If you’re thinking about designing and building a high-quality custom home, you’re likely curious about the total project cost. Like most things in life, the answer depends—custom homes come with a custom price. In general, Turkel Design homes cost between $700 and $1,400 per square foot to design and build, not including land.
What’s Included
- Comprehensive design services from our team, led by a Project Architect and supported by experienced design professionals and technicians
- A complete building component package that includes exterior and interior wall systems, roof and floor systems, windows, interior and exterior doors, flooring, cladding, decking, and custom built-in cabinetry and furniture
- Building foundation, built by a local general contractor
- Assembly and installation of the building component package
- On-site finishing
Once the schematic design phase is complete, we lock in a fixed price for your prefab building component package (even if the cost of materials increases, we will honor the quote). This approach adds transparency and predictability to the cost of your project.
Factors of Variation
Every Turkel Design home includes all of the above. So, what causes the variation in price?
There are three main factors:
- Location
- Level of finish
- Degree of customization
Location (Location, Location)
As is usually the case with real estate, where you decide to live will be one of the biggest factors in determining the ultimate cost of your home. Factors such as local labor rates and the accessibility of the location will play a role. When planning your custom home project, consider the cost of housing in the area in which you’d like to build, and use it as a guideline.
The location where you want to live will help determine the type of land on which you can build. The type and complexity of your site can have implications for the construction cost of your home. For example, it generally costs less to build on a flat lot than a sloped one. Similarly, a particularly rocky plot of land may require significant excavation efforts before a foundation can be poured.
It will cost less to build on a flat plot of land (left) than on a slope (right).
With that said, if you plan to build your home on a remote island or simply in an area where access to building trades is challenging, our flat-packed prefab package will reduce the need for local labor and solve for some of the price-increasing logistics associated with building in these locations.
Level of Finish
The specifications of your home, from lighting fixtures to cladding material, also play an important role in this conversation, which is why we communicate the effect of all design decisions on the overall cost of the project throughout the process. To help with decision-making and to control cost throughout the design process, we have developed a library of curated finish, fixture, and material options. Our team of architects and designers will guide you through the selection process, while keeping an eye on your budget, because while all the options are of high quality, some cost more than others.
Glazing (both the type and the amount) exemplifies how cost can be affected by level of finish. Balanced natural light is an important design principle in Turkel Design homes and can be achieved at various budget levels. Consider a single story of fixed glass with a lightwell, versus two walls of sliding glass panels in a double-height, completely glazed space. Both can be stunning, while each will be appropriate for a different budget.
A single-story wall of glass with a lightwell above (left) will cost less than two walls of glass in a double-height space (right).
Degrees of Customization
We offer a range of existing home designs, any of which may serve as a starting point for your project. Keeping your project as close to the design starting point as possible will keep the cost of design services low. As can be expected, a heavily modified design starting point will cost more, and a fully custom home is likely to cost the most.
These two homes represent modest variations to our Axiom 2450 and 2790 models.
Our Axiom 2450 model (left) inspired this home in San Carlos, California (right).
Our Axiom 2790 model (left) inspired this home on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts (right).
Muskoka Cottage, shown below, is based on the Axiom 2350 model but, as you can see, the program has been more extensively modified, with walls of glass on opposite sides of the double-height great room, and a rearranged great room and bedroom configuration.
Below, Mulmur Hills Farm in rural Ontario is an example of a fully custom home. With no existing model to adapt, a bespoke home such as this requires more design hours, which increases the cost of the project.
Get in Touch
This just a high-level summary of the factors that affect the cost of your home. At Turkel Design, we bring predictability and transparency to the budget of each project, and we have the expertise to identify cost efficiencies while also delivering top-quality homes.
Please contact us to discuss how you want to live.
