To buy or to build a house

felicia2

To buy or to build a house

Hi,

I'm new to this but hope I can get some advice. I'm planning on venturing into my first home with my fiance, getting married next yr. At the early stages of planning and my question is whether to build or to buy. There are many sites in our interest areas that seem nice as well as houses for sale. I'm wondering if cost wise - can it work out cheaper to build a house? I like the idea as we can make it our own. (have no idea of square footage or such details). Could be dormer / two storey / bungalow - would ideally like 4bedrooms, maybe study, kitchen, dining and living room.

Apart from price of site, any general idea / ball park figure of cost of building such a house?


Generally, is planning permission very strict if you want to be creative with house styles?

Also hoping to build a chalet or separate living area for my mother to live with us. Would something like this add a huge cost when building? I realise these seem like really general questions but I really dont have a clue at this stage! Would be hoping to get cracking on by end of this year so we might have somewhere to live around the time of our wedding (willing to wait if needs be)


Would really appreciate any general opinions or advice on whether to build or buy? or on any other of the issues raised?

gigino

With something like 300,000 empoty houses in this little country, and much of our countryside destrooyed by one-off development / ghost estates / ribbon development, I would think that planning permission for one-off housing in green field locations would be difficult to get.

With the recession, you can buy some new properties now in parts of the country for less than the construction cost.

Rent for the next year or 2, then buy. You have nothing to lose by waiting as prices are still dropping.

muffler

If you had asked about 4 years ago whether to build or buy I would certainly have said build. But with so many cheap houses out there at the moment its probabley better value to buy.

Some people don't want the hassle of building. They prefer a turnkey option as its clean cut and usually without headaches but you most likely will not get the house you want or your "dream house". Others would prefer to design their own home and have a good input into it's construction and pride themselves on a job well done at the end of the day.

Planning will be dictated by the content of your local county development plan and if you're in a rural area you will need to demonstrate roots to the area and also a need for a house.

Building costs will vary around the country and also vary in relation to the type of house and the construction detailing necessary nowadays to comply with all building regs. I think its fairly safe to say that you would be doing extremely well to come close to €80 per sq. foot but most likely you would be looking at €100/sq. foot or more when you factor in insulation, renewables, development contributions, professional fees, ESB connection etc etc

You will need to decide yourself as to whether you want to build or buy and then engage a local architect or architectural technician to take you through the planning process if you opt to build.

Gallant_JJ

gigino wrote: »

With something like 300,000 empoty houses in this little country, and much of our countryside destrooyed by one-off development / ghost estates / ribbon development, I would think that planning permission for one-off housing in green field locations would be difficult to get.

With the recession, you can buy some new properties now in parts of the country for less than the construction cost.

Rent for the next year or 2, then buy. You have nothing to lose by waiting as prices are still dropping.

IMO planning permission hasn't really got any more difficult. It may have had for the bungalow gun merchants. Absolutely no problems with bespoke or creative design, I actually find that the planners are more willing to get involved in the process and can in most cases be very encouraging.

OP, it may be worth your while getting an architect to do up an options appraisal for the sites you are looking at. A good archie will firstly be able to identify whether you meet the conditions to get planning, housing need etc, and secondly will be able to examine the sites you are considering in terms of their potential, aspect, orientation etc.

felicia2

Thanks Muffler and Gallant JJ, your comments are really informative! We do qualify for local housing need in the rural area of the sites we're interested in. The dream is to build the 'dream house', but I do realise the prices are lower on built houses now. Will keep all advice in mind and hope to build in the future if we dont find something close to the 'dream', Great to get an idea of cost per square metre as I didnt have a clue. Much appreciated advice!

Radiotower

If you want to build your own creative house then will you be happy living in a generic house thats already built for the sake of a few thousand euro? Personally I'd be wary of the workmanship but thats just me - i think i have trust issues...

terrarev

We're currently in the process of getting planning permission. We fulfill all the criteria and the planner was pretty encouraging as regards our chances of succeeding when we had the pre-planning meeting.

For us the choice between buying and building was pretty easy.
We came down on the side of building.

A lot of the houses for sale just weren't designed well. They took no account of location, solar gain etc. They were the typical bungalow bliss houses that popped up all during the boom.

We made the decision that while we could probably buy one of these cheaper than we could build, the fact is we plan on living in the house the rest of our lives so we want a well designed house that suits our needs.

Ashevlin

What would be a reasonable square ft costing for a 2000 sq ft bungalow self build in rural roscommon excluding site. Also, would the figures be much different for a 2000 sq ft dormer house.
I want the lower end figures as this will be basic with regard to finishes spec but will be built to the 2011 regulation which I guess is going to add a percentage to the cost anyway.

sydthebeat

Ashevlin wrote: »

What would be a reasonable square ft costing for a 2000 sq ft bungalow self build in rural roscommon excluding site. Also, would the figures be much different for a 2000 sq ft dormer house.
I want the lower end figures as this will be basic with regard to finishes spec but will be built to the 2011 regulation which I guess is going to add a percentage to the cost anyway.

see here for approx costs

all things being equal, a dormer is cheaper to build per sq ft than a bungalow.

BryanF

Ashevlin wrote: »

What would be a reasonable square ft costing for a 2000 sq ft bungalow self build in rural roscommon excluding site. Also, would the figures be much different for a 2000 sq ft dormer house.
I want the lower end figures as this will be basic with regard to finishes spec but will be built to the 2011 regulation which I guess is going to add a percentage to the cost anyway.

http://www.scsi.ie/publications/Downloadreport/hri2011 taking the 'rebuild costs from the SCSI, gives you a circa 260g build (all in). now you'll get people saying you can build for much cheaper. depending on finish, location etc these sort of prices are excluding any team of people working on your behalf to Manage the project. ie the m2 cost comes down relatively to the amount of time your willing to put in..

jano6

We have recently moved into our new home, after years of renting, buying and moving my husband and I finally decided to build our own home.
Be warned, building your own house is a very challenging process however the rewards far exceed the handwork. Building your own home allows you to create a house which is designed to your needs and personality. We were blessed with a good designer who took us through the process with relative ease. Looking forward to the house warming….we’re here for good this time.:)