Of all the questions I get asked, "How much is it gonna cost?" is at the top of the list and rightly so but it's the one question I don't have a good answer for... "I just don't know." There are no standard dreams or standard plans so everything we build, we are building for the first time! Construction costs also vary by region and are subject to unpredictable market forces. I just don't have a good answer but I have some experience that I can share with you.

In 2001, most of the timber frame homes we built finished out between $125 per square foot for a modest design with good quality doors and windows, up to $175 for top of the line. My home in Argyle Texas finished out at about $150/sqft for the main house and about $110/sqft for the car barn. The home in College Station Texas went closer to $180/sqft because of the cathedral arches and other very special details. These two homes are exceptional with a lot of very special craft details and they are the exceptions rather than the rule.  Of course, things like wood sash windows and upscale appliances will drive up the cost. It is also true that a complex timber frame home is more expensive than a more simple design of the same size. You really do get what you pay for with these homes and hand craftsmanship doesn't come cheap. But, it could be easily argued that 100 years from now your timber frame home will still be standing while a convention home may have already seen the bulldozer. I seriously doubt I'll be around in another 100 years to defend that statement but it's a nice thought.

Once the frame is designed and the construction drawings are finished, we can fix a price to the work we will be doing. Likewise, the drawings can be circulated to your subcontractors for construction bids. Once you have our fixed cost contract and bids from your subcontractors, you will have a good idea what your home is going to cost.

How we determine costs:

I am often asked how we determine our cost. The answer is really very easy. We look at each joint and timber in the frame and determine the amount of time it will take for us to do the work, then we apply a cost to it. We then look at all the other expenses associated with producing the frame and enter all this information into a computer program we have written. The computer does some calculations and prints out a number at the bottom of a page that basically says, "If you want to be in business when this project is finished, you need to charge this much." And that is exactly what we do.

The next phase is starting the work and that is done through contracting.