cost of building a house from start to finish

tomgaa

hey guys,

im posting this to get a ball park figure of what a 2500 sq ft house costs to build. im 25 and would love to know what to expect when i hopefully build my own place. i have a site in my head but havnt bought, if i was to buy it i would intend to build a bungalow with a basement and also an outside balcony that would cover the whole back of the house as the site is sloped.

so out side of the cost of the site what can i expect to pay from when i walk into the architects office to putting the key in the front door i.e planning, furnishing and everything that goes with.

also if you could shed some light on these areas:

is it cheaper to hire in the trades yourself to do the work and you act as the project manager or hire a contractor as it would be less hassle on you but probably alot dearer just ask this as i have family members and relations who are qualified carpenters and plumbers.

how hard is it to get a mortgage.... is it something like you have to have 10% of the mortgage your looking for in savings... outside of being in full time employment

thanks

slpower01

Your question is one of those questions that is really hard to price as it all depends on all the different trades.. materials they use.

Like if you are building it out of blocks and say one person gets them for a euro and another for 1.50 per block... that = a lot more.

Best bet is to google something like "average cost to build a house in Ireland" and have a read around as it really is a question with a billion answers.

john_cappa

read the two stickies above to get a feel for prices mate.

TonyM.

http://www.scsi.ie/news_reports/press_releases/scs_press_releases_2011/scshouserebuild2011

tomgaa

i was chattin to a lad i work with today whos in the building trade and he reckons €120k would go along way to building a reallt decent house. whats the criteria for what i asked above about the mortgage and emplyin lads in straight rather than using a contractor???

wirehairmax

120k will not build a 2500 sq ft house without corners being cut. There is no way it can be done. My brother is starting his house shortly which is 2000 sq ft. he is a carpenter and will be doing all his own roofing, slabbing, drylining, and first and second fix carpentry, we are building contractors and construction managers and would be getting as good a discount as would be going from suppliers and subbies and there is no way he is going to get out on 120k. My brother is planning to build as well insulated and efficent house as he can but its going to be extremely tight and if he gets a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom finished he'll be doing well. There definitely wont be any landscaping done except the basic and the garage is definitely on the long finger. Also his planning was granted in early 2008 and should have had substantial works complete by July 2009 to be exempt from 2007 Regs. He will have to comply with new building regulations relating to energy efficency which does add costs whether you like it or not.

wirehairmax

tomgaa wrote: »

i was chattin to a lad i work with today whos in the building trade and he reckons €120k would go along way to building a reallt decent house.

Your mate is talking through his ass BTW

gruby

Tomgaa, buy the magazine called "Build your own" many newsagents sell it... it will answer most of your questions. they print it every year

tomgaa

wirehairmax wrote: »

120k will not build a 2500 sq ft house without corners being cut. There is no way it can be done. My brother is starting his house shortly which is 2000 sq ft. he is a carpenter and will be doing all his own roofing, slabbing, drylining, and first and second fix carpentry, we are building contractors and construction managers and would be getting as good a discount as would be going from suppliers and subbies and there is no way he is going to get out on 120k. My brother is planning to build as well insulated and efficent house as he can but its going to be extremely tight and if he gets a kitchen, bedroom and bathroom finished he'll be doing well. There definitely wont be any landscaping done except the basic and the garage is definitely on the long finger. Also his planning was granted in early 2008 and should have had substantial works complete by July 2009 to be exempt from 2007 Regs. He will have to comply with new building regulations relating to energy efficency which does add costs whether you like it or not.

out of interest what will it cost him to finish, i wouldnt have a massive amount of knowledge of what it costs to build a house.
when a lad says he built hes house for €150k what exactly is he including, is that everything from architects, planning p, furnishing, landscaping garage and so on or just the finished shell of the house/??

gruby wrote: »

Tomgaa, buy the magazine called "Build your own" many newsagents sell it... it will answer most of your questions. they print it every year

cheers mate i had a look at the stickies at the top of the page and they well usefull 2

wirehairmax

Who knows what 150k will build? There are just too many variables. Design, site conditions, structure, renewables, roof, glazing, waste-water treatment(expect to vary from 5k-25k depending on soil conditions and location of site), finishes, landscaping. The list goes on and on.
I'm working on a budget for my brother at the moment. Because its so tight he needs to know exactly where he can afford to spend money and where he can save money. His own time is not being factored into the budget, neither is mine or the company's. We will be doing all the groundworks labour, with machine hire and materials being charged for only, labour for carpentry, slabbing and drylining is voluntary, we have all our own tools, scaffolding and safety equipment. Planning was already granted so he has solicitors fees for transfer of the site and handling the mortgage and he is also engaging an independent engineer for stage payments and final certification.
BTW the banks acted the complete ass with him. They did everything they could not to give him a mortgage because he is working in construction, although he has a stable work history and decent savings and his girlfriend also has a stable job. Expect a battle there if you are a young engineer !

