Frequently-Asked Questions

We build a range of home sizes and styles, so it ultimately depends on the work we are doing for you.

The only way to accurately answer the question of custom home cost is to develop a plan, write a specification sheet and choose a lot. The cost is often affected by the lot, site development, the plan, the finishes that you choose, etc.

That said, building a custom home is not the cheapest way to get the home of your dreams. If you are wondering if it is cheaper to build or buy an existing home, the answer is buy an existing home.

But building a custom home will get you exactly what you want – without paying for that extra bedroom that you don’t need.

The answer to this is easy: it depends, so beware of builders who advertise and quote square foot price.

As they say, “actual price may vary”. In order to accurately quote the cost of a house you need to examine the entire project including lot, amenities, plan etc.

If we are doing a lot of expensive upgrades it is obviously going to cost more than if we did cheap amenities.

Size is also a factor – the larger a house is the cheaper the square foot price.

The most expensive square foot in your house is the first one because there are a lot of fixed costs in building a house. If you are just adding square foot to bedroom, that will be cheap. If you are adding another bathroom, that’s going to cost more per square foot.

(Jay Kobza) “I have been in the custom home building industry my entire life. When I was a kid I carried 2X4s for my dad.

“In the past, I worked in a lot of the trades which gave me a hands on understanding of the home building process. I have been a licensed contractor since 1985. I have been building custom homes in Thurston county since 1989.

“I have basically been doing this my whole life – and I’m not young anymore.”

It normally takes about 9-12 months to build a home well.

We often have homeowners ask why we are not working on their home when it appears to be ready to sheetrock (and why is the heat cranked up?). The answer? We are letting it dry.

This adds to the construction time but is necessary for a quality job. Do you really want to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a home built in 90 days?

We normally build in Thurston County, WA – however we’ll often build in Mason, Pierce, Lewis, and other neighboring counties – exclusively in Washington State.

No – Kobza Home Builders does not normally do remodeling. We specialize in new construction and do it very well.

We have the economies of scale and the expertise to handle the entire home construction process. Smaller, less capable firms are better suited to do individual remodel projects.

Kobza Home Builders does also build spec homes – this means that we build homes that are unsold and then market them, so we normally have a home or two that is finished but not occupied.

Contact us and we can tell you if we have any at this time.

We can build either your home plans or ours.

What we usually do is personalize a plan for you. We start with your ideas and develop a sketch.

From there we make changes so that it fits your needs better. This is a back and forth process that may involve several iterations, and each time the plan is becoming a better expression of your ideal home.

This results in a plan that is customized to you – a custom home.

All of the above – at any given time, we usually have a few subdivisions where we have lots available.

Being a real estate agent, I have a good working knowledge of the lots that are available to buy, so we can find the best lot for you.

And of course if you already have a lot of your own, that just makes our job easier.

It is your home so of course you can make changes – However the later in the process that you do it, the more it costs.

The most successful approach to building a custom home is to determine with as much detail as possible exactly what you are going to build before you start. I try to take as much time as possible discussing your home with you before we begin building. This way we have already anticipated any changes that you might want to make.

It is a lot easier to move lines on paper than to move walls.

If you are using custom financing and you own the house during construction, you can do work on your home.

However if you are buying a presale for us and we own the house during construction, it is usually not possible to work on the home. This is because of bank and insurance consideration.

There are also licensing issues. If you are hiring a general contractor to manage your home building project, you cannot perform any work requiring a licensed contractor.

Also one thing to consider is that you are hiring us to solve your problems: Why get involved in those problems by doing some of the work yourself?

It has also been my experience that in the end there is very little actual savings achieved from working on the house yourself.