How Much Does it Really Cost to Build a House in Atherton California

Dear Carl,My husband is planning to knock down our 60 year old house in Atherton, CA and build a new house on our land (a very flat land). He talked to a local architect and the architect told him that we need to budget at least $1Million (on top of $25K for him to design the house, about $2K to do a land survey, etc.) to build a 4000-4500 sq ft house on our flat land. $1 Million is way beyond