What it costs, and how we price it.

Published 2026 industry estimates put custom home construction in Toronto between $350 and $550 per square foot. Difficult sites and very high finish levels push past both ends. That is third-party market context, not a Halpern & Co. quote. Where a specific project lands inside that range depends far more on the site, the structure and the finish specification than on the size of the house. We price every project from your drawings and the real conditions on your lot, and we show you the arithmetic.

Because a single number would be misleading. Two 4,000 square foot homes on two Toronto lots can differ by hundreds of thousands of dollars on foundation depth, access, glazing and finish alone. We work cost-plus, which means you see the real cost of every trade and material rather than one bundled figure with the margin hidden inside it. Quoting a headline rate would work against the transparency that is the point of the model.

You pay the actual, documented cost of trades and materials, plus an agreed management fee. The fee is a fixed, disclosed percentage of project cost, set in writing before any work starts, and it does not move because the project got harder. Every invoice from every trade is visible to you. There are no hidden mark-ups on materials and no undisclosed supplier rebates.

Usually not. A fixed price has to carry padding for every risk the builder is absorbing, and that padding stays in the price whether the risk materialises or not. With cost-plus you pay what the work actually costs, plus a known fee. Because you see the line items, you can find savings while the job is running rather than after.

In rough order of impact: site access and how much of the work has to be done by hand; excavation depth and soil conditions; whether the foundation is straightforward or engineered; structural spans and ceiling heights; the amount and type of glazing; mechanical and electrical complexity; and the finish specification, which is where the widest swings live. Two identical floor plans can differ by a factor of two once the finishes are chosen.

A shell package covers demolition, excavation, foundation and framing to lock-up. It is priced per project, not per square foot, because excavation and foundation costs are driven by the lot rather than the house. Site access, soil, water table, engineered fill, shoring and how close the neighbours sit all move the number materially. We price shell work from the structural drawings and a site visit.

Healthcare fit-outs sit above standard commercial interior work because of the mechanical, electrical and infection-control requirements, the lead-lined and serviced rooms, and the inspection regime. Equipment coordination and phasing around an operating practice also affect the number. We price clinic work from the drawings and the equipment schedule.

Additions usually cost more per square foot than new construction, because you are cutting into a structure that already exists, matching to it, and working with restricted access. Renovation of existing space is generally less than an addition. The honest answer for both is that they price from drawings and a site walk.

Our pricing covers construction: the trades, the materials, the site management and the coordination through to completion. Outside it sits design and engineering fees, surveys, permit fees, development charges, appliances and furnishings, and landscaping unless written into the scope. Everything in and out is listed in your contract before you sign it.

We organise, schedule and attend the municipal and third-party inspections a project needs, and we manage the permit process. Permit fees and municipal charges are paid by the owner and are not part of the construction cost. All work is carried out to the current Ontario Building Code.

An early number based on preliminary drawings is a budget, not a price, and we will say so plainly. It gets firmer as drawings develop, as trades price the real scope and as site conditions are confirmed. We would rather tell you a range and explain what would move it than give you a precise-sounding figure we cannot hold.

Projects run on a milestone draw schedule tied to work that has been completed, inspected and signed off, not to the calendar. Nothing is released on a milestone until the work behind it has been verified, and where engineering sign-off is required that has to be in hand first. The schedule is agreed in writing at contract stage.

Get in touch with the site, the drawings if you have them, and what you are trying to achieve. We will tell you what we would need in order to price it properly and what the process looks like from there.

Toronto and across the Greater Toronto Area, including East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough, the Beaches, Markham, Richmond Hill, Thornhill, Vaughan, Kleinburg, King City, Aurora, Newmarket, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Brampton and Burlington.