New Home Building Services in Portland, Maine
Five ways we build a new house for Greater Portland owners, and every one of them starts on the land itself before a price is written.
- Part of Legacy Construction, founded 2021
- 4 to 6 builds at a time, never more
- 5-year workmanship warranty, in writing
Which of our five services fits your land and your house?
Build on Your Lot
Ledge, test pits, the well and the drive judged before you buy or draw. A cleared, utility-ready lot adds about $77,000 to $105,000 in site costs.See Build on Your Lot
Coastal Home Builder
Houses inside a shoreland or flood zone, built to the setbacks and foundation that site demands. Mid-range custom work averages $365 to $435 per square foot.See Coastal Home Builder
Custom Home Design
Four to six weeks of drawings, specifications and selections that end in one fixed price. Design itself is priced at the first meeting, from your scope.See Custom Home Design
Knockdown Rebuild
An old house taken down and a new one built on its lot, with the permit question answered first. Rebuilds finished to high detail average $435 to $490+ per square foot.See Knockdown Rebuild
New Home Construction
A ground-up house built in a fixed order, each phase checked before the next crew starts. Simple, efficient houses average $315 to $365 per square foot.See New Home Construction
Where do we build new homes?
Portland, South Portland and the towns around them, 22 in all, across Cumberland and York counties.
How Do We Decide the Order of Design, Lot and Price?
We decide the order of design, lot and price with you by starting on the land, because the lot sets costs no floor plan can undo. The sequence we hold to is lot first, drawings second and the price third, with a contract signed only after all three are on paper.
Building on your own lot is where that first step happens. We walk the land for ledge, wet ground, slope and the length of the drive, then test pits tell the site evaluator how large the septic must be and how many bedrooms it can serve.
Still choosing between parcels? We walk each one with you and put what each would need side by side.
Custom home design comes next, and its four to six weeks end in a complete drawing set instead of a sketch. That set is what makes a fixed price possible, and a price built from anything thinner tends to grow by change order once the frame is up.
Only then does new home construction get its number. Across many builds, turnkey houses average $315 to $365 a square foot for simple and efficient building, $365 to $435 for mid-range custom work and $435 to $490+ for high-detail houses, with the land, well, septic and site work kept out of that rate.
What Changes When the Lot Is on Water or Has a House?
When the lot is on the water or already holds a house, the permit question moves ahead of any drawing. Inside the shoreland zone, the band within 250 feet of great ponds, rivers, tidal water and some wetlands, the town's rules set the setbacks, and a FEMA flood zone (AE or VE) can change the foundation itself.
Our coastal home builder page covers those lots, from setbacks and flood maps to the siding and fasteners salt air calls for. We read the zone maps for your parcel before design starts, so the house is drawn where the rules allow it to stand.
In a mapped flood zone, the base flood elevation (the height FEMA expects floodwater to reach) decides how high the lowest floor has to sit.
An existing house raises two questions of its own: is it worth keeping, and what does its spot on the lot let a new house keep? An older house close to the water can sit nearer than today's setbacks allow, and rebuilding it has its own limits under the shoreland rules.
On a knockdown rebuild, we settle that question with the town before demolition is priced. The old well and septic get the same early look, since either one can shape the new plan as much as the shoreline does.
Not sure which service fits? Choose "I own the land", "Still looking for land" or "Tear down and rebuild" on the estimate request, and we will work out the rest on the lot with you.
Which of these fits your land?
Tell us your town and where you stand with the lot. We walk it with you before any price is written.