FAQs

There is really no catch, this is truly a no charge and total complimentary design service, of up-to 30 hours of real architectural planning and CAD design, with basically no strings attached, and no catch to it. 

However, we do have some conditions that a client first needs to meet before we will agree to fully engage with a client our no charge design services, plus you need to know up-front that any free design work done is still deemed copyright protected.

We also reserve the right to turn down a client for this no charge design service for any reason, but mostly because we tend to fully book up for the no charge service, and we can only do so many FREE designs at any given time. 

The answer is quite simple, most clients that enter into our complementary design program with us, tend to continue on with Landen Design right through to becoming full design clients, and in many cases then move on to becoming full design & build clients, so in short, it is very much worth it for us at Landen, as we tend lose very few clients, that don’t want to continue working with us after we have provided our 30 hour design program.

Our “full design closing rate” tends to be well over 85%, this is also probably due to the fact that we are very competitive with our architectural design rates, and also offer “way more design services” for the same price than most other architects or designers. With all of our additional services mostly all included within our completive base rates. Many designers out there cannot offer the same realistic 3-D rendering services that we offer, and if they do, many charge extra for this rendering service. Whereas with Landen it is all included with in our very completive base rates!

The second reason we offer this no charge design service, is to allow you our client to somewhat “test drive” Landen Design without costing you the client anything, with absolutely no requirement what so ever to continue on with Landen after our 30 hour design program has been completed. This way you get to know how we work and get know what our design team at Landen is capable of doing before ever investing any money with us.

In other words we take all the risk out of the design equation, in fact, if you do decide to continue working with Landen after our 30 hour free design program, we don’t even ask for an up-front deposit! All we need at that point is a mutually agreed to and signed design engagement agreement in order to move on to full finished plans. And, you only pay for plans when they are totally 100% finished!

The design agreement would also set out in very transparent terms, what we offer, what you will get in services from us, and what these services will cost, all set-out up front, before we even agree to enter our free design program, where we fully out line our normal design fees, and give you a copy of our design agreement for you or your lawyer to fully vet and make any mutually agreeable reasonable changes to. This way, you know up front that we at Landen are very transparent in all that we do, and you then know there will be no surprises later on if you do wish to fully engage Landen Design for our complete design services. (See also our download, “Design Fees Calculator” under Free Resources) Ask us for a copy of our standard design agreement, we would be happy to email you a MS Word document that is fully editable.

We used to build show homes and staff them every year, for many years, and pay the extra carrying cost of maintaining a show home, and then we would build that cost factor into our net sale cost, spread out over the number of expected home sales per year! (About $4,500 per sale) However, that was way back when a show home would cost us all-in say about $500,000. Nowadays, a show home of any substance, that would represent the quality and market that we build in, would now cost us on average about $1,500,000! And simply put, we think it is much better for us to simply pass the cost-saving (of not having a furnished show home) directly on to you our client!

However, on a side note, we think we have something better than having a nice show home, we have many hundreds of very satisfied clients that are usually very happy to show off their home “for us”! Meaning, many of our clients are happy to book a viewing of their own private home (with a bit of notice) for our new clients to have a tour of and look at. And we think that speaks volumes about our quality and commitment to customer satisfaction, compared to having a simple show home, where other builders may go the extra mile on their show home, but fall short on delivering the same show home quality promise.

That’s why we also have our own Cabinet Making and Millwork Shop, where we hand make all of our kitchen cabinets and millwork so that we can once again cut out the middle-man, and pass those custom-made savings directly to our client. And, that’s why we also have our own in-house custom home and renovation state-of-the-art 3-D CAD Architectural Design service that we provide as a complimentary service if you build with Landen, again we cut out the middle-man and pass these design savings directly to our client!

So if you think builders should have a show home, then you might be paying too much for your new home!

LET US SHOW YOU “What we can do”!

We do, however, also have many quality set-up Show Rooms, that we can send you to for Plumbing fixture selection, electrical and light fixture selections, appliance selections, granite and quartz countertop selections, and cabinet door showrooms, that have all dealt with Landen and the founder of Landen for in many cases more than 35 years. Plus, we pass on all of our contractor discounts at these showrooms directly to our client, where we once again cut out the middle-man and cut-out commission mark-up and pass the savings on to you are the client!

The quick answer is that a lot of that depends on the client.  However, the overall process can take as little as a few weeks or can take a few months, this is mostly driven by the client request for changes/revisions and client feedback turnaround.  It should be noted that we can only do so many plans at a time and we do book-up early, especially for our complementary no charge design service, so it’s a good idea to try and book these no charge consultation meetings earlier in the process than later.

Once fully paid for, you own the plans so you can re-build the same plan as many times as you like, however, it should be noted that most Architectural firms only allow a one-time use of the plans.  Effectively, they license the plan to you as we don’t do any of that.

Yes, you are not obligated to use Landen for the building process.  Once the plans have been fully paid for you can go to any other builder or contractor to have them quote and build your plan, or you can build the home yourself as an owner/builder. We would however like the opportunity to also quote on the plans but this is not a requirement.  It should be further noted that we also offer a free quote/bid comparison service of all competitive bids – we call it our “Apples versus Turnips” service.

