Insights
Straight answers on construction cost: what drives the range, where budgets move after contract, and what a number per square foot does and does not include.
Custom cabinetry costs more than stock because it is built to the room instead of the room being planned around standard box widths, and because the substrate, joinery, drawer hardware and finish process are all a step up. Stock is assembled from a catalog of fixed sizes; custom is drawn, milled and finished for one project.
Read Why does custom cabinetry cost more than stock cabinets?
Cost per square foot usually includes only the construction contract divided by conditioned floor area. It typically excludes design fees, permits, site work, landscape and furnishings, and the square foot denominator itself varies by who counted it. Without agreeing on both halves of that fraction, comparing two figures tells you almost nothing.
Read What does cost per square foot include on a custom home?
Construction bids on the same drawings vary because the bidders are not pricing the same scope. The low number is usually low because something was excluded: work the drawings implied but never specified, allowances set unrealistically, general conditions left thin, or optimistic assumptions about the site. Normalize the bids before you compare them.
Read Why do construction bids for the same project vary so much?
Fine custom home construction in Los Angeles generally runs $500 to $1,200 per square foot for the construction contract alone, and ultra-luxury work runs above that. The total project cost is higher, because site work, design fees, agency fees, landscape, furnishings and contingency all sit outside that number and are rarely quoted with it.
Read How much does it cost to build a custom home in Los Angeles?
