The limit does not exist.

But seriously, contrary to popular belief, there’s no such thing as a square-foot price for a custom home, and ultimately, you drive the price based on how fancy your design gets.

Check out our blog post to learn more about the price-per-square-foot myth.

That’s a broad question we wish there was a simple, accurate answer for (if only square-foot price was legit). Every custom home is specific to itself so the pricing process is very methodical and involves coordination and communication between many trades and suppliers, even after all of the design is finalized. Pricing a custom home takes a huge investment of time which is why ‘free estimates’ should never be trusted.

So many factors determine the final price of a custom home, from the lot, utilities, size, foundation complexity, ceiling heights, tall walls, two-stories vs. bungalows, finishing packages, cabinetry species, flooring and tile, and on, and on, and on – you get where we’re going with this – there’s no quick answer. This is why we created our Concepts Phase; it’s the first step in our design-build process which answers your burning question of roughly how much your custom home will cost.

We try to shy away from financing. But remember that financing comes with a cost, whether it be from us or your bank. A typical rule of thumb is that if you own the lot, it will be more cost-effective for you to get the financing from your bank. To help things flow smoothly, our clients usually get their mortgage broker to communicate with us directly.

What we’ve found is that we are the experts in designing and building, and the banks are the experts in financing for you.

No. Well, maybe. First we’d want to learn more about you and your project to see if we’re a fit to work together. Are you looking for a quote or an estimate?

Quoting a custom home is a big undertaking that can easily chew up 80 hours of time. That said, it’s probably not a surprise that quoting is a chargeable service in itself. Plus, in order to provide you with a quote, we would need all of your design details, as drawings are just a small portion of the design process. This would include things like your stamped drawings, electrical layout, elevation drawings, cabinetry design, and all interior and exterior selections and specifications – this is a document that could typically end up being 100+ pages (all the things you get in the design phase). Without every single detail, it wouldn’t be possible to give you a quote that is worthwhile to you.

An estimate is still quite an undertaking. This is why we’ve created our concepts phase so you can get a ballpark figure without the commitment and cost of heading straight into our design phase.

Pro tip:  Clients who have come to us with their drawings done independently by an architectural technologist end up having a lot of revisions once we get our design eye on them from a functionality perspective during our concepts and design phase that they aren’t any money ahead had they just came to Hometown in the first place. Check out our blog post to learn more about this common mistake.

Hold up. Are we talking just the actual construction process? Or the time it takes to design and build a custom home?

Depending on the size and complexity, the construction phase could take anywhere from 6 months to 1 year or more.

But what surprises most people is that the design phase can actually take longer than the construction phase.

For the design phase, our rule of thumb has been roughly 6 months, however, you ultimately drive that timeframe based on how easily you can make decisions (and we don’t want to rush you) and how many revisions you have; we’ve had clients take up to 6 months just to finalize their preliminary floor plans (or 7 years for ourselves to finalize our own floor plans – true story).

That being said, if there is something sentimental and unique to you that you want to include into the design of your home, we’re absolutely down with that.

Not so fast. This would be disastrous in the construction phase and a dreadful experience for you. How would we know what your custom home will cost without going through a design phase?

Even if you’ve got a clear vision in your head, it needs to be translated into construction-ready processes and documentation.

Most people assume design just means choosing a floor plan and picking out the basics like light fixtures, flooring and paint. Design is about the fit, form and function of your home. How high do you want your shower niche? Where are robe hooks going? What kind of shelving and where? This is just a snippet of the hundreds of decisions that need to be made so you have no regrets after you’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and moved into your custom home.

No, sorry! We’re a well-oiled machine when we work with our usual team. We’ve spent years finding trades and suppliers that fit our values and understand Hometown’s expectations from communication to quality and everything in between. The investment we’ve made in creating this team is what gets you your home on time and up to the standard of quality that Hometown is known for.

Same deal above; no, sorry! We’ve learned our lesson from our early days. Who is responsible if that material is delayed and stops the job? What if it arrives wrong? What if it’s damaged? Is it CSA-approved (this is a big one with light fixtures)? What if it doesn’t work properly down the road, who has to deal with its warranty?

Think of it as if you’re ordering a brand new car from the dealership and want to supply your own spark plugs and steering wheel. Could you imagine the wrench that would throw into the logistics and manufacturing process? And ultimately the timeline for your receiving your new wheels that you’ve anxiously been waiting for?

We have a solid rhythm that ensures all of the materials going into your project are documented in the design phase (model numbers, sizes, specifications, etc.) and go through our methodical purchasing and receiving process to keep your project running smoothly.

We do! Most of our portfolio consists of infills (new homes built in old, established neighborhoods), so it can be misleading to what our full capabilities are.

We both grew up on farms and are very familiar with the electrical services, sewer and water systems and heating alternatives that make acreage builds special.

We do! We’re best and most efficient at large-scale renovations. That means things like an entire main floor renovation, or a full basement gut job.

No. Well, not that easily anyway. If only contractors had a magical calculator in their head that can spit out a quick price.

With every single renovation and custom build being, well, just that – custom, there’s no cookie-cutter, copy-paste project that is exactly the same.

Pricing a renovation or custom build is a methodical process that can take weeks to do on your behalf. Plus, without drawings, cabinetry design and selections picked out, what can be quoted? In order to come up with an actual quote, you need to go through the design phase.

But before committing to a design phase, our concepts phase is the first baby step. Think of the concepts phase like a feasibility study. It helps answer that burning question, ‘What will my renovation cost?’ where we can give you a ballpark estimate after creating a floor plan, mood board and hearing about your needs and wants; plus, you’ll get to see a 3D model of your concept right off the hop!

The sooner the better!

If you’ve got a date in mind that you want to start construction, back that up about 6 months to account for the design phase. And then back that up even further based on how soon we can start on your design.

We only take on a 10-15 projects per year and use a slot scheduling system which staggers our design and construction starts in order to keep your project running efficiently so we don’t overpromise and underdeliver – you know, that classic thing most contractors are known for.

Also keep in mind that our design and construction slots fill up fast as we are usually booked months in advance.

Yes! We are a Net Zero Home Qualified Builder and Net Zero Home Qualified Renovator. Our very first Net Zero Ready home achieved 0.45 air changes per hour (1.5 is the standard; the lower the number, the better) and an energy consumption rating of 111 gigaojoules per year (a typical new home similar in size averages 183 gigaojoules per year; the lower the number, the better), becoming 39.3% more energy efficient than the standard building code.

We also build a lot of homes that are not Net Zero nor Net Zero Ready but have just as good of a building envelope from utilizing more energy efficient products and methods as well as our internal quality control and quality assurance program. At the end of the day, how far we take each custom home down the energy efficiency path is up to our clients!