I think in the early stage of your project, when thinking of estimating and costs, there are three things you must do:

1. Decide on a preliminary budget range that makes you comfortable.
2. Have an outline of your needs and wants - ie: a preliminary Program.
3. Determine what the construction costs are in your local area. The biggest challenge of the three might be local costs, and you will need some help, and it will take some work. And remember you will be thinking in "cost ranges" at this stage. Here are the steps:

1. Talk to as many people you can about who are the reputable builders that might be interested in the type of project you have in mind... for example, small cabins. Good sources are, friends who have built, local Realtors, lumber suppliers, building departments, etc. Your goal is to build a list of builders to call.

2. Go to the local building department and look through the permit applications. This information should be public record, and usually will contain an estimated cost of the project and the area of the project. Note, this cost is usually low since many do not put everything in this figure such as appliances, painting, built-ins, etc. To use these figures, my experience is you add 10% to 25% for a comparable retail range. Also at this point, you can note the builder of the job as well.

3. Call the builders and ask this question:
"I am thinking about building in the area and am trying to determine the general construction cost range of a small cabin of 1000 square feet of interior heated area. I know that accurate pricing is influenced by finish selections, etc, so I am asking for the general typical range for the projects you build, or would build for yourself."

Some will not be willing to answer, since they might not actually keep track of the costs of past projects accurately. But some, will answer. What you are looking for are the numbers that keep "popping up" in your conversations. If they give you the figures in dollars per square foot that is great. If not, divide what they say by 1000 (the project size mentioned above). This will not be exact, but will give you a "ballpark" range to use as a starting point.

You could also ask the Realtor group that you called earlier. Some keep track of these costs, since they are asked this question many times when selling land