Yes, Landen’s plans meet or exceed the Alberta Building Code and meet with the National Building Code of Canada, however, any possible revisions requested by the planning authorities after the plans are completed will be done at no cost to the client.  This does not include a planning authorities request for an engineer’s stamp or engineer’s letter.

Yes, we can provide photo realistic 3-D renderings of both the inside and outside of the home along with a number of other rendering services depending on the level of planning requested by the client and the planning budget set by the client.

The quick answer is no builder estimates or charges this way.  However, most builders can offer a very “rough” up-front per sq. ft. guess-timate to potential customers, this based on what a builder has averaged his building cost over several completed projects they have already built.  This so called rough price per square foot is definitely not the final price as there are many other factors that can and will affect your “end price.”  However, for a client just starting to think about building a new home, it will give them a rough indication of what the cost of their new house or project could come in at.  This is important to know in the early planning stage as you try to figure out your finances before you start to create a custom home design, and commit to moving ahead in the process of building a new custom home. On a side note, if you do find a builder willing to build off of a straight quoted price per sq. ft. you might want to think twice about engaging them!

Another way to figure out a “rough” price per sq. ft. for budgeting your possible building cost, is to go around looking at new show homes from several different builders that have homes similar in specification and scope to what you may be thinking to build. Then take these show-home prices and deduct the “average lot/land” price, and then divide the net difference by each show homes overall sq. ft. area.  If you do this with a number of show-homes, say 4-6 homes and average them all out you should have a good indication of average sq. ft. cost.  However, it should be noted that this is NOT a hard number that you should work from as there may be many other factors to consider when estimating the final finished plans.

Generally the ‘rule of thumb’ is that larger homes cost less per-square-foot to build than say smaller homes if based on the  same building specifications. The main reason is a larger home has much more gross square foot area to somewhat dilute the per sq. ft. costs of more expensive items like appliances, mechanical work, bathroom fixtures, windows/doors, kitchen cabinets etc. into the overall average sq. ft. area.

Secondly, an overall homes layout and configuration can have a large influence on cost per sq. ft.  For example, bungalows cost way more to build per sq. ft. than do two-story homes.  Also, the number of attached garage parking stalls, roof slope, and complexity of building structure, size of decks and patios, etc. all have some effect on overall average cost per sq. ft.

Further, customer preferences can directly affect the overall average per sq. ft. costing.  For example, some clients will spare no costs when building a house and will have the best of the best in everything included in their home, while other clients on a tighter budget will try to tighten up specifications where they can such as appliances etc, which can range wildly in price from say using Wolf or Sub-zero alliances compared to say standard builder line GE.  Further, some clients may want to build an elaborate home outfitted with the latest technology and luxuries while others simply cannot afford this, while others may want to add the latest in energy efficiency above and beyond standard code requirements.

Most often clients are simply looking for a home that makes them content, comfortable, and meets their life style needs. Because of the wide spectrum of a client’s wants and lifestyle needs and the wide spectrum of products that a client can select from or ask for, it is therefore very difficult to nail down a “standard” average price per sq. ft. price.  This is the reason it is important to figure out what the clients’ goals, wants, and lifestyle needs are before any pricing or tendering is done, and have this done “up-front” in order to even start creating an estimated price to build, even if the clients target home size is already known.

For simplicity, imagine you are building two homes of different overall sq. ft. sizes, but are identical in specification and finishes.  Each home would have a $30,000 kitchen, four bathrooms with exactly the same plumbing fixtures, two furnaces and two hot water tanks, as well as each home having identical window packages, etc.  The only difference is one home is 2,000 sq. ft. and the other home is only 1,500 sq. ft.  Which one do you think will have the largest per sq. ft. price tag?  Of course, you already know the answer – the 1,500 sq. ft. home will have a much larger per sq. ft. price tag, but would most likely still have an “over-all” lower building cost.  The one big issue that should be considered before any planning starts, is the future resale value “per sq. ft.” to comparable homes in the same area that you want to build in!

It should be noted that most builders plan their show-homes overall “marketing home size” for what builders call the “sweet-spot”!  This sweet-spot is the size of home where the spec and size equate to what the market is expecting to pay “per sq. ft.”  There is also the “sweet spot” in a neighborhood for average home size, for example if the average home size in a new community is 2,000 sq. ft. and you want to build 1,500 sq. ft. or alternately build say 3,000 sq. ft. you are most likely well out of the “sweet spot” zone, and may one day take a big hit on re-sale when realtors start to base your home on a “per sq. ft.” value!

This could depend on what municipality/region you plan to build in, and any basic lot preparation cost that may be needed before you even start the actual home build.  Costs could range from as low as $5-10,000 to $30-60,000 in land/lot prep before the actual building itself is started.  For example, for a 2,000 square foot home this can translate to a difference from $2.5 per sq. ft. to well over $30.00 per square foot in land/lot prep cost before you even start the actual home.  These “varying land/lot prep cost” can be items like septic systems, roads/driveways, and site services like Gas, Electric, water supply or water-well requirements, soil conditions, and lot/site preparation, just to mention a few.

