What's Included in a Custom Home Base Price?
How to read a builder's base price, and the line items that decide whether two quotes are comparable.
A base price is only meaningful next to the specification behind it. Two builders can quote numbers ten percent apart and be offering wildly different houses, or quote identical numbers for completely different scopes. The specification is the document that matters.
What is usually included
- Foundation, framing, roofing, siding and exterior trim
- Windows and exterior doors, to a specified package
- Rough and finish plumbing, electrical and HVAC
- Insulation and drywall
- Interior trim, doors and paint
- Cabinetry, countertops, flooring and fixtures, usually to an allowance
- Standard appliance package, if offered
- Builder supervision, insurance and overhead
What is often not included
- The lot itself
- Site work, excavation, grading and driveway. See site preparation
- Utility connections, or well and septic installation
- Landscaping, sod and final grade
- Decks, patios, fencing and outbuildings
- Window treatments, mirrors and closet systems
- Basement finish
- Permits, survey, engineering and soft costs. See soft costs
None of these are hidden or dishonest. They're excluded because they vary by lot and by owner. They just have to be in your budget somewhere. See what's not included in a quote.
The allowance question
Most base prices carry allowances for finish categories. An allowance set below what you actually want turns into an overage at the design center, so the useful question is not "what's the allowance" but "what does that allowance actually buy." See how allowances work.
How to compare two quotes
Put them side by side line by line, and normalize: same square footage definition, same allowance levels, same site work assumptions, same exclusions. Nine times out of ten the gap between two quotes closes substantially once you do this, and the tenth time you've learned something important.