Cost of building in Bryson City / Maggie Valley

[Erik H.]

Hey everyone! My wife and I are very new to all this. We are looking to build a small (800-1000 sqft) STR / vacation home in the next 12-24 months. One of the places we are looking is in the Bryson City / Maggie Valley area. We are not opposed to buying, but are primarily looking to build. If we build, we are looking at a modern cabin with 2 bd 1.5-2 ba. Looking at the homes on the market, prices vary wildly from $~200-$400+/sqft and it doesn't seem to correspond to just the quality of the house. Without knowing the area really well it is hard to know how much of that is the cost of land baked in. Does anyone have an idea of a ballpark expectation for $/sqft to build in that area? Are there specific features/styles of homes that perform really well in the area beyond the traditional log cabins? What is a reasonable time to expect a build in the area to take with the lack of available contractors I have read about?