2020 was my worst year ever, I wont go into that now (again) but I will say 2021 has been nothing but blessings so far. Long story short I am hoping to build a house, I wanted a modular just brought in but after seeing the prices I am reconsidering that route.

I want a small house on a basement, something that looks decent and is inexpensive and easy to build, I have many friends in construction and I myself am not totally helpless. I am hoping to have something around 1,500 square feet including the basement. Anyone have experience doing something like this and can make recommendations? I'm not even sure where to start, I tried looking up some designs but thought someone may have some insights.

Thank you guys.

I went the modular route about 15 years ago, and have no regrets. I don't know what prices are like these days, but you used to be able to get some deals on display models or in stock models they wanted to get rid of.

add about 50k for a basement

Single story ranch house. Trussed roof, 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms, open floor plan between Kitchen, LR and dining room. Metal roof and board and batten siding.

I had a buddy that had a lot of land and one of his buddies went through a divorce so he sold him a couple acres cheap. He lived in a camper and saved enough money to build the garage/basement. Then saved more and built the shell, then saved more and started finishing the interior. We helped him plumb, run electric, paint etc. He ended up with a very nice small home, beautiful.
His floorplan was simple. Furnace, hot water heater, washer dryer, in the garage/basement. Kitchen was small but he built a huge deck with sliding glass doors off of it. Livingroom, nice big bathroom and a big bedroom. Simple, cheap, cause he saved and got deals on everything. He insulated the crap out of it, heating and cooling cost are low.

Yup. Mine wasn't quite that much, but it's well worth the money.

100K+ for a 900 square foot house. I could go talk to them in person and price out with less of it finished, I would prefer to do alot of the finish work myself.

Plus the 50k or so for the basement, so probably I should realistically budget 200k for house, basement, septic and well if I go that route.

Yikes! I didn't realize they are that expensive now. Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

Holy coon balls!! Y’all northern boys idea of inexpensive is a heck of a lot different than us Southern boys. $200K down here will buy you one nice spread.

Does that include the obligatory cars on blocks in the front yard and coon dogs under the porch, or are those extra?

That is not inexpensive to me either which is why I am looking for other options. I need to purchase the land as well as build the house, quite frankly it is a bit daunting on only one income, I don't want to be in a position of losing everything... again.

That will get you a decent 1800sqft house on an acre or 3 with a pool and generally a garage. Coon dog will cost ya though.

Now is a horrible time to build. lumber prices are nuts.

Then I’d buy land first and a small comfortable camper and build as money allowed.

Be like Johnny Cash, one piece at a time. Get the land, save for the well and septic then put a old trailer or camper on it. Save and do what you can, just an option. And for the love, don't be like them deep southern boys, wear shoes in the summer.

Shoes are overrated...especially during the Summer!

If you already own the location, I think 200 K is ballpark. Might be a bit more than that. But right now is a terrible time to be doing this. Lumber prices are astronomical !! You might be better off buying something small and saving some for a future when lumber is back in its normal range. At least you might experience some price appreciation in the meantime

I suspect you will pay at least 30% more right now just in material costs

Ken is right. I know someone in Texas who was having a house built and the contractor upped the cost because of lumber and then put them on hold because they can't get all the lumber they need. It's bad.

Lumber must be in high demand. I know of a couple of landowners that are about to really make some money. One owner is about to get 75% of what he paid for his land and the houses on it from the timber. Unfortunately a lot of it is hardwoods.

If you are willing to do the work yourself, use rough cut from a local mill. Mill by me sells pine for $600/1000bf. Most contractors I know won't use it, though.