Learning to build homes

[Sean Borg]

Thank you for any help in advance. I am thinking about building a new home in Chattanooga for profit, but want to start small so it would only be one house to start. This would be something around 1200 square feet and probably cost $150 a square foot not including the lot. I know that I can buy a lot and use that as a down payment, but I have two pieces that are making me a bit nervous. One I am not currently working and two I'm a little uncertain with the market. My question is how much cash would you be comfortable building with to cover any unforeseen circumstances and in an uncertain time? 

I do have enough to cover a lot, but wasn't sure if those that had been built before had many changes in out-of-pocket costs?