How Long Did yer Build take?

Ashfield

Hi lads,
Our contractor started our house on 13th May and yesterday began the rafters for the roof, thats just over 4 months down
he told us it would take 9 months but we are hoping he will be finished before that
2800sq ft concrete built house with ufh, and plaster finish to front
Cant believe how fast it happens!!!

fatboymsport

Build type; direct-labour
House Size: 2700 sq ft
Construction method; Cavity
Planning process length:6 months
Construction Start date:15 september 2007
Finish (or expected) finish date:moved into house on the 20th september 2008
Months to complete:12 + 8 days
Lessons Learned: never get friends/family to do anywork on house and dont leave vital decisions to the last minute
% over or under budget: about 5k over budget but orignal budget was very loose and did not include all the funiture
Price per ft2:80 euro and that is ready to live in with all major rooms fully finished.

whitelightrider

Location: Galway County
Build type direct labour -
House Size:2250 sq ft
Construction method: Block
Planning process length: 6 months
Start date: Sept 07
Finish : Good question. Moving in 31st October
Months to complete:13 months
Lessons Learned: Keep an eye on tradesmen and get on to them if they dont turn up.

% over or under budget: Had hoped to build it for 280,000 but its running at 300,000. That includes site price, garage, boundary wall (unstoned) and all gardens, kerbing and patio decking. And everything finished inside!


Price per ft2: €133

scanner1

whitelightrider wrote: »

Location: Galway County
Build type direct labour -
House Size:2250 sq ft
Construction method: Block
Planning process length: 6 months
Start date: Sept 07
Finish : Good question. Moving in 31st October
Months to complete:13 months
Lessons Learned: Keep an eye on tradesmen and get on to them if they dont turn up.

% over or under budget: Had hoped to build it for 280,000 but its running at 300,000. That includes site price, garage, boundary wall (unstoned) and all gardens, kerbing and patio decking. And everything finished inside!


Price per ft2: €133

whitelightrider, What would the proce per ft2 been without the site? If you don't mind me asking

whitelightrider

scanner1 wrote: »

whitelightrider, What would the proce per ft2 been without the site? If you don't mind me asking

Hey scanner1. Site plus fee cost approx 80k. Thats makes the build work out at 220,000. Works out at about €97 per sq ft.
We couldve gone for cheaper stuff in the house but we didnt. Oak kitchen underfloor heating, solid oak skirting and architrave and window boards, good insulation, etc.

Slates

Currently slating the roof of the House(251m²) and Garage(56m²), doing lots of the work myself, current spent to this point 77K and down 1 stone weight

scanner1

whitelightrider wrote: »

Hey scanner1. Site plus fee cost approx 80k. Thats makes the build work out at 220,000. Works out at about €97 per sq ft.
We couldve gone for cheaper stuff in the house but we didnt. Oak kitchen underfloor heating, solid oak skirting and architrave and window boards, good insulation, etc.

Cheers whitelightrider, just wanted to check out build costs compared to my estimates (high spec got €98 per sq ft & always added 15% to estimate to give buffer.) hopefully foundation going down week after next. 2500 Sq ft story and half

Echelle

Location: rural Wexford
Build type General contractor
House Size: 135 sq m approx 1500 sq.ft 1.5 storey
Construction method: Block,timber windows, Tegral slating,60 mm polyiso insulation, solar panel, oil heating,plastered walls, good quality finishes, simple construction
Planning process length: 9 months approx.
Costs ( approx)
Main Contractor €175,000
Painter €6000
Solar heating €5000
Kitchen €9000 incl fittings (cooker fridge etc)
Tiling €3500
Start date: Sept 06
Finish : june/july 07
Months to complete:11 months.
extra costs :solicitor,architect, site.
Lessons Learned: Contractors background is in carpentry, on advice we were told carpenters turned contractors are best, good knowledge and careful attention to detail.Certainly proved true in our case. Excellent young builders and very pleasant to deal with.No, I wont divulge their name. Architect friend designed house but my husband searched for builder. Architect friend was surprised to hear we managed to get them as other architects had recommended them and they were hard to get.Befor employing them they were delighted to show us examples of their work,drove us in their van. Obvious they were keen and proud of thier work, but not cocky.Good relationship from the start.

mikep

Hi

I don't know if this is the right place for this but when you calculate the build cost of an extension do you calculate using the area of the extension or the area of the original space plus extension??

Thanks

Mike

smashey

mikep wrote: »

Hi

I don't know if this is the right place for this but when you calculate the build cost of an extension do you calculate using the area of the extension or the area of the original space plus extension??

Thanks

Mike

Just the extension.

whitelightrider

Well we finally moved into the new house. 409 days after ground was broken at the site. Started 17 September 2007, moved in 31st October 2008.

muffler

whitelightrider wrote: »

Well we finally moved into the new house. 409 days after ground was broken at the site. Started 17 September 2007, moved in 31st October 2008.

Well done. Im sure you are delighted that its all over and that you can put your feet up now

Now what about the house warming party?

whitelightrider

muffler wrote: »

Well done. Im sure you are delighted that its all over and that you can put your feet up now

Now what about the house warming party?

Feet up? I wish! My good wife has been spotting things that need touching up straight away!!! Ill be spending the next week painting walls that got marked and ceilings where lights were put up!!!