The quick answer is yes. Typically, two story homes are the cheapest house to build compared to their bungalow counterparts. A general rule of thumb for renovations is that ‘building up’ is cheaper than ‘building out.’ A two story has a smaller foundation and thus, less concrete, not to mention less roof, as well as plumbing and mechanical work end up being more compact in design on a two story home with shorter mechanical runs.

A story & half house typically costs somewhere in between bungalows and a full two story home. The difference is largely based on the amount of labour involved to frame the roof structure of a story & half.  Additionally, story & half homes can also have less “usable” space than a full two story due to possible sloped ceilings on the second floor.

Further, roof styles of a home can greatly affect overall cost to build, and of course directly affect per sq. ft. cost to build.  For example, a lower slope roof will cost much less to build than a high sloped roof, this for a number of reasons.  First off, the greater the roof slope/pitch, the more overall roof area that is created that needs more lumber and shingles to cover over the same floor plan area as that of a lower slope roof.  Further, labour cost on a per sq. ft. of roof area go way up for steeper roof pitches. Other roof considerations that add additional cost are roofs over verandas, porches and covered decks, as these added cost also end up being blended into the average per sq. ft. cost.

Smaller is not always smarter.  Sometimes altering a home design in the name of ‘cutting square footage’ can actually cost more to build, and will definitely cost more to build per. sq. ft.  If you are keeping all other specifications and finishes the same, then the average per sq. ft, price will of course start going up as you start shrinking the overall “basic areas” square footage.  If cutting’ square footage creates more jogs and roof detailing, which creates changes in structure and the foundation layout, then it will actually cost more money.

Opposite of ‘cutting’ is adding square footage, which does not always mean adding more cost to the overall build.  For an example, if pushing out an exterior wall  2‘-0” out creates the ultimate desired room, then we encourage it.  If only adding a space of 2’-0” in a typical cross section of a home, this usually requires only one extra truss, and a few extra floor joists and minimal amount of concrete and added structural members.  Assuming of course all the other big ticket items like appliances, mechanical, cabinets etc. all stay the same, then the gross overall new-area of the expanded homes per sq. ft. cost is negligible, and in fact actually goes down “per sq. ft.” with the overall homes building cost, only increases by a small amount.

One other thought if thinking of cutting square footage.  Say you have a room that is planned 14’ wide and you decide to “cut” that same room down to say 13’-0” wide,  you should note that lumber sizes vary every in 2’ increments such as 8’-10’-12’-14’-16’ and so forth, meaning a 13’ dimension may mean 1’ of lumber is most likely going straight into the garbage, netting little saving-if any.  The same thing goes with carpet and other flooring goods which generally come in 12’ widths.  If you specify an 11’-8” room width, then 4” of flooring ends up getting cut-off and tossed into the garbag.  Alternately, a room of say 12’-2”means a long “added” 2” flooring seam needs to be included which adds substantially to the base sq. ft. flooring cost, in both labor and materials (see also building sq. ft. sweet spot).

Other obvious items include: overall size and square footage, quality of materials and finishing (such as laminate vs granite), type of exterior finish (brick vs siding), time of  year of the build, economic conditions, wood commodity rates, site conditions, digging conditions such as frozen ground, site access, road bands, site services, etc.

Even though having a firm quote provides security for the homeowner, it would be safe and wise to budget for the cost of extras and cost overruns during build modifications, and other potential roadblocks.

At Landen, we are a licensed custom home architectural designer and a fully qualified builder.  We design home plans of all sizes, shapes, and styles. Having more than 40 years experience as a builder, contractor, and custom home designer, we can therefore provide good rough estimates based on our experience and our direct communication with trades and suppliers in the building industry. We always recommend you take your concept floor plans and elevations to different builders and trades to obtain competitive estimates, so that you know we are also competitively priced. In addition, once you have this competitive pricing and or building budget fully nailed down, then it is at this stage that we then suggest you proceed with the final construction, structural drawings, and house plans that will be needed to acquire a building permit, and then start the construction phase.

Based on the above questions and answers, it should be clear that it is difficult to estimate the price of the house until some upfront decisions are made and plans are discussed. An estimate is just that: ‘an estimate;’ until a clearer picture of what is being built, by whom, and where, is finalized.

As of 2019 very general per sq. ft. home building prices as used by the Appraisal Institute in Alberta and used by most major Banks to calculate mortgage draws, are outlined below, it should however be noted that these are AVERAGE prices and can vary greatly from home to home, and are included here for a general idea of average cost.

• $310-$350 per square foot to build a two story home including a 2 car garage
• $330-$380 per square foot to build a bungalow including a 2 car garage
• Adding an extra car garage tends to run about $25,000 to $30,000 per car space
• Walkout basements tend to add $12,000 to $18,000 (depending on the window configuration).
• Basement development tends to run about $60 to $80 per sq. ft.
• If your building on an acreage, you need to add an allowance of $30,000 to $60,000 or more to cover septic tank/fields, road, water well, and other extra lot/land servicing costs.