tomgaa

wirehairmax wrote: »

Who knows what 150k will build? There are just too many variables. Design, site conditions, structure, renewables, roof, glazing, waste-water treatment(expect to vary from 5k-25k depending on soil conditions and location of site), finishes, landscaping. The list goes on and on.
I'm working on a budget for my brother at the moment. Because its so tight he needs to know exactly where he can afford to spend money and where he can save money. His own time is not being factored into the budget, neither is mine or the company's. We will be doing all the groundworks labour, with machine hire and materials being charged for only, labour for carpentry, slabbing and drylining is voluntary, we have all our own tools, scaffolding and safety equipment. Planning was already granted so he has solicitors fees for transfer of the site and handling the mortgage and he is also engaging an independent engineer for stage payments and final certification.
BTW the banks acted the complete ass with him. They did everything they could not to give him a mortgage because he is working in construction, although he has a stable work history and decent savings and his girlfriend also has a stable job. Expect a battle there if you are a young engineer !

that kind of looses me when sum1 says that they built their house for x amount and im there thinking what does that include and what doesnt it, because i would have always taught that, that didnt include architect drawings, planning permission and furnishing. ya i know what your saying as getting work is tough, i might get 3months - 1 years work and then nothing. ideally id need to be in constant employment with the same comany for min 2 years before applying for a mortgage i reckon. did your brother have to buy the site hes building on, whats the sq footage

kkelliher

the bottom line with a one off house build is that it is unique. It is not the same as your brothers, your friends, the guy in the bars, yours mans son or indeed your own son. Every house is different and therfore you cannot ad should not use an average cost per m2 as an indicite way of deciding what to built.

The variables in a house are massive and include everything from the lie of the land to the quality of the tile on the wall. The number of corners to the number of windows, the number of bathrooms to the number of fireplaces. Its endless and unless you sit down and work out what you want you cannot even attempt to cost an idea.

tomgaa

kkelliher wrote: »

the bottom line with a one off house build is that it is unique. It is not the same as your brothers, your friends, the guy in the bars, yours mans son or indeed your own son. Every house is different and therfore you cannot ad should not use an average cost per m2 as an indicite way of deciding what to built.

The variables in a house are massive and include everything from the lie of the land to the quality of the tile on the wall. The number of corners to the number of windows, the number of bathrooms to the number of fireplaces. Its endless and unless you sit down and work out what you want you cannot even attempt to cost an idea.

well what i was always thinking was having savings somewhere between 50-100k and then see what you can get from bank. or do you get your architect to draw up what you perceive to be ur "perfect" home, put it to tender and then work from there??

you surely cant go and get your house designed to find out its designed to way over what you have or can borrow

kkelliher

tomgaa wrote: »

well what i was always thinking was having savings somewhere between 50-100k and then see what you can get from bank. or do you get your architect to draw up what you perceive to be ur "perfect" home, put it to tender and then work from there??

you surely cant go and get your house designed to find out its designed to way over what you have or can borrow

Best Practice is to design your dream home, get it costed properly by a quantity surveyor who sits down with you and works through your specification. then Faint and when you have dragged yourself back up from the floor, work the design backwards to your required cost with the advise of your QS / Architect. Its alot easier to work backwards as having a design you want to spend your life in is more important than building a house to suit a budget. Majority of people will never get a chance to do it and those that do will generally only do it once, so you want to get it right.

There are so many houses for sale, if you dont build the dream property you want, you are better off just buying one.

tomgaa

kkelliher wrote: »

Best Practice is to design your dream home, get it costed properly by a quantity surveyor who sits down with you and works through your specification. then Faint and when you have dragged yourself back up from the floor, work the design backwards to your required cost with the advise of your QS / Architect. Its alot easier to work backwards as having a design you want to spend your life in is more important than building a house to suit a budget. Majority of people will never get a chance to do it and those that do will generally only do it once, so you want to get it right.

There are so many houses for sale, if you dont build the dream property you want, you are better off just buying one.

is that not cutting corners then a bit, i under stand what your saying just getting my head around the best plan of action, how hard is the mortgage side of things... whats the main criteria they look for i.e long term emplyment, savings etc.

kkelliher

tomgaa wrote: »

is that not cutting corners then a bit, i under stand what your saying just getting my head around the best plan of action, how hard is the mortgage side of things... whats the main criteria they look for i.e long term emplyment, savings etc.

I dont know what you mean by cutting corners but my post relates to reducing specifications, design layouts etc etc in order to reduce cost. I did not mean to "cut corners" in terms of regulation, build practice or general standards.

tomgaa

ok thats fair enough then