The Square Foot Question — And Why It's Not the Right One to Ask

Very often I get asked what we charge per square foot.

I get it — it sounds like a simple way to ballpark a budget. But after 25 years of building custom homes across Barrie and Simcoe County, I can tell you honestly: that number will mislead you more than it helps you.

Here's why. I could build you two homes that are exactly the same size and have them differ in cost by $200,000 or more. It's not unusual. The size of the home isn't what drives the price. It's everything inside the design — and the lot you're building on.

Design Is Where the Cost Lives

When I sit down with a family to talk through their plans, I'm looking at dozens of decisions that will each move the budget up or down. None of them have anything to do with square footage. These are the ones that matter most:

Roof Design

A simple gable roof is straightforward to build. Add dormers, multiple pitches, or a hip roof with valleys and the framing labour and material costs climb significantly

Ceiling Heights

Vaulted ceilings, cathedral volumes, and two-storey great rooms are stunning — and they add real cost. More wall height means more framing, more drywall, and more complex HVAC to heat and cool properly.

Structural Complexity

Open-concept layouts require engineered beams to carry the loads that walls would otherwise handle. The more open the floor plan, the more steel and engineered lumber goes into the structure

Windows and Doors

The size, number, and performance rating of your windows is one of the biggest variables in a custom home. Large picture windows, lift-and-slide patio doors, and triple-glazed units are not priced like standard openings.

Exterior Finishes

Stone, brick, board and batten, Hardie siding, custom trim detail — the envelope of the home can vary enormously in cost while covering the exact same square footage.

Interior Finishes

Cabinetry, countertops, flooring, tile, plumbing fixtures — these selections alone can shift a budget by tens of thousands of dollars. This is where a home goes from well-built to truly custom.

Mechanical Systems

In-floor radiant heating, HRV systems, high-efficiency HVAC, and smart home integration all add to the mechanical budget — but they pay back in comfort and operating costs over the life of the home.

Garage and Accessory Spaces

Oversized garages, insulated and heated bays, lofted storage, or a detached shop add square footage that builds very differently than finished living space.

Every one of those items is a decision point. And those decisions compound. A home with a complex roofline, vaulted ceilings, engineered beams, and premium finishes throughout is a fundamentally different project than a home of the same size with a straightforward design and mid-range selections — even if both are well built.

Why Per Square Foot Works for Production Homes — and Fails for Custom

Production builders can quote you a reliable price per square foot because they've already made every one of those decisions for you. The plans are set. The finishes are selected. The roof is the same on every house in the subdivision. They've built that home dozens or hundreds of times, and they know exactly what it costs because nothing changes.

A Production home

Pre-set floor plans, standard finishes, identical lots, repeated builds. The builder has built it before — many times. Price per square foot is reliable because every variable is fixed.

A Custom home

Your design, your lot, your finishes, your municipality. Every variable is different. A square foot price quoted before those decisions are made is a guess — and guesses don't survive contact with a real budget.

A custom home is built once, for one family, on one specific piece of property. There is no previous version of your home to reference. When a builder quotes you a per square foot price before understanding your design and your site, they are not giving you a budget — they are giving you a number that sounds like a budget. There's a difference, and you'll feel it later.

"My job in the early stages isn't to give you a quick number. It's to ask enough questions to give you an honest one."

Your Lot and Your Municipality Add to the Picture

On top of design, where you build matters. I've worked on flat serviced lots in Barrie, Springwater, Oro-Medonte, Essa and on properties where we needed a well, a septic system, and a long hydro trench before framing started. Slope, rock, soil conditions, and conservation authority requirements — the Lake Simcoe Region and the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority cover a lot of this county — can all affect your foundation and site costs significantly.

And every municipality in Simcoe County has its own development charge schedule. Barrie, Springwater, Oro-Medonte, Innisfil, Essa, Severn — each one collects permit-stage fees that can run into the tens of thousands. They go up regularly. A builder who doesn't know this county well may not bring those numbers into your early conversations. That's a problem you'll discover at the wrong time.

Before I talk cost, I want to understand your design, your property, and what matters most to you in the finished home. That's the only way to build a number that actually holds. We've been doing this in Barrie and Simcoe County since 2001, and that's still how we work.

If you're thinking about building — whether you have drawings in hand or you're just starting to think it through — give us a call. That first conversation is free, and it'll give you a clearer picture than any number per square foot ever could.

Lilac Homes Inc. — Tarion registered. Building in Simcoe County since 2001.

Chris Fumo

Start the conversation:

Visit lilachomes.ca or call us at 705-717-9689 to talk through your custom home project in Barrie, Springwater, Oro-Medonte, Essa, Innisfil, Severn and surrounding areas in Simcoe County.