Building a house

salmon7

Looking for advice on building a house.

Saw the documentary on the HUFF HAUS on Channel 4 a considerable while back and fell in love with it. Got them to send brochures, which were nice, in a glossy brochure kind of way.

I subsequently saw other companies in Ireland offering similarly designed houses ...Da Vinci and Griffner etc. The quotes I got were astronomical.
I wanted to enquire then, off the council, if I could build such a house but got totally deflated when I got the quote from one of the above and never persued it further. I need to get my own house at this stage of my life.

I don't really like many of the dormer bungalows - which seem to be a popular choice in the area.

Are there any other house companies / designed houses like the above, in Europe/ Scandanavia, that offer the same style but at a lower cost? I have the possibility of a site in the Louth area. I like the idea of seeing the house in kit format and then assembling it etc.

I am aware that a lot of pre planning goes into this months in advance. I like the style of the house, the openess, the light filled spacious house etc.

Can i get a builder to do it cheaper, something similar or is this a non runner?
I am aware that these companies have their own super duper insulated walls and technology but can I get my hands on similar materials and get a builder to do it instead?
Who do I ask about these things?

I'm not nesessarily looking for the bespoke Huff design, rather something similar without the price tag. A three bedroom house with a nice kitchen and other basics. Can it be done on a budget of €100,000 to €150,000?

Alternatively, I would consider the 'Design a house' brochure.

It seems I have hit a brick wall ( or cavity in this case ). I know the style of house I like, but i'm not willing to pay such high prices.

In the light of recent house prices falling etc could i get someone to clarify things for me and get a competitive quote?

Where do I start?

Many thanks.:(

RKQ

It is possible to build a decent 1500sqft house, complying with building Control for about €140k. It can be contemporary in design.

I wouldn't be confident about producing the feel and design of a german Huff Haus for that money. These companies specialise in a factory built kit for economy and high quality finish. They are very efficient at manufacturing these kits.

The wide span roof with large overhang, is based on traditional european design. It incorporates large roof timbers over large spans and certain engineering calculations. This allows for large open plan internal spaces.

They tend to use alot of glass in curtail walling, external balconies. They have specialist crews to erect on site, these individuals are highly skilled and dedicated to the project.

There are a number of european companies that build timber frame kits, to extremely high insulation standards. Most companies would have "traditional" designs but few would have anything as striking or individual as Huff Haus

salmon7

Hi RKQ
Many thanks for reply. Would you have the web addresses of these other European timber frame house builders/suppliers?

Are there any other publications that contain contemporary house designs that I could get ideas or indeed pay for the copyright/priveledge of using their design or a hybrid of several designs? The reason I say hybrid is simply that some of the designs that i saw, I only partly like.

Any other ideas greatfully accepted

Salmon 7