Nothing wrong with a new house as long as you know what you're getting into. But, the way things are today - I'd never do it - except for one reason. If the new house had a new technology that made living in it a lot cheaper, then maybe.
I helped build several new houses over the years as a contractor. I've got solid experience as a plumber, framer, finish carpenter and electrician. With all the houses we built, we did all the extra work that other's subbed-out including the septic. Only parts we didn't do is well drilling and blasting, if needed. That being said, with the ever-changing requirements of the International Building Codes - it's turned into a big mess with new houses.
I'm in a situation now. I'd like to move to Northern Michigan and I have several properties there. My initial plan was to build a new house. But, my father-in-law recently built a brand new structural panel house in Alpena County - a semi-rural area. After seeing what he went through - with many stupid requirements, engineering plans ad nauseum - I'd never do it. He can't even drink his own well water due to regs. A 100 feet he had great water - but local code required him to go deeper. Now, the water is at 270 feet and is undrinkable without all kinds of treatment.
I finally decided to buy an old home on forecloseure, retrofit it and not have to deal with the many new code requirements. This way, many things are grandfathered in and exempt from new codes. I did so - got a pretty nice ranch house on 5 acres for $32K, and can now update as I see fit an avoid most of the legal stuff. Also has an existing 90' well with great water.
As a side-note, I'm in the middle of a code-enforcement battle right now. I'm building a small cabin in the remote Adirondack Mountains. Off-grid, hand-pumped well water, etc. I was originally given a building permit for my plans - a year later given a "stop work" order. Since then, I've been told to get - stamped structural engineering plans, stamped water/hydro engineering plans for a septic system, plans from a architect to show proper natural lighting, a full time automatic heating system, elec. code requires hard-wired smoke alarms even though this is off-grid with NO power, etc. This is absolutely nuts. Also, the legal system is actually on my side - but it will cost me time and money to prove it. I spoke to the electrical inspector and he agreed with me that some of this stuff is crazy. But, he has no control over it.
There are some good things about modern code, but also many useless things that just makes money for other people.
Good luck, no matter what you do. Just check into it closely, first.
If you want a price per foot, just check a current price of an installed modular of similar size. The companies that sell and install them usually price them exactly the same as a custom, stick-built home built on-site.
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Today's Featured Article - Listening to Your Tractor - by Curtis Von Fange. Years ago there was a TV show about a talking car. Unless you are from another planet, physically or otherwise, I don’t think our internal combustion buddies will talk and tell us their problems. But, on the other hand, there is a secret language that our mechanical companions readily do speak. It is an interesting form of communication that involves all the senses of the listener. In this series we are going to investigate and learn the basic rudimentary skills of understanding this lingo.
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