Timber Frame Home Budget Calculator
What does a timber frame home cost in your area? Let's find out...
The Dream Home Budget Calculator helps homebuyers determine the cost to build your dream timber frame home. Enter your choices among 20 key categories and the calculator will provide you with a cost summary. It’s fast, accurate, and it’s free to use.
About the Dream Home Budget Calculator
The budget calculator was the brainchild of Patrick Seaman, president and owner of Woodhouse—The Timber Frame Company. He created the tool after clients asked him for help understanding the costs and variables involved when building their new dream timber frames, says Craig Johnson, vice president of sales and marketing at Woodhouse.
How It Works
“It’s a great educational tool to help our clients understand how much it costs to build in a particular region,” Johnson says. “As they go through the 20 questions, they will quickly understand how their decisions influence the numbers in their timber frame home budget. We encourage visitors to our site to use the Dream Home Budget Calculator multiple times, with different selections each time, to see how those decisions affect their budget. We update the data within the calculator quarterly, using regional and national construction averages, so it is remarkably accurate in developing a ballpark budget.”
Creating Other Scenarios
The Dream Home Budget Calculator can also help clarify your motivations for what you want in your new timber frame home. The 20 categories include:
- What will be the primary use of the home?
- What style of home do you intend to build?
- How many bedrooms
- How many bathrooms
- Size of the great room
- Size of the kitchen
- Number of other rooms
- Will the basement be used for living space?
- Size of covered timber porch
- Size of exterior deck
- Size and number of bays in a garage
- Will you need additional living space above the garage?
- Zip code where you intend to build
- How much timber frame is desired?
- Level of kitchen and bath finish materials
- Level of exterior finish
- Length of driveway
- Raw land or within a subdivision
- If raw land, how difficult will it be to develop it?
- If raw land, how many acres will need to be cleared?
After you’ve gone through the Dream Home Budget Calculator, you can download your timber frame home budget. When you try different scenarios, download each one to grasp how different levels of finish, size, and amenities can impact your timber frame home budget.
Johnson cautions that the land questions can sometimes increase the budget dramatically. “If you have purchased a 100-acre parcel, for example, it’s likely that you’re not going to be developing all 100 acres. You can reduce costs by simply developing just one acre,” Johnson says.
If You Have Questions About Your Results
As you research costs on different designs, square footage, and level of amenities, it’s natural to have questions. Johnson encourages you to contact Woodhouse directly or any of its regional project managers to go over your Dream Home Budget Calculator results.
“We know the decision cycle time for a new dream home is usually a long one,” Johnson says. “We’re not interested in a hard-sell situation. We are here as a resource, to help start the conversation and make sure their decisions are right for them. Our goal always is very happy homeowners.”
After you’ve gone through the Dream Home Budget Calculator, you can download your timber frame home budget. When you try different scenarios, download each one to grasp how different levels of finish, size, and amenities can impact your timber frame home budget.
Johnson cautions that the land questions can sometimes increase the budget dramatically. “If you have purchased a 100-acre parcel, for example, it’s likely that you’re not going to be developing all 100 acres. You can reduce costs by simply developing just one acre,” Johnson says.