Given rising costs, does going Fully-Custom make sense?

We, Texas Classic Custom Homes , see a lot of clients looking to build a fully-custom home in the price range from $300,000 - $1,200,000. Yes that is a huge spread, but building a fully-custom home is not that much more expensive than buying an existing home. In fact, it's a much more efficient use of our client's money (see my next article). With rising material costs (already asphalt shingles have increase nearly 12% this year due to rising oil & gas prices), client's can save money on their homes with efficient planning and design.

A report by CBRE forecasts a 5.4% year-over-year increase in construction costs in 2023. However, escalation should stabilize to the 2%-4% range in 2023 and 2024, on par with historical averages .

Also, according to a report by Angi, construction materials that had cost increases in 2023 include:

1. Steel prices rose by 67%.
2. Brass and copper costs increased by 49%.
3. The price of aluminum jumped 20.5%.
4. Concrete pipes and other concrete products had some of the highest growth rates in June 2023 in comparison to the previous year.
5. Cement and most concrete products also had double-digit annual price changes.

By keeping ourselves apprised of how markets are trending, we can navigate our clients towards spending that makes sense and allows them more bang for their buck. Given our attendance at NAHB International Builders' Show 2023 and again soon in 2024, we can find alternative solutions for traditional building materials that will save clients time and money on their projects.

So does it make sense? Absolutely. When you can adjust the layout of the house, materials used, have control of the costs of your plumbing and electrical fixtures, and plan for future upgrades (pool, outdoor kitchen, shop, generator, etc), it most definitely makes sense to be able to have the control of your budget and mitigate some of the rising costs of construction.