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The best thing you can do for your own "piece of mind" is finalize the design of what you want to build, pier size, beam size, framing sizes, spacing, doors windows, siding, etc. etc. Detail it with dimensions so that you can do a quantity take off. It does not have to be fancy, rough sketches do work, but make it neat and legible to use. Take off the quantities in a list form, in columns, right through to the interior finishes, don't forget mechanical, electrical and plumbing items. An accurate material quantity take off will allow you esitmate material costs within reason and gives you a reference number for that part of the job, in case a contractor tries to gouge you on materials. That is half of the job, you need to plug in labor costs to set the piers, 1st floor framing, erect the walls, set rafters, trusses, install roof, install doors windows, mechanicals etc. etc. The more time you spend up front to do this, use and organized approach to the project, the better informed and more intimidating you will be to contractors. If you are going into this blind, do not have any backround of any prospective contractors, you need to be careful, cosntruction contractors will never change, mind you there are good ones, but I see it all the time in residential work, people get into serious problems when all they needed was a construction manager to protect their interest using the same industry standards for multi-million dollar projects, but on a smaller scale. Create a solid design, ( honestly, having a bare basic set of plans, be it a doghouse or a mansion, is always a smart move, be it drafted by hand, in autocad, or rough sketches ) This defines what you want built, provides details and dimensions sufficient enough to do the above. A good contractor will do the material take off, based on plans, may add some additional cost for handling materials if warranted, but 20% mark up is max. and I think too much, but he's got cot costs to cover if handling materials. The prospective contractor should then use his experience to apply labor costs to the project, for a portion or as a whole, maybe he will subcontract, mechanical, electrical, plumbing or what have you, that sub, will add 10 % profit 10% overhead to the number he submits to the general contractor and in turn the G.C. will lump all the costs of everything with 10% profit/10% overhead on top of both material and labor costs. If you prepare a rough estimate yourself, you can price out materials, and it does not take much to look at the activities needed to build a project this size, apply durations and manpower to each to arrive at a labor cost. If you have no experience in this, it is a good idea, lets that contractor know your hard earned money is not to be taken for granted, if you have experience in construction then you will know what I am talking about, a few checks and balances go a long way, a job this size is small, so you shouild be able to keep things in simple terms, but as I see constantly in my area, people get lousy contractors who are once awarded the job become a real pain to deal with, delays and cost overuns etc etc. Get a few quotes on everything, do the math up front, remember prices cahnge constantly, 6 months from now, it will be more, we call it escalation, have to keep that in mind, things change weekly and daily now. Most of this is common sense, but if you do the above, it is a big help, once everything is defined, organized then you have a "scope of work" and you can buy out what you want others to do, and anything you can do yourself is always a cost savings, minus your time, also organizing everything helps you create a contract or simple agreement so you at least have something in hand stating what you are buying and for how much. And to directly answer your question, regarding cost, you really need to do the estimate to get a fairly accurate idea, from your area, comparatively speaking, I'm sure others will mention what a similar job may have cost, but yours is unique to itself, so an estimate is really the best way, very hard to pinpoint a cost from the information provided to be honest. ALso coordinate details where it attaches to the existing, if you are in a cold climate, any domestic water pipes need protection in that crawl space, access for future repairs, crawlspace is a real pain to work in, consider these kind of things, the more you do up front, planning, the better the job will turn out. It may sound ridiculous for some, 28 x 20 you don't need to go through all this, and that is fine, be it a doghouse or a mansion, plan ahead, it will save you time, money and headaches.
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