Average time taken to build a house

Rufus50

Hi all

Appreciate this may be hard to answer with unknowns etc but if we started building start of June what would the earliest we could get a builder to have us in for? Story and half house at approx 2300 sq feet.

Main reason I'm asking is to try and be in before my wife would give birth.

Could we get in for December?

Cheers for any advice and answers
Rufus

mike_2009

Two things come to mind:
build method
finding a builder

The build method - if you go for a factory built house (timber frame, sip) or something precast onsite like ICF you'll compress the structural build time but note a factory build has a lead time of 8-12 weeks. 1st/2nd fix is the same as any other house.

Finding a builder and a price you can afford, that's another matter, depends on area of Ireland I guess, they're getting busier so until the ink on the contract is signed I wouldn't count on anything.

Could it be done by December, possibly but I'm not speaking from experience, all the TV shows indicate it takes longer and costs more! Imagine the following triangle - Good, Quick, Cheap - then pick any two, but only two! That's what I've been told anyway.

If you've the money one of those German factory built houses would definitely get you in on time!

BarneyMc

It's possible but you'll have no slippage time and you'll need the date put into a contract in my opinion. If you want to have time to make key decisions and allow for tradesmen not turning up etc. then you'll need longer. Is it that important to move before the birth?

Calahonda52

Way too tight: you don't need to be managing two lots of labour: what happens if Junior decides to arrive early to check the paint colour in the room: Our youngest arrived 10 week early..
the project would create more stress on you all.....

893bet

Possible. You would need to write a date into the contract with penalties I'd assume. Builder would charge accordingly for the risk as he would need to pay his contractors more to have them make them selves available at short notice.

Do you really want to be moving house the weeks before your wife is due (of course assuming she goes full term).

Rufus50

Thanks for all replies folks

We are currently living in an upstairs apartment and will be moving into my wife's parents house while house is being built. This is a great option to have to save us paying rent on top of a mortgage but we would love to be bringing our baby back to our own house. That is main reason really.
Appreciate all the advice

BarneyMc

Rufus50 wrote: »

Thanks for all replies folks

We are currently living in an upstairs apartment and will be moving into my wife's parents house while house is being built. This is a great option to have to save us paying rent on top of a mortgage but we would love to be bringing our baby back to our own house. That is main reason really.
Appreciate all the advice

I wouldn't rush a build just for that. Better to have a quality built and finished house that your baby can move into. Also, you may want to have all the painting etc. done before you bring the new born in... will this all be done before December? Highly unlikely in my opinion and experience. Take your time and get it right. That's what your baby will really appreciate some day!

BryanF

where you are at the moment in terms of construction drawings and tendering to builders?

shooter69

I did it in six months to the day (foundations excluded - they were poured before this) used closed panel timber frame and house was up in 4 days and weather tight in 10 . Obviously all the planning and appointing of contractors was in place before and it was 2010 so there was no problem with sequencing trades - they were all ready and hadn't a huge amount on . I pm'd the project myself and had an engineer on site through the process and he signed off .

Rufus50

We are only at submission of planning permission to be honest. This is a best case scenario where planning goes without any hiccups and we get to start building in June. Not sure how free builders will be around then but we cannot send plans to builders until we get our planning permission. We are just trying to work out timings for adding to our family etc and what will suit us best. Alot of unknowns I know but wanted to see peoples opinions and advice from experience on time to build.

Last thing we want to do is rush it and not get the best quality but we have hear of houses built in 5 months. We actually saw one built in 5 months in room to improve last week so this is what I was wondering.

Great to heat differing opinions from people on the matter.

Victor

Rufus50 wrote: »

Main reason I'm asking is to try and be in before my wife would give birth.

Could we get in for December?

Is your wife actually pregnant yet? 19/02/2017 plus 270 days = 16/11/2017

A house could be built in 10 weeks, perhaps a little more for the larger house you are looking at. However, you would need to go the contractor route, not self-build. You could short-cut the start date by progressing the construction drawings and contract documents before you get planning permission.

Rufus50

No my wife is not pregnant yet and hence why we are trying to plan a possible lead time for our new build to coincide with our addition to our family. We are in a great position so all good but we still are trying to plan best time for all concerned. We hope, all going well, to start our family Nov-Jan timeframe. No later really so hence why we want to see when we could be in for if we started to build in June. Realise there is alot of unknowns etc and hard to say for sure so really appreciate everyone's input.

Victor

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I humbly submit that you go the contractor route and keep the wife away from the site and contractor.

BarneyMc

Very tight schedule on both fronts. Good luck with both planning applications!

B-D-P--

Although its being said you can do it in that time frame,
The guys who did probably have done months of research before first block was laid.

If you go ahead and dive into it now, even with contractor, theres going to be a crazy amount of "If Onlys".

If only I spent more time thinking about heating,
If only I spent more time thinking about kitchen,
If only I spent more time thinking about ensuits or walk in wardrobes.

There so so many things that you really need to think about and look at how others did it before pouring foundation, even if its being contracted out.

And with such a rushed timeframe, there is no guarantee the build will be done of good quality, thats the last thing you want.

In my opinion, a house is too much money to spend without due thought process.

pwurple

New favourite thread! ... Wife not pregnant. Want house built at particular time so as to impregnate on schedule?  Love it! Looking forward to updates. 

btw, Go ahead and send out to tender. We got our planning done, and once the builders and engineers came back we had to reapply for changes based on what was actually feasible (architect was slightly overambitious!)

Rufus50

We have a good bit of work done on it. We have plans and model of house fully done. We have been to planners for pre planning meeting and nothing stood out for them. We have our kitchen plans designed also. We know there is alot to do still but I feel its a very valid question asking about a time frame when we are hoping to start a family and would be staying with my wifes parents when our child, please God, comes back to our home.

Not sure how this is ridiculous to be planning out. People plan out when they start a family. It may not always work out that way but it can and does. We own the site and have done a lot of work with plans so no harm in seeing how long a build would take, on average, to plan our family. Don't see how this is so mind blowing!!!:p Alot of unknowns as I say but better being prepared with some sort of time frames with build.

BryanF

If arch put in plans tomorrow morning
Planning 2/4 validation (+8weeks = 12weeks to final grant)
2weeks commencement
Assumes 6weeks tender drawings & 3/4weeks tender process happens during planning

Mid June?
Finished in Dec?

Imo you will pay for the stress you put in all parties involved, whether that's financially or emotionally..

BarneyMc

I don't want to get too personal but the baby bit doesn't necessarily work like clockwork either. Planning one to land in December is ambitious. Either put it off until after the build or if going ahead then ADD 'some extra months' onto your build plan timings as this will certainly slow you down.

Treepole

pwurple wrote: »

New favourite thread! ... Wife not pregnant. Want house built at particular time so as to impregnate on schedule?  Love it! Looking forward to updates. 

btw, Go ahead and send out to tender.

What is going out to tender? The build or the impregnation?