What It Actually Cost to Start Building Our Forever Home: Phase 0 — Plans, Permits + Pre-Build
- Aug 17
- 6 min read
Before we get into the numbers, I want to give you a little context on where our pricing comes from.
When I was researching what it would cost to build our home, I constantly wished someone would just give me the real numbers — not vague ranges, not “it depends,” but an actual breakdown of what they spent and how far their budget went.
I am not an expert, and I’m definitely not pretending to be one. My husband is a contractor, though, and we have absolutely used that to our advantage when it comes to understanding the process and getting contractor pricing on a lot of things. That said, I genuinely believe an owner-builder can get surprisingly close with a little investigating, asking the right questions and understanding how the pricing works.
My plan with this series is to break down every phase of our build and share as many real numbers as I possibly can. My hope is that it gives you something useful to reference while researching your own build — or, if you’re just a nosy Nelly like me who desperately wants to know what someone spent to build a beautiful house, I fully support that too. 😂
Short on time or just here for the numbers?
No judgment — I’d probably do the same. 😂
Alright, let’s get into it.
Let’s Talk Numbers for Everything We Needed Before We Ever Touched the Property
First, we obviously needed house plans.
We hired an amazing architect and engineering firm that really brought our vision to life while also giving us a ton of helpful input along the way. They were also insanely efficient. I mean, our architect literally takes on one project at a time, and he had our entire plan set completed in about three days.
Now, I want to be very clear that I do not think that turnaround is typical.
We had already spent about five years thinking through this house, so we came into the process with a very clear vision of what we wanted. If this is your first time designing a home, there will probably be a lot more back-and-forth, revisions and changes — and that is completely normal.
Take your time here. Really think about how you want to live in the home long-term, because this is the stage where you have the most freedom to get those details right.
Once the architectural plans were finished, they were passed over to the engineer, who handled the structural components and designed the truss system for the house. That portion took about two more days.
So, all in, we had a full set of architectural and structural plans in roughly one business week, and we were thrilled.
Architectural + Engineering Costs
Our architectural and engineering plans were priced based on a total design size of 4,052 square feet, which included both stories of the home as well as our front and back porches.
Our initial architectural and engineering package was:
Original architectural + engineering plans: $16,019
As we moved through the design process, we did make a few changes. Any revisions that affected the plans — especially changes that added square footage — came with additional design and engineering fees.
We ultimately decided to expand a few walls, which resulted in two separate change orders:
Total Architectural + Engineering Plans: $18,618
That $18,618 gave us our completed architectural and structural engineering plans, stamped and sealed and ready to move into the permitting process.
For context, we are building in Florida, and these plans cover a 4,052-square-foot design including both floors and our front and back porches.
Obviously, architectural and engineering costs can vary dramatically depending on location, square footage, complexity and how many revisions you make, but I wanted to share our exact numbers because this is exactly the type of information I desperately wanted when I was researching our own build.
One thing I learned quickly: even after you agree on an initial design fee, leave a little room in your budget for revisions.
Those seemingly innocent “What if we just move this wall out a little?” decisions can definitely add up. 😂
Truss Design for Permitting
There was also one truss-related expense that came much earlier in the build than I originally expected.
Before we could submit everything for permitting, we had to pay for the design portion of our truss package. The truss company created the truss designs for our home, which were then sent back to our engineer for review.
Our engineer reviewed those designs and provided the approval letter we needed as part of our permit submission.
Truss design for permitting: $3,829.50
This is not the full cost of our truss package. I’m only including the $3,829.50 here because it was money we had to spend during Phase 0 in order to get the truss designs completed and receive our engineer’s approval for permitting.
When we get to the structural portion of the build, I’ll break down the entire truss package and account for this amount there so we don’t accidentally double-count it in our final build total.
Geotechnical Report
We also needed a geotechnical report, or GEO report, as part of our permitting package.
The GEO report evaluates things like the soil conditions on the property and helps determine whether the site is suitable for the planned construction and foundation.
Geotechnical report: $2,500
Septic Engineering
Our property is 5 acres, and we will be on a private septic system and well rather than municipal water and sewer.
Because of that, our architectural plans also had to be submitted to a septic engineering company.
They sized and designed our septic system based on factors including the size of the house and the number of bedrooms and bathrooms.
Septic engineering: $2,500
Our Well
We also had to secure our well company, place a deposit to get onto their schedule and have them pull the well permit separately.
For simplicity, I’m going to include the entire cost of our well here rather than revisiting the expense later.
Our contract was for a 5-inch well drilled up to 300 feet deep. Thankfully, our well stayed within that allowance, so this ended up being our final cost for the well itself and its equipment.
Well drilling + equipment: $16,780
That number does not include any type of water filtration system.
Our whole-house filtration and drinking-water setup will be installed closer to the end of the build, so I’ll cover that separately when we get there.
Using a Private Provider
In Florida, we have the option of using a private provider for plan reviews and inspections rather than relying entirely on the local municipality.
We elected to do this primarily to save time.
I’m pregnant with baby #3, and we would very much like to be living in this house as soon as humanly possible. 😂 Using a private provider can potentially eliminate weeks of waiting throughout the construction process, so this was one place where we decided the added cost was worth it.
Private provider: $10,000
And honestly?
I have zero regrets about spending this money.
It has been a dream so far. Our plan review was incredibly quick compared with waiting for everything to work its way through the normal municipal review process, and it has already saved us a significant amount of time.
This is definitely one of those expenses that I would personally pay again.
And Then Came the Permit + Impact Fees…
This was the one that hurt.
Our local permitting and impact fees for a new construction home of our size came to:
$33,875
Yes.
Thirty-three thousand, eight hundred and seventy-five dollars.
Insert brain-exploding, face-melting, crying emoji here, friends. 🤯😭😂
I knew permitting and impact fees on a new construction home were going to be expensive.
I was still not emotionally prepared for that number.
Unfortunately, this is also one of those expenses where there isn’t some magical creative workaround. If you want the permit and you want to legally build your house, you pay the fees and keep it moving.
Sometimes building a house is choosing beautiful tile, plumbing fixtures and countertops.
And sometimes it’s writing a $33,875 check for permission to begin. 😂
Phase 0: Complete Cost Breakdown
Here are all of our Phase 0 costs in one place:
Architectural + engineering plans $16,019
Architectural/engineering Change Order #1 $1,969
Architectural/engineering Change Order #2 $630
Truss design for permitting $3,829.50
Geotechnical report $2,500
Septic engineering $2,500
Well drilling + equipment $ 16,780
Private provider $10,000
Local permitting + impact fees $33,875
PHASE 0 TOTAL: $88,102.50
And yes — $88,102.50 before we even started actually building the house.
No slab.
No block walls.
No roof.
No windows.
At this stage, our money had gone toward plans, engineering, approvals, permits, septic design, our well and everything required to legally get this project ready to move forward.
I also want to reiterate that these are our actual numbers for our specific build in Florida.
Costs can vary tremendously depending on your location, house size, design, site conditions, local impact fees, utilities and how you choose to manage your build.
I’m sharing them because this is exactly the information I wanted to find when I was sitting on the other side of the screen trying to figure out whether our dream house was actually financially possible.
And this is only Phase 0.
Next up: Phase 1 — what it actually cost us to clear and grade the property and create our elevated house pad.
Welcome to building a house. 😂
