Preliminary Build Costs

jiminho

Hi folks

In a bidding war on a site and I’m getting close to my budget. Just wanting to get ideas/ballpark costs for preliminary self build costs from site purchase up to approvals of planning permission. Thinking the following:

1) Stamp duty

2) Legal fees

3) Survey

4) Percolation/test pit - Don’t think I’ll need this as the site is in an urban built up area

5) Architect/design fees

6) Planning submission cost

5 and 6 are probably the two I don’t have too much familiarity with. Haven’t reached out to architects yet as I want the site procured first but any thoughts on ball park costs for an approx. 180m2 standard box design house? Any other items I’m missing aswell?

mike_2009

Most Architects split their fees up into 4 stages, prelim layout, planning application & drawings, building drawings, Construction stage supervising etc. You'll be paying for stages 1 & 2 with regard to points 5 & 6. Regarding fees, if you get a full architect they usually charge a % of the total expect project cost - 11-13% in that range. An Architectural Technician might be persuaded to do a fixed price deal for the initial design and planning submission and be more affordable. If you have some thoughts to help / a rough design to start off all the better.

Normally I'd buy a site subject to planning permission so you're not left with a site you can't build on if that can be arrange with the seller? Assume there's no planning already so have you met with the local planners / read the county development plan and fancy your odds?!!

You will need public liability insurance on the land after purchasing before building / get a self build insurance package but they require work to be done on the site regularly or it lapses (cutting trees / clearing it etc all counts until construction proper starts), check T&Cs

I would request a copy of all the service maps for the site to determine any access / service issues - in my case nothing was where it said it was!

Best of luck!

jiminho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119816653#Comment_119816653

Thanks for the response. The site is in a built up residential area which is zoned for housing so not worried about the ability to build a house in principal, more so what kind of house I can build. Have a general idea what I’d like to build and have created a hand sketch. What do you think the cost would be for stages 1 and 2 as you mentioned?

mike_2009

Depends on the Architect!! Mine was 5.5K for each stage with Assigned Certifier / Assigned Designer extras on the final stage so headed for 28K and that's 3 years ago now. Plus need BER assessor & air tightness testing x3 on top (1.5K?). Nearly 30K!!

jiminho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119820674#Comment_119820674

Thanks again for the comment mike! Sounds like you built your own house. Would you know of anywhere that would have a template build cost breakdown in a spreadsheet format?

mike_2009

Any of the bank costing estimates forms is a good starting point but you're better off with your own as my view would be different to a builders and you can then map the costs over (I think tiles, they think 2nd fix etc). There is an online estimators service I got from the UK before - gave a very detailed breakdown of items, quantities and prices - might be too detailed though. And it wouldn't include professional fees etc. But maybe someone online here has one. Also try buildhub.org.uk for examples - another great resource.

jiminho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119886620#Comment_119886620

thanks again Mike. Last question and that’ll be it for now. How much did you budget/spend for preliminary costs up to approval of mortgage ie how much do I need after procurement of the site before I can tie wrap it all in to a mortgage? I’ll probably have just less than 20k after the site cost so I’m wