Back to the drawing board...

"A wise man will consider the cost before he builds a house."

It is humbling to publish my errors, but I think it is important to pass along the lessons learned for the people that may benefit from them.

The land has been purchased, plans have been drawn and estimates have been collected. The sad fact is that building this particular house would make us "house poor". The cost of building the actual home in this part of Tennessee would approach $225,000.00 -- this would not include fencing, barn, landscaping, etc. We simply cannot afford to build this house and live in it.

I have lost money on blueprints that I will not use, but I have been able to avoid the more costly error of over building. So, it is back to the drawing board.

After pouring my heart into a custom plan I am back to looking over stock plans with an eye at altering them for handicapped accessibility. The goal is to stay under 2,200 heated sq ft (originally 2,800). This should bring our building costs down with a projected 21% savings.