Designing a Sustainable Custom Home in Santa Fe: Why Palo Santo Designs May Be Ideal For You

Posted on September 26, 2025September 30, 2025 by JeanneAdmin

A modern, single-story house with large windows and a flat roof sits on a grassy hillside, with trees in the background. — Palo Santo Monte Serena project

In Santa Fe, New Mexico, where high desert skies meet historic adobe and Pueblo-Revival architecture, building a custom home isn’t just about square footage—it’s about culture, character, and climate. At Palo Santo Designs, we design and build homes with a deep understanding of sustainability, high performance, and local traditions. As an award-winning design-build firm that combines architectural creativity with sustainable building practices, we’ve become the go-to partner for homeowners who want beauty, comfort, and long-term value.

Here’s what you should know about sustainable custom homes in Santa Fe, how we deliver them, and why working with us could be the smartest move for your project.

Why Sustainable, High-Performance Homes Are More than a Trend in Santa Fe

Santa Fe’s beautiful but challenging climate demands thoughtful design. The high altitude, wide temperature swings between day and night, intense sun, occasional snow, dry air, and limited water resources mean that traditional methods alone aren’t enough. Homes built without attention to energy and water efficiency struggle with comfort, utility bills, and durability.

Key sustainable features we incorporate include:

Passive solar design: orienting the home to capture winter sun for heating and shade in summer.
Thermal mass materials (like interior adobe or mass walls) that absorb heat during the day and release it at night.
High-performance insulation, air sealing, and efficient windows to reduce heat loss.
Renewable energy sources (e.g. solar photovoltaics) to reduce or eliminate dependence on electric grid power.
Water conservation through rainwater harvesting, greywater systems, and drought-tolerant landscaping.

These features improve comfort, reduce ongoing costs, increase resale value, and contribute to environmental stewardship.

Who We Are

Palo Santo Designs is a Santa Fe-based architecture and construction firm with deep roots in sustainable design and custom home building. We have been designing and building custom sustainable homes for over 25 years. Our expertise and experience in sustainable design is unparalleled in Santa Fe.

Here are some of the credentials and practices that set us apart:

We are licensed in both architecture and general construction (GB-98 General Contractor).
Several of our staff are LEED Accredited Professionals and have extensive experience with certification.
We design and build homes that aim for zero or very low energy usage, water efficiency, and overall environmental responsibility.
Our work has repeatedly won awards for craftsmanship, sustainable building, and design excellence.
Over 25 years of hands on local experience.

Our Services & Process

When you choose Palo Santo Designs, you’re not just hiring an architect or a builder—you’re getting a seamless design-build experience. Here’s what our process typically includes:

Initial consultation & visioning
We begin by understanding your goals: aesthetics, lifestyle, budget, and sustainability priorities. Whether your vision is modern, contemporary, or more aligned with Pueblo or Territorial architecture, we’ll help bring it into focus.
Site evaluation & planning
We carefully analyze slope, shade, wind, solar exposure, and views to orient your home for passive solar gain, natural shading, and efficient layout.
Design & architectural drawings
Our in-house architecture team produces designs that merge beauty with technical performance, including sustainable materials, efficient systems, and attention to indoor air quality.
Permitting & engineering
We know the local codes, design guidelines, and HOA rules—and our experience keeps your project on track.
Construction & high-performance systems
As both designers and builders, we maintain continuity from design intent through construction, installing the best high-efficiency systems to meet performance goals.
Post-occupancy support
We stand by our work and ensure your home performs as promised—delivering comfort, efficiency, and durability.

Case Study: LEED Platinum Custom Home

One of our favorite projects is a Pueblo Revival-style home in Santa Fe’s Museum Hill neighborhood that achieved LEED Platinum certification.

Highlights include:

Roof-mounted solar panels generating most of the home’s energy needs.
All-electric systems, including radiant in-floor heating and cooling via an air-to-water heat pump.
Rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse for both irrigation and indoor toilet flushing.
High insulation levels and adobe thermal mass, paired with energy recovery ventilation for fresh air.

This home demonstrates how beauty, comfort, and sustainability can come together seamlessly.

A modern adobe-style house with flat roofs, tan stucco walls, and a covered front porch, surrounded by dry landscaping and desert plants under a blue sky. — Palo Santo Museum Hill Adobe Project

Covered patio with wooden furniture, a fireplace, and potted plants, overlooking a garden with trees and a stone wall under a sunny sky. — Palo Santo Museum Hill Adobe Project

How We Help You Stay on Budget & On Schedule

We know one of the biggest concerns in custom building is cost and timing. Here’s how we address it:

Transparent cost validation during design, so you always understand trade-offs.
In-house architecture + construction, which minimizes miscommunication.
Hands-on project management by our principals, who know Santa Fe’s unique requirements.
Award-winning craftsmanship, ensuring lasting quality.

What to Consider Before Hiring Any Design-Build Firm

If you’re beginning this journey, ask firms questions like:

What sustainability certifications have you achieved?
Do you handle both design and construction?
Can you show similar past projects?
How do you manage cost estimates and changes?
What features do you recommend for Santa Fe’s climate?
How do you ensure long-term performance?

These questions will help you find the right partner—one whose values align with yours.

Why Choose Us

If you value high design, long-term comfort, energy savings, and environmental responsibility, we offer the complete package: licensed architects, certified green building experts, and a proven track record.

When you work with us, you’ll get:

A home tailored to you and to the site, views, and climate.
Lower operating costs over time.
Finishes and details that reflect Santa Fe’s unique character.
A smoother, clearer process with fewer surprises.

Next Steps

Here’s how to get started with us:

Reach out for a free consultation.
Gather your site info (or let us help with your land search).
Discuss design priorities and sustainability goals.
Set a budget and performance targets with our guidance.
Review our proposal and project scope.
Build your dream home—with our team guiding the process from start to finish.

