Approx Cost of building this house??

Fozzie Bear

Ok I am looking for some advice here from more knowledgeable and experienced people then me. Now I realise there is an element of “how long is a piece of string” to this but I am not looking for or expecting exact costings. Just ball park figures to get a rough idea of the likely build costs involved here and any potential pit falls. I am looking at buying a site/derelict house in Co Galway. It’s an old 2 up 2 down stone cottage (900 sq/ft) on a half acre site. There is a partial slate roof (I plan on reusing the slates) on it and that’s all. Completely run down, small part of the roof has collapsed. The owner got planning permission for a 2 story house (2400 sq/ft) on the site (which expires in Oct 09) and laid a raft foundation for this approx 5 years ago. The new house (blue) incorporates the old stone cottage (red) into the design so it does not need to be demolished. Not sure if these are too big so I will just link instead of pasting here; Internal Layout and External Layout

So my question is what would I be looking at to finish the house up to a stage where we could move in? We would finish it off completely over time as we lived there, painting, tiling etc. I plan on using direct labour and sourcing materials in NI or as cheap as possible down south as I have a tight budget. Obviously I would do as much work on it myself as possible too, painting, tiling, chasing where possible (as per sparky/plumbers instructions), general labour etc. I work in a tool providers and can get a lot of equipment cheaply. My brother is a carpenter and has agreed to do the internal carpentry work, stud walls, plasterboard, hanging doors, skirting, floors etc for me free. He will also build a stairs and kitchen from scratch instead of buying one. We would just buy the cupboard doors, granite work tops, hinges, drawer runners and electrics like fridge, cooker etc. I will obviously be providing the materials. He has also said if the timing is right he would do all or the majority of the roofing work and facia and soffet too. (Depends on his own job and when his holidays would fall.) My father is a plant hire owner and will do all the site clearance works for free as well as the digging involved with laying new sewage treatment system.

So the way I see it there are 6 major stages here that are going to cost the most money.

1. Block work
2. Roof
3. External glazing and doors
4. Plumbing and sewage system
5. Electrics
6. Plastering


I would plan on buying 2nd hand scaffolding (approx E2-4000 on the web) and selling this on instead of hiring. I would like UFH down stairs only, good quality insulation and I am open with regards to heating. I would prefer to stay away as much as possible from oil heating or else have a dual system if possible along side wood pellet or other renewable sources. Solar panels (house is south facing with large roof area), underground heating or others. But again this all depends on costs and grants available etc. It maybe a case of just going for oil now and upgrading a few years down the line.

So can anyone throw some ball park figures at me please? I did some very very rough sums and came up with a figure of around E130,000 given that there is a building there already so those walls will not have to be built plus the foundations have already been completed. So I am looking at approx 1500 sq/ft to build from scratch with the other 900 already partially there. This cost takes in having to pay someone to do the roofing work. Am I way off the mark here?

gerry28

I did some very very rough sums and came up with a figure of around E130,000

Hi

Its very very difficult to say how much it woukd cost. 130K could be possible. What I can tell you from my own experience is its amazing what you can get done when you heve a very definite amount of money.

I shopped around for everything and took my time over decisions and managed to get the house built for a lot less than some of my well of family and friends did.

muffler

Unless you get a lot (an awful lot) of free voluntary labour I think you will struggle at 130K.

Depending on location builders finish is running at anything from around €60 - €100+ per sq. foot.

Fozzie Bear

muffler wrote: »

Unless you get a lot (an awful lot) of free voluntary labour I think you will struggle at 130K.

Depending on location builders finish is running at anything from around €60 - €100+ per sq. foot.

Really you think it will be significantly more then 130 for just the build? So on top of buying the site for around the 100+ mark I will be looking at upto another 240,000 on top of this just for the actual building. Bloody hell I had no idea I was looking at so much potential cost. I was always led to believe building was normally cheaper then buying.

Back to the drawing board so....

muffler

No, the 240K would be top of the range full contract figure.

I should have explained a wee bit more. The cost/sq. ft. referred to was for a builder to do the work under contract. I would estimate that you should allow a ball park figure of around €75/ft2 which would take into account the new and existing structures.

As you will be going direct labour route (with some free labour thrown in) you should be able to knock off about 20% which would bring your figure down to around €60/ft2 but do shop around for the best prices for good quality materials and also for tradesmen with good recommendations. Just to note that prices do vary a bit (especially labour) and I wouldnt be familiar with prices in Galway.

If you are working off a mortgage its better to try and secure that little bit extra and if you dont need it at the end of the day you dont have to take it.

Fozzie Bear

muffler wrote: »

No, the 240K would be top of the range full contract figure.

I should have explained a wee bit more. The cost/sq. ft. referred to was for a builder to do the work under contract. I would estimate that you should allow a ball park figure of around €75/ft2 which would take into account the new and existing structures.

As you will be going direct labour route (with some free labour thrown in) you should be able to knock off about 20% which would bring your figure down to around €60/ft2 but do shop around for the best prices for good quality materials and also for tradesmen with good recommendations. Just to note that prices do vary a bit (especially labour) and I wouldnt be familiar with prices in Galway.

If you are working off a mortgage its better to try and secure that little bit extra and if you dont need it at the end of the day you dont have to take it.

Cheers Muffler I appreciate that. I was starting to worry about my own figures been so far out. (they were largely based on reading the Construction forum so in a way it would have been your fault;):D)

I was expecting/budgeting to pay around the E75-80/sqft mark but as you say I intend applying for a mortgage of +10% that figure for unforeseen events. In the end if I don't need the full amount of the mortgage I don't have to draw it all down. It would be just handy to have it there to fall back on.

mr_edge_to_you

Make sure you get your buffer figure right. Because if you don't and you need to go back to the bank for a top up on mortgage you won't get it. I know of two people who got their budgets wrong and the banks won't give any more money because the market value of the property is now worth less than when they started their project.