I'm still amazed by the attention given to "cost per square foot," considering that nobody buys a house by the square foot or a car by the pound, and considering, too, that cost per square foot varies all over the place within any given house, being highest for areas like kitchens and baths and lowest for broad open areas. Some things do scale well by area, such as flooring and roofing, while others do not. How are attached garages priced, since they aren't living space? They aren't free, for sure. Wouldn't it be more useful to think in terms of bottom line, start to move-in cost, for a house of a given size? Any competent builder ought to know fairly well what any component of house construction costs, such as site prep, foundation, framing, interior finishing, cabinetry, appliances, etc. Those costs are easily tallied with a spreadsheet.
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