A Cost Guide For Your Project.
You’ve probably been wondering, ‘How much is it going to cost to build my home?’ Great question! It’s usually one of the first things I get asked when meeting new clients.
I’m Kevin Short, architect & designer at Tiny Monster Design. In the following pages, I’ll walk you through the various costs you’ll need to consider when building your custom-designed home. Since most my projects are located in San Francisco & the Bay Area, we’ll discuss cost specifics for our locale. But the approach for determining project costs is the same, no matter where you’re located.
With over 20 years of experience, I established Tiny Monster Design in 2018 after renovating my Mission District loft. Recently, I completed the gut-rebuild of my Bernal Heights home, where I now run my design studio. Having been through this process as a homeowner, I fully understand the importance of a thoughtful project budget. And having guided numerous clients, I know that good cost planning makes building a home more enjoyable. Let’s go!
Dave & Mel’s house, designed & remodeled in 2023-2024
Design Fees + Construction Costs = Project Cost
When homeowners approach me with a new project, they often have a ballpark figure in mind for their budget. We refer to this number as the ‘project cost’, representing the overall expenditure for the entire project. As the equation above suggests, we can break this down into design fees and construction costs.
Design fees cover the cost of all design work and project planning. This includes the services provided by design professionals — architects, engineers, interior designers, and others — to conceptualize the design and create the blueprints for your project.
Construction costs cover all expenses associated with the actual building process. This includes labor, materials, equipment, permits, and any other expenses essential to the physical construction of the project.
Kitchen pantry and decorative storage at Windhill
Estimating Construction Costs.
First up, we need to estimate our project’s construction costs. We do this using the following simple equation:
Project Square Footage x Cost per Square Foot = Construction Cost
Project square footage comes in many forms, everything from a kitchen remodel (~200 SF), to a new addition (~800 SF), to a complete home build (~2,000 SF). For custom residential construction in San Francisco & the Bay Area, we’ll use a range of $500 to $800 per square foot to build, and for certain circumstances, up to $1,000 or more. This is a big spread, and the variation depends on a bunch of factors, like the builder, the project complexity, the level of finish required, and more.
So for our examples above, here are some estimated construction costs…
Kitchen Remodel: 200 SF x $650 per SF = $130,000
New Addition: 800 SF x $650 per SF = $520,000
Complete Home Build: 2,000 SF x $650 per SF = $1,300,000
This assumes a build cost of $650 per SF. If we wanted to see what other cost scenarios might look like, we would run the numbers at $500 per SF, $800 per SF, and anywhere else in between and beyond based on our project’s specific brief.