Cost per sq ft

LolaLouise

Can anyone give me a realistic idea as to how much new builds are costing these days? Is it still roughly €100 per sq ft?

I am wanting to build a 2,700sq ft house...nothing fancy, nothing too intricate, cash n carry kitchen etc etc. Excluding landscape and driveways am I mad to think I will get this build for 250,000?

BryanF

LolaLouise wrote: »

Can anyone give me a realistic idea as to how much new builds are costing these days? Is it still roughly €100 per sq ft?

I am wanting to build a 2,700sq ft house...nothing fancy, nothing too intricate, cash n carry kitchen etc etc. Excluding landscape and driveways am I mad to think I will get this build for 250,000?

from recent prices ive seen, your looking at +300 (basic nothing fancy)

what do you mean by waiting to build? have you engaged an arch & have you approached a QS with a basic layout/spec (preferably before submitting planning ) for a ball park +/-20% price? (such a consultation will cost a few hundred quid and answer your queries

blast06

My spend below for 2650 sq ft 4-bed self-build ..... fully furnished and finished (except for outside painting) - have to have moved in by Aug 31st. Some specs include air to water heat pump, A3 BER (just shy of A2), 9' first floor ceilings, HRV, air tight, tailour made handpainted kitchen including granite worktop, built-in wardrobes, UFH groundfloor, garage, 1 common bathroom for 2 bedrooms plus 2 en-suites plus 1 WC, etc.
All in all am thrilled with what we will have got for starting budget .... but it has been torture.

Details Budget
Insurance under course of construction 1.7
Planning 1.2
Engineers fee + energy consultancy 2.5
Raft and site clearance 17
Blocks (labour plus blocks + Quinn lite) 14.5
Roof 35.5
Plumbing (incl bathroom fittings & heat pump) 26
Electrical 9.5
Council 3.5
Water & ESB connection 3.4
Treatment system + pipework 5.5
Kitchen and appliances 22
Tiles/carpet/timber floor 8
Insulation 10
Painting (not including outside) 4
1st and 2nd fixing carpentry (incl ceiling slabs) 10
Windows, doors + limestone cills 20
Screed 1.5
Air tight insulation 4
Wardrobes (built) 4
Stone wall 3
Driveway (804) / kerbing 3
Landscaping 3
Gates 1.5
General furniture 10
Plastering 10
Fireplace + stove 3
Stairs 3
Miscellaneous 2
Post and rail fence 1.5
HRV 6
249.8

AckwelFoley

LolaLouise wrote: »

Can anyone give me a realistic idea as to how much new builds are costing these days? Is it still roughly €100 per sq ft?

I am wanting to build a 2,700sq ft house...nothing fancy, nothing too intricate, cash n carry kitchen etc etc. Excluding landscape and driveways am I mad to think I will get this build for 250,000?

No you're not mad at all. You will need to be prudent, patient and not go mental spending when you're left with losds of money when the house is being plastered.

The make or break money is spent finishing a house

BryanF

blast06 wrote: »

My spend below for 2650 sq ft 4-bed self-build

'self-build' is an important distinction - this route is not for everyone

kkelliher

blast06 wrote: »

My spend below for 2650 sq ft 4-bed self-build ..... fully furnished and finished (except for outside painting) - have to have moved in by Aug 31st. Some specs include air to water heat pump, A3 BER (just shy of A2), 9' first floor ceilings, HRV, air tight, tailour made handpainted kitchen including granite worktop, built-in wardrobes, UFH groundfloor, garage, 1 common bathroom for 2 bedrooms plus 2 en-suites plus 1 WC, etc.
All in all am thrilled with what we will have got for starting budget .... but it has been torture.

