What is an Average cost to build a Donald Gardner home. The plan I'm interested in is about 2,000 square feet. I know my location and upgrades will be a factor.

Thank you!

You should also search the forum for discussions about Gardner houses.

We're building in Minnesota, and because the frost-line means we have to excavate deeply enough that anything but a full basement doesn't make sense (the cost difference between a crawlspace and basement are so small and the difference in impact on the house is so big, we can't see going with a crawlspace). One of the things we're doing to keep our costs down is to build a two-story, so that we don't have to pay to excavate a huge footprint. If you had the bedrooms on the upper level, it would make your footprint much smaller, and that might cut the costs of building quite a bit. It would also make it easier to get natural light into all the important rooms on the main level.

I know a lot of people love these one level plans, but there's a cost to them up here in basement country.

Keep in mind that any changes cost money. We paid $800 for the DG plan but had almost $4000 in changes and engineering with our builder, designer and engineer. We are in a 130 mph wind zone, so that hurts us, but any plan you find will have to meet code in your area.

Good luck. It has been an adventure and we just broke ground two weeks ago!