Just looked into home building costs by state and the regional differences are wild. So building from scratch used to be the cheapest home to build option, but with inflation and supply chain stuff the past few years, it's gotten pretty expensive everywhere. National average is sitting around $332k for a 2,100 sq ft place, or about $158 per square foot. But here's where it gets interesting - Hawaii is absolutely brutal at $431k, and the whole west and northeast corridor is pricey too. California, Massachusetts, New Jersey all pushing $360k-$400k range. Meanwhile if you're looking at the cheapest home to build, the South is where it's at. Mississippi and Arkansas are under $290k, Alabama around $291k, Louisiana and North Carolina both under $300k. Tennessee and the Carolinas also pretty reasonable. So if you're seriously considering building instead of buying, location matters way more than people think. Southern states are genuinely offering the best value for custom builds right now. The gap between Hawaii and Mississippi is like $145k - that's massive. Definitely worth checking regional labor and material costs before committing to any build project.