Every single client asks it. Doesn't matter if we're talking a new build in Westlake or a gut remodel in Tarrytown. The first real conversation always lands on the same question: what's your price per square foot? It's a fair question. It's also the one that gets the most vague, CYA answers in this industry. So here's what we actually tell people.
New Construction: The Number Has a Real Range
For new construction — structure only, no land — our lower end sits between $400 and $450 per square foot. That's already above what most high-end production builders are charging. It is not the floor of Austin custom home building broadly. It is our floor. Above that, most of our builds land between $500 and $700 per square foot. That's the honest average across the projects we're running right now in Bee Cave, Barton Creek, and West Lake Hills. On the extreme end, we've built homes that pushed $1,000 to $1,100 per square foot. Those are outliers. You know it when you're in one.
“The range isn't vague. It's just honest. Five hundred to seven hundred a square foot is where most real custom builds in Austin live right now. The clients who get surprised are the ones who came in anchored to a production number.”
— Beckett Stone
Remodels Are a Different Animal
Pricing a remodel by the square foot is genuinely harder. We've done luxury remodels in Travis Heights and Rollingwood ranging from $185 a square foot all the way to $300 to $400. Why the spread? Because a remodel number doesn't capture everything the way a new construction number does. Structural surprises. Existing conditions. The fact that you're touching systems — electrical, plumbing, HVAC — that a new build starts clean on. The square footage math on a remodel leaves a lot out. Don't anchor to it as hard.
What Actually Moves the Number
Selections. Every time. This is where we see budgets shift more than anywhere else. A client in a Barton Creek build we ran last year came in mid-range on everything in the pre-construction budget. Then they went to Aria Stone Gallery and picked a quartzite slab for the kitchen island. Then they went back for the primary bath. Then the butler's pantry. Quartzite versus quartz on countertops alone is a significant delta when you multiply it across a 5,000 square foot house. Same story with wood floors — the difference between a builder-grade engineered and a site-finished white oak from Materials Marketing is real money. Paint finishes are another one. We tell clients: do not cut corners on paint. It affects the way your home looks every single day. It's not the place to save.
- Countertop material (quartzite vs. quartz vs. marble) — one of the biggest per-project swings
- Wood flooring species, grade, and finish type
- Paint finish quality and sheen levels — a place clients cut that they always regret
- Tile selections — custom mosaic work from Architectural Tile & Stone versus standard field tile
- Designer involvement — the designer's selections are often where the number climbs fastest
The Client, the Designer, the Selections
Brandon puts it simply in every early client meeting: the final cost per square foot depends on the client, the designer, and the selections. Those three variables will move your number inside that $500 to $700 range more than anything structural. We can engineer the bones of a house efficiently. We cannot engineer what happens when a client falls in love with a $500-per-square-foot stone at Aria. Nor should we try. That's what they're building for.
What the Magazine Number Misses
You'll read a lot of $350-per-square-foot custom home content. That number is not Austin in 2026. It's not even close. It might be a semi-custom production build in a master-planned community in Liberty Hill. It is not a full custom build with a real architect, real designer, and real material selections. Know which game you're playing before you set your budget. The worst builds we've seen go sideways are the ones where the client built their whole financial plan around a number they read in a national publication that had nothing to do with this market.
“The production number will wreck your project if you bring it into a custom conversation. They are not the same product. Stop comparing them.”
— Beckett Stone
Ready to Build the Right Budget From the Start?
We walk every client through real cost ranges before the first plan is drawn. No guessing. No sticker shock at the finish line. Let's talk about your project.
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