Details Budget
Insurance under course of construction 1.7
Planning 1.2
Engineers fee + energy consultancy 2.5
Raft and site clearance 17
Blocks (labour plus blocks + Quinn lite) 14.5
Roof 35.5
Plumbing (incl bathroom fittings & heat pump) 26
Electrical 9.5
Council 3.5
Water & ESB connection 3.4
Treatment system + pipework 5.5
Kitchen and appliances 22
Tiles/carpet/timber floor 8
Insulation 10
Painting (not including outside) 4
1st and 2nd fixing carpentry (incl ceiling slabs) 10
Windows, doors + limestone cills 20
Screed 1.5
Air tight insulation 4
Wardrobes (built) 4
Stone wall 3
Driveway (804) / kerbing 3
Landscaping 3
Gates 1.5
General furniture 10
Plastering 10
Fireplace + stove 3
Stairs 3
Miscellaneous 2
Post and rail fence 1.5
HRV 6
249.8

As per normal and for clarity as you have stated self build, can you confirm if there was free labour (ie trades carried out at no cost) included in the above as the majority of people on this forum will appoint a builder and will have to pay the full going rate.

Also I assume the above does not include your planning contribution? and given some of your rates are very low can you confirm what part of the country you built in?

Sam Swarek

it depends on the spec and level of finish you are applying but €60 -€70 a square foot would be the rule of thumb. Eventhough it's the metric system that's used now and should be used going forward by people to get an accurate estimate. I'm a QS. Feel free to PM me.

Sam Swarek

BryanF wrote: »

'self-build' is an important distinction - this route is not for everyone

to save you a lot of head aches and to accurately and realistically budget for your build it would be prudent to engage a QS for the job, they know what they are talking about and will save you money in the long run. I know I may sound biased being a QS but I get phone calls every day from people who tried to do it themselves, made a complete mess of it and want me to jump in and sort out the mess for them. Don't skimp on the important thing like a good builder, experienced architect, Qs etc, its your home and its going to cost a lot of money so you may aswell do it correctly.

BryanF

Sam Swarek wrote: »

to save you a lot of head aches and to accurately and realistically budget for your build it would be prudent to engage a QS for the job,

agreed

they know what they are talking about and will save you money in the long run.

I'm not sure all of them do:

Sam Swarek wrote: »

€60 -€70 a square foot would be the rule of thumb.

OP would you mind clarifying if you will be hiring a builder to do the whole job? or whether you'll be going 'direct labour' (also known as the self-build route)

KK would you care to comment on your QS counterparts 60/70sqft costing????

Sam Swarek

BryanF wrote: »

'self-build' is an important distinction - this route is not for everyone

agreed - if going this route, maybe a site agent / foreman should be appointed to act on your behalf for the day to day stuff.

kkelliher

BryanF wrote: »

KK would you care to comment on your QS counterparts 60/70sqft costing????

Depending where it is, I would generally think this is too low. Realistically for a new build to current regs (And I work on projects throughout the Dublin region) you would need to allow a base of €100 / ft2 and work up from there.

I have recently had a refurbishment project tendered at just below €80/ft2 (excl VAT) for a 3 bedroom semi detached house refurbishment and side extension over existing garage but this excludes wardrobes, kitchen and utility units.

I don't think anything is impossible anymore but to get down into the 60/70 bracket I don't think you can do it without an element of free labour, very standard finishes, cash payments and a whole host of time spent working on every single finish to extract the most cost possible.

It is generally the case that those who build their own properties are doing so because they have a vision for what they want. In my experience this vision is generally more than the standard and therefore €100/sq2 is a more realistic budget for the majority. That said as a cost per ft2 it can mean very little if the house is not standard

blast06

A few clarifications on mine as requested....

- No free labour unfortunately and i done nothing myself other than act as project manager. Also very lucky to have a very handy guy close at hand who was available at very short notice to do many different thinks. Over half of the 2K miscellaneous went on him.
- House is 6 miles from Athlone.
- Development levy was 3.5 K (labelled under 'council).
- I agree that some of the cost seem low - particularly the plasterer. He was 7.5K. I should add that the sand was free (as for blocks) cos there was an enourmous amount of gravel cleared from the site which a quarry close-by was happy to draw away and give me sand and stone for under the raft in exchange.

I'll have a new thread up in about 3-4 weeks (all going well) with many thanks to boards.ie and many lessons learned plus a few pictures!

kkelliher

blast06 wrote: »

A few clarifications on mine as requested....

