic, electricity install 1500 feet, driveway/site work, excavating, landscaping, seeding, no sprinkler system or sod. We are also purchasing the light fixtures and appliances separately from the builder contract. We will have an outbuilding but itâÂÂs not included in the above figures since we havenâÂÂt finalized the layout yet.

What helped us keep costs down was getting bids from 4 different builders and doing some of the work ourselves, saving the builder fee on those items even if we hired the work out. We went through each bid line by line and got clarification from each builder on any questions we had so that we could compare apples to apples on each item specified. This process took several weeks going back and forth with the bidders, but in the end each one threw in more options or reduced their prices on some of the items to try to win our business. This line-by-line review process took a lot of time, but it helped us get to know each builder a little better and really learn about the materials and methods they use. It was really tough to decide on just one!

Good luck with your planning and hopefully some of this info will help in your situation.

Loessismore- thanks so much for your info! We are building between Omaha and Lincoln, so access to lots of labor and materials! Hubby said that Omaha was recently rated the best place for cheapskates...overall everything is cheaper here in comparison to the rest of the country. Sounds like we are planning the same thing :). I am planning 1 1/2 story and full basement.
One question on your per sq ft if you don't mind...how have you figured the basement in there? I assume that your 118/138 is for your 2495 sq ft on first and second story and your basement is an additional +-20K ? Also, is your garage figure separated from the 118/138?

You're not too far from us! The 118/138 includes the unfinished basement and the drywalled & insulated garage. It sounds like you'll shave alot off by doing all that work yourselves. We are having the builder do everything inside the house except purchase the light fixtures and appliances.

Loessismore-Yes very close indeed. I was at an auction over your way last summer :)
Not to sound incapable over here, but when you day it includes basement and garage....I'm assuming the 2500 is first and second (1/2 story) level. Then 1600 or so for basement? Or does the 2500 include the basement?
Is it 118/138 per finished sq ft on main and upper floors with garage prices and 20K (or so) basement added in there? Or is the 118/138 averaged with the basement sq footage? Sorry if my questioning makes nooo sense! I'm having a hard time wording it!
My understanding is that main floor sq footage is always more per sq ft. Upstairs bedrooms and lower quality bathrooms less, and a finished basement being somewhere close to $60 sq ft.
Thanks for your help. I know that every house has different numbers but I think I am stuck in the same place you were a year ago...wanting to get the best layout/spaces/features for your buck while still leaving room for quansets/fruit trees/tractors/4-wheelers and braces!

Sorry for not explaining this more clearly. Here's the breakdown: 1786 sf on the main level, 709 upstairs, 1786 unfinished basement, 600 garage. The $118/$138 costs are for the whole project, nothing is left out. I'm not sure on how the costs came out for the different areas since we don't have that detail from the builder. One thing we did do that gives you an idea of costs was to add about 100 sf to an upstairs bedroom and the change order came in surprisingly low--nice surprise, only about $2200! It was low because all we did was move a wall over into previously unused attic space so the cost was minimal. Hope this makes sense!

I just realized what you are asking! My 2495 figure is finished square feet, does not include the basement or garage, so the $118/$138 is based on 2495 finished square feet and that is our total contract price, no other costs (except what we are providing ourselves). Now I hope this makes sense!

So if I am reading you right, the price per finished sq ft it being divided by your 2495 sq ft, right?
Since I am figuring very similar sq footage to you on basement, main, and 1/2 story, I think I can use your numbers for a very accurate representation of my build.
Since I am mostly concerned about how much main floor and upper floor sq footage I can get, I am trying to isolate those numbers for our cost of building in the Omaha metro. If I figure your basement foundation at 20K and your detached garage at 15K (somewhat random numbers I know) and subtract that 35 K from your total figure, and divide by the 2495 finished sq ft, I come up with 104/124. Does this sound right? ( Again I know the basement and garage numbers are somewhat pulled from thin air, but they are similar to what I have figured for these individual numbers from different estimators) So if I wanted to jump the main floor by 100 sq ft, I could roughly estimate between 10-13K
I know I am making this WAy too complicated , but I do trully appreciate your help. Thanks!

I really don't know how accurate that would be, but it's better than not having anything at all to go on. Hopefully actual costs won't turn out to be higher for you. Good luck!