Final Thoughts

Santa Fe is a place where history, beauty, light, and climate converge—and a custom home here should reflect that. Our mission at Palo Santo Designs is to design and build homes that not only look beautiful but feel right, perform well, and last for generations.

If you’re ready to explore what your sustainable custom home could be—with care for community, climate, and craft—we’d love to bring your vision to life.

Contact us today for a free initial consultation. Let’s talk about what sustainability means for your life, your budget, and your dreams—and start designing a home that reflects your values, not just square feet.

Modern house entrance with concrete pathway, desert landscaping, a small Buddha statue, and a view of green hills and distant mountains under a partly cloudy sky. — Palo Santo Hilltop Contemporary project

How Much Does it Cost to Build in Santa Fe, NM?

Posted on April 28, 2023March 11, 2024 by Mark

So, how much does it cost to build in Santa Fe?

Well, that is the million-dollar question. Actually, it’s more like a 2-3 million dollar question for most people looking to build a custom home in Santa Fe. In fact, I get several emails a week asking, “How much does it cost to build in Santa Fe?” And it’s always a nuanced answer, because there are so many variables associated with determining that price point.

The Most Common Factors

These include among other things, the existing soils and topography of your chosen building lot, the proximity the building site has to existing utilities, the length of the drive from existing roads to the building site and of course, the design characteristics of your one-of-a-kind hand-crafted custom dream home. These variables have been constant in their influence over the cost to build forever. And once we are able to assess your building site, we can often make some predictions about how much these factors may influence the final construction cost.

The Time Factor

But there is another factor which historically wasn’t as influential as it is now, and that is the factor of time. Einstein realized that time was relative, and Newton was missing the point when he said time was constant. And although Newtonian physics seems the order of the day when it comes to something as material as building a custom home from scratch, Einsteinian relativity may now be worth considering. Time and construction costs are in fact relative, and time plays a much greater role in the final construction costs than ever before. What do I mean, you may ask?

The Data

We recently did a thorough analysis of our custom home construction costs dating back over the last 15 years. The graph above shows our actual cost data for completed custom home construction projects depicted by the solid orange line. The dashed gray line represents an average trend and incorporates a projection beyond 2023 based on our expectations. What the data shows is that, yes, construction costs have increased in the last decade. I think we all knew that. But more interesting was the rate of increase over time.

Throughout the 2010’s construction costs were somewhat stable with a relatively predictable 5%-10% per year increase. And this ramped up from 2015-2019. Average costs per square foot slowly increased from roughly $200 per square foot in 2010 to just under $500 per square foot over the course of that decade. This relatively stable rate of cost increase made it pretty easy to predict the general cost per square foot of a custom home from year to year. Then COVID hit!

An Accelerating Trend

What we saw was a massive disruption to the supply chain and labor market at the same time. Yes, we all have heard about inflation. It’s been in the headlines for years, but what most people don’t consider is that inflation affects different parts of the economy in different ways, and at different rates. And it also affects different local markets in non-homogeneous ways.

For custom home construction in Santa Fe, the previously predictable annual cost increase quickly changed. And we began seeing increases across all sectors of the construction market, concrete, steel, lumber, and labor. This amounted to annual cost increases of greater than 20% between 2020-2023. For this reason, we have seen the cost of custom home construction rapidly move from +/- $500 per square foot in 2020 to well over $700 per square foot in just a few years. And in some instances, we are seeing prices above $900/sf for highly complicated or specialized home designs on challenging lots.

Our Design-Build Approach

At Palo Santo Designs, we recognize our customers rely on us to be as accurate as possible in our pre-design budget forecasting. It is one of the main benefits of our Design-Build approach. The integration of real-time construction cost knowledge within our integrated architecture team allows Palo Santo Designs to be very efficient in the value engineering of custom homes.

Until recently, our predictive models were somewhat static, assuming the cost of construction at the time design commences would be +/- within 5%-10% of what they would be a year later when groundbreaking actually happens. Now our Updated Pre-Design Budget Exercise has built into it a time factor. That is, what we can assume for construction costs at the time design begins is factored up according to when you anticipate breaking ground. That way, we can take into account the accelerated cost trend currently being seen in the market. This allows us to better assist our clients in being financially prepared for the likely construction costs to come. Also, our integrated Design-Build approach can also reduce the amount of time to commencement of construction. This further optimizes your dollars by staying ahead of growing costs as much as possible.

Optimizing Value

It is also important to understand that contractors have very limited control over the costs of construction. That may sound counter-intuitive, but general contractors are the orchestral conductors of the varied resources needed to build custom homes. Labor, lumber, windows, or concrete are all externally priced by market forces outside of the contractor’s influence. Our team of architects and builders are focused on providing our clients with the most realistic cost modelling possible. We do this by working closely with our trade partners and vendors to optimize value. And whether you are looking to build at the $1.5 million or the $15 million dollar price point, we will always take great effort to deliver as much bang for your buck as possible.

Find Out More

Email me [email protected] to receive a free consultation about your project and a copy of our Updated Pre-Design Budget Exercise. We can guide you through the steps to realize your dream. Your one-of-a-kind hand crafted custom home in Santa Fe with Palo Santo Designs.

Palo Santo Designs Named One of the Best Custom Home Builders

Posted on September 24, 2019August 11, 2023 by Mark

It’s always an honor to be mentioned for our efforts and successful projects. Recently, we’ve been named one of the best custom home builders in New Mexico by the Home Builder Digest.

We’re thankful to be chosen as one of the best and we always strive to provide the very best in custom home design and construction here in Santa Fe.

If you’re interested in learning more about our work and what we can do for you, please contact Mark at 505.988.7230