This site has been an unreal help to me in building the house. In getting advice on prices to whats better heating wise. I know our house wouldnt be built as good as it is if I didnt get the advice from the people here on boards. Anyone around Monivea in Galway anytime youre welcome to call in to visit us!

odonoso

Build type (direct-labour, contractor, etc): Direct Labour
House Size: 2800 sqFeet + double garge
Construction method Cavity
Planning process length: 3 months
Start date: July 07
Finish date: Feb 2009, excluding landscaping
Months to complete:18 months
Lessons Learned: Most things take longer & are harder than you think!
% over or under budget: +40%
Price per ft2: €100, including Heatpump solar panel and finish all room excluding landscaping and wind turbine

lucky-colm

this is a great thread alot of usefull info in here for the homebuilder one observation i would make people should mention where they are building the house as price per sqft seem to vary alot obviously dublin would be dearer than a rural location and this could be a good guide for other prospective builders;)
cheers
colm

muffler

lucky-colm wrote: »

this is a great thread alot of usefull info in here for the homebuilder one observation i would make people should mention where they are building the house as price per sqft seem to vary alot obviously dublin would be dearer than a rural location and this could be a good guide for other prospective builders;)
cheers
colm

Good point.

Newgirl

Hello
great information here.

Please excuse my ignorance but we're hoping to apply for planning later this month for a 2000 sq ft 2 storey timber frame home.

Haven't finally decided which timber frame co to use but I'd like to know how realistic the information on their websites is about build times. Our budget is very tight so once we have electricity and a working toilet we need to be in.
What's realistic

thank you

sandy09

dont know if this is the right place to post this (sorry if its not)....just wondering if you go with a timberframe company can i give them the house plan i want and not have to pick one of theirs?

muffler

sandy09 wrote: »

dont know if this is the right place to post this (sorry if its not)

Its not but we will let you go this once.

sandy09 wrote: »

just wondering if you go with a timberframe company can i give them the house plan i want and not have to pick one of theirs?

You can take your own plan to them and they will price from it and if they get the contract they will redraw (same house) to suit their construction methods.

sandy09

ok thanks muffler. I'll get the hang of these threads yet. thanks

Repolho

Just wondering, when people here are talking about €XX per ft2 is that per ft2 of floor space or footprint?

Thanks.

Kricket

Footprint area ( l x w ) x price, ie house size 70' x 30' = 2,100 sq2 x 100 euro's per square foot = € 210,000.00 builders finish price example only .

Kricket

Sorry, I must amend last statement , all habital sq2, last example was a bungalow if its a two story you also count upstairs

gummibear

Build type : Contractor
Location: Rural West Waterford
House Size: 2700 sq feet 5 bed dormer plus garage
Construction method :Cavity
Planning process length: 8 weeks
Start date: June 12th 2008
Finish date: June 12th 2009 (fingers crossed and looking 99.9% likely)
Months to complete: 12 months
LPG Underfloor Heating. High Specinsulation in cavity and on internal surface of external walls and roof.
semi-solid Oak floors. Oak kitchen.
Lessons Learned and advice: Don't be afraid to tackle tiling, flooring and painting if you have a reasonable level of DIY abilities and common sense.
Boards.ie will answer most of your questions.
Expect small hiccups but accept nothing less than you ask for!
More important than a good contractor is to ensure he has good people working for him. the head man on our build was fantastic and took great pride in his work!
Cost per sq. ft.: coming in just over €90. up to builders finish.
and now... HAPPY DAYS

muffler

Well done gummibear. We'll all be there for the housewarming on the 12th

dmullally

A lot of very useful info here will come in very handy while building just bought the land so may take a while to update here

ThePiedPiper

Location: Northeast
Build type: Project manager
House Size: 2,700sq feet + 500 sq foot garage
Construction method: Block and Natural stone outer leaf
Planning process length: 7 months from first meeting with engineer to planning granted
Start date: end of April 09
Finish : Moved in 16th November 09, still a couple weeks work to be done
Months to complete:7 months
Lessons Learned: Haggle with everyone, complain about anything that's not exactly as it should be, shop around for everything, listen to everyone's advice but make up your own mind
% over or under budget: It'll be about 10% over mainly due to doing a raft foundation and some extra work that we didn't originally want

Price per ft2: €106 ish.. includes kitchen, furniture, electrics, alarm.

muffler

Well done RunForestRun and good advice offered also.

Dr. Nick

2950 sqft
Meath
Contractor
Block and natural stoune
4 months 3 weeks in and inside plastering will be finished this week.
Inside work to be done:
2nd fix - Elec, Plumb, Carpent.
Painting
Kitchen
Flooring
Stairs

Outside work to be completed:
Garage, groundwork, piping of ditch, ESB duct.
Painting

Anyone want to hazard a guess at when we'll be in??

ModestMouse

Build type : Direct Labour
Location: Meath
House Size: 3000 sq feet 5 bed 1.5 storey plus garage
Construction method :Cavity
Planning process length: 12 weeks
Start date: October 2008
Finish date: 31st January 2010 (hopefully, with EVERYTHING finished)
Months to complete: 15 months
Air to water heat pump with Underfloor Heating. Insulation to approx A3 energy rating.
Second fix plumbing, carpentry to be done, about to start tiling.
Lessons Learned and advice:
Don't feel shy about haggling and price things in plenty of time so you're not forced to accept a high price. Don't be intimidated by pushy salespeople. Ask lots of questions. Be clear about the standard you expect from trades i.e. nothing less than perfect; and never pay full amount until everything is finished as agreed. Go with your gut instinct and you'll have no regrets.
Cost per sq. ft.: approx. €85 to builders finish, approx €105 fully finished...at the most i hope.