Central Vermont: Building vs buying?

[Alex Chekhov]

I own a 4 unit in central vermont, and it has a great development potential (large lot) - which is something I want to do. However I'm having crazy hard time even getting quotes (looking to convert stand-alone two story garage into a 1000sqft  single family house). I had one company come back to me with a $200K quote which is ridiculous. 

How are others here dealing with builder shortages? At this point i'm thinking about just finding other properties to purchase instead of investing cash into the development of the large property i have... But even this isn't easily done as reasonable multifamily properties come to the market once in few years...