How Much Does It Cost to Build a House Yourself? [2025 Data]

House Building Cost Factors

On average, it costs $122,500 to $411,500 to build your own home. 

You can expect to be on the lower end of the range if you take on most of the construction work yourself. 

You'll pay closer to the high end if you outsource the work to contractors, and you'll pay even more if you include premium materials and finishes or build in a high cost of living area.

Planning

In the planning stages of the home building process, you'll obtain house plans from an architect and pay for new construction permits. The cost for an architect to draw up a custom floor plan generally ranges from $3,000 to $8,000, while the average cost of a building permit is $150 to $2,000.

Land Preparation

Depending on the terrain where you'll build your own house, you may have to do a bit of preparation before breaking ground. For wooded spaces, the cost to clear a lot ranges from $200 to $4,440, depending on the lot's size, makeup, and whether you do the work yourself. Land excavation costs an additional $80 to $5,050, while land-leveling costs $300 to $2,960.

Foundation

The cost of a foundation generally runs from $4,150 to $13,200. However, you'll pay more if you need something more complicated, like a stem wall or pier and beam. If you opt for a basement foundation, costs range between $30,000 to $70,000.

Framing

The cost of framing and sheathing an entire home varies depending on its size and layout; the typical cost for a 2,000-square-foot house is $18,000 to $48,000. This generally breaks down to about $9 to $26 per square foot.

Major Systems

The major systems of your new home include electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. Total costs for these systems can vary widely based on your home's size and floor plan, but this portion of the build generally accounts for 10% to 15% of the home cost.

Exterior Finishing

Exterior finishes are the tasks that take your home from a skeleton to a finished building. The cost for a new roof typically runs $2,220 to $10,900, while you'll pay $1,700 to $14,000 for siding and $500 to $4,000 for paint. You can save some money on exterior finishing by tackling projects you can handle on your own, such as painting.

Interior Finishing

Interior finishing elements include everything you see when you walk into a finished home, including drywall, ceilings, flooring, doors, windows, fixtures, cabinetry, and paint. The cost of finishing your home is greatly affected by the quality of the finishes you choose.

How Much Does It Cost to Build a House Yourself per Square Foot?

While many factors can affect home building costs, it typically breaks down to an average cost of $60 to $110 per square foot.

If you take on most of the labor yourself, you could pay as little as $40 per square foot. Hiring professional contractors, choosing more expensive materials, and building in certain locations could quickly increase the cost to $200 per square foot or more.

House Building Cost Breakdown

Size, location, materials, and labor are four big factors that drive the cost to build your own home. Each relates closely to the others, so you must carefully consider each to accurately determine the price estimate.  

Location

Location is a driving factor to home prices. Whether you build in the city, on the beach, or in a rural area, the terrain, surrounding community, and access to materials all influence how much you'll pay for land, labor, and materials. Consider the state of New York: Homes in the heart of New York City average three times higher in cost than homes in the state's capital of Albany, only 150 miles away. When you build in a high cost of living area, everything is more expensive across the board.

Size

The size of your new house affects home building costs because larger homes require more labor and material. The floor plan dictates how the space will be constructed and appointed. For example, should you decide to build your house with electrical outlets every 6 feet rather than the code minimum of 12 feet, you'll pay for more time and material from an electrician.

Material Cost

Building your own home requires a lot of material—as a matter of fact, the cost of material typically equals about 60% of your construction costs. So if you receive a quote of $350,000 to build your custom home, you can expect about $210,000 of that to go toward concrete, lumber, drywall, roofing, wiring, pipes, paint, and other construction materials.

Labor Cost

About 40% of your budget goes toward labor costs when you build your own house. Using the above example of a $350,000 house, about $140,000 of your total cost is for paying contractors and laborers. You may choose to take on the entirety of the project yourself or contract out specific tasks like electrical and plumbing. If you’re weighing whether or not to take on the project management yourself, you may want to consider quotes from a construction manager or general contractor.

Construction Managers vs. General Contractors

A construction manager is a professional who works on your behalf to monitor the construction of your home. You're responsible for hiring contractors, sourcing materials, and making other big decisions, but a construction manager acts as your eyes and ears on the ground to make sure things go according to plan when you can't be there yourself. 

The cost of hiring a construction manager is generally 5% to 15% of the total project cost. This means that if the cost of building your house is $250,000, you can tack on another $12,500 to $37,500 to pay the construction manager. The total project cost then amounts to $262,500 to $287,500.

A general contractor is a professional who assumes the responsibility for constructing your new house. When you sit down with a general contractor, you'll let them know what you want, and they'll come up with a quote that accounts for all material and labor costs. Once you agree, the general contractor handles project tasks, such as obtaining permits, purchasing materials, hiring contractors, providing liability and worker’s compensation insurance, and ensuring all aspects of the build go as you intend.