- No free labour unfortunately and i done nothing myself other than act as project manager. Also very lucky to have a very handy guy close at hand who was available at very short notice to do many different thinks. Over half of the 2K miscellaneous went on him.
- House is 6 miles from Athlone.
- Development levy was 3.5 K (labelled under 'council).
- I agree that some of the cost seem low - particularly the plasterer. He was 7.5K. I should add that the sand was free (as for blocks) cos there was an enourmous amount of gravel cleared from the site which a quarry close-by was happy to draw away and give me sand and stone for under the raft in exchange.

I'll have a new thread up in about 3-4 weeks (all going well) with many thanks to boards.ie and many lessons learned plus a few pictures!

Thanks for the clarity which does highlight some big cost implications.

(1)Council contribution is probably the lowest I have actually ever seen at 3.5K. I have a client who has just been hit with a contribution of over €20k which will clearly impact on the bottom line.

(2) Free sand and blocks

(3) it is noted that your professional fees are very low (you note you project managed yourself), with the new regs kicking in in March 2014 this will no longer be an option as you will by law need to have an Archiect/Engineer/Surveyor sign off on the project and they will have to do more site inspections than at present in order to do this

blast06

To clarify .... i mean't the sand was for free when using with the blocks - not that the blocks were free. Plus i used Quinn lite for internal leaf plus first line of blocks on internal walls.

Re the development levy - it is as it is. This is the rate associated with planning permission granted in October last year in Westmeath Co Co for a one-off house 6 miles from Athlone and within the boundaries of a small village. I guess when i post pictures in a few weeks people can judge wheter it all panned out OK but i am more than happy so far !

johndaman66

Really good contribution blast06 and I do look forward to seen your own thread and pictures. I know people differ on what they actually consider a builders finish but I'd consider fitted wardrobes and general furnishing to be additional. Absolutely no harm done in including those costs though. One can just take them out if they want to paint a clearer picture of the actual self build cost.

A few observations. Maybe I'm completely out of touch but your roofing cost to me seems very high at €35,500. I assume it is a dormer or storey and a half style house? Also, am guessing it was a pretty high end colour guaranteed slate? The plumbing, heating, water treatment and pipework seems high at a total of €31,500. Again maybe its just myself being out of touch and I guess a lot obviously depends on the grade and cost of the sanitary ware. Again a kitchen is probably something you could end up spending as much as you like on and still not be done with it.

If you were do it all over again would you? I appreciate you are obviously more knowledgeable about the whole process now after completing your build and know what to expect and may perhaps have even learned from mistakes or oversights you may have made along the way. If you were back to the same position as at the start again and taking into account the scale of the project, the associated stress/ cost over-runs etc would you go through with the project again? Also, I'd be curious to know the approximate build cost of the garage also if possible?

I'm in a position where I could acquire a site for nothing or for a very nominal value to make it all legal and above board. I have considered a self build but taking into account the additional cost versus the cost of what you'd buy for now I wouldn't be inclined to. Throw in the fact that one would need to dedicate so much time and commitment to the project....time that I certainly couldn't afford and dreaded cost over-runs and unexpected complications...they are a deal breakers. I would think the goal post may perhaps shift if you were a tradesman and able to call in favours from other tradesmen but there are opportunity costs there to consider just as there would be with getting a free site.

The flip side is I have being looking for a house for some time now and the right house is just not presenting itself. Either the area is wrong or the house itself just is too small/ needs extensive work to modernise etc. I'm not in any hurry though so will keep looking and if the right house in the right area presents itself I will pounce.

I see neighbours and relations who have gone down the self build route. Maybe its a thing with people who live in the countryside but it seems as if they do not see the wood from the trees. Its like an unhealthy obsession develops with building on your own home turf irrespective of costs or hugh amounts of heartache at the planning stage. Would I pay a premium for the privilege?...yes, the premium and additional heartache self builds seem to command?...no

blast06

Hi johndaman66 .... will be a couple of weeks before i get time to compile a detailed post. Work extremely busy plus trying to settle in an landscape outside .... plus 3 young kids !!