Because of the increased responsibility, the cost to hire a general contractor is about 10% to 20% of your project cost. General contractors typically bundle the cost of their services into their initial quote by way of mark-ups on materials, so if the cost to build your house is $250,000, the general contractor may quote you $275,000 to $300,000 to account for their fee.

Additional Considerations for Building a House Yourself

When you consider that 40% of a new home's price tag is labor costs, you might find yourself eager to take on the role of laborer yourself. After all, if you've been quoted $250,000 for a custom-built home, you could knock off about $100,000 if you do the job yourself. This is significant savings and enough to give any budget-conscious consumer reason for pause. If you can pull off the job, your home would only cost $150,000 in material to build.

Before you get too excited about the cost savings, it's important to think about what it means to build your own home from the ground up. It's a lot of work, and it's not all just labor. There is a lot of skill and experience that goes into safely constructing a home according to your area's building codes. To put it another way: Swinging a hammer can keep two pieces of wood together, but it won't build you a proper frame.

This isn't to say that you can't take a more active part in your home's build. If you've previously worked in construction, you may have the skills to take on some aspects of the project. If you're a DIYer, it's best to leave most jobs to the pros. This especially includes tasks that leave no room for error, such as foundation work and framing, as well as technical tasks like electric and plumbing.

Instead, you can arrange to tackle those jobs you have experience in or can learn. Some examples include fixture installation, flooring installation, roofing, and interior and exterior painting.

Note that you'll need to obtain the proper equipment to do things right for each part of the job you decide to handle yourself. This could involve buying or renting power tools and other machinery, some of which may be pretty expensive. It's important to balance the cost of learning and acquiring tools to do things yourself versus letting a professional do it instead.

Tips to Reduce Costs While Building Your Own Home

There are three primary ways to reduce home-building costs. They include hiring a construction manager rather than a general contractor, completing some of the labor yourself, and choosing more affordable materials for your interior finishing.

Hiring a Construction Manager

When you hire a construction manager, you're taking on more responsibility when it comes to the construction of your home. While you won't be doing any manual labor (unless you want to), you are responsible for purchasing materials, hiring contractors, and taking care of any issues or extra costs that might come along. You could save up to 15% compared to hiring a general contractor.

Completing Labor Yourself

If you have experience with home renovation projects, there are home building tasks you can handle yourself, assuming you have the time and tools to handle the jobs. 

For example, if you know how to install tile, you can save the $4 to $32 per square foot it typically costs to hire a professional tile installer. When it comes to lighting, you can save $100 to $250 per fixture by hanging them yourself. Know how to hang doors? You can keep the $150 to $300 per door installation cost.

Choosing More Affordable Finishes

Don't worry if you're not so handy with a hammer or paintbrush. Another way to cut costs on your new home build is to make smarter decisions about the various finishes throughout your home. 

Consider kitchen counters: Marble is a beautiful, premium finish that many homeowners would be thrilled to have in their new kitchen. But it's also expensive. Opting for granite instead—which is equally luxurious—could save up to $50 per square foot. Apply the same logic to flooring, wall finishing, and fixtures, and you can cut costs dramatically.

Pros and Cons of Building a House Yourself

When you act as your own general contractor and build a house yourself, there are some benefits that you won't get otherwise. However, there are drawbacks to consider before being your own general contractor.

Pros

• You'll save up to 40% on labor costs.

• You can take advantage of new, cost-saving technologies that professional contractors often don't use.

• You’ll have complete control over the project and work quality.

Cons

• The project will take significantly more of your time and energy.

• You'll likely be a lower-priority client for potential subcontractors.

• You take on all potential risks.

• You may have trouble getting loans and other financing assistance.

Building a House Yourself vs. Hiring a Professional Home Builder

The cost to build a home yourself ranges from $120,000 to $410,000, which is lower than the $140,000 to $525,000 range to hire a home renovator near you to manage the build. Especially if you handle some parts of construction yourself, the savings on professional labor will likely be between 20% and 40% of the total cost.

However, we do not recommend DIYing this project without extensive experience. Most homeowners lack the skills and experience to build a home efficiently and cost-effectively. Hiring a reputable home builder will give you the peace of mind of knowing your home is safe and up to code.

A builder will also ensure that your home is built on a reasonable timeline, which can be difficult if you're trying to build a home while working a day job. General contractors can take a lot of responsibility off your shoulders and free up many months' worth of your time and energy.

How Angi Gets Its Cost Data

Home is the most important place on earth, which is why Angi has helped more than 150 million homeowners transform their houses into homes they adore. To help homeowners with their next project, Angi provides readers with the most accurate cost data and upholds strict editorial standards. We extensively research project costs to develop the pricing data you see, so you can make the best decisions for you and your home. We rely on reputable sources, including the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, academic journals, market studies, and interviews with industry experts—all to ensure our prices reflect real-world projects. 

Want to help us improve our cost data? Send us a recent project quote to costquotes@angi.com. Quotes and personal information will not be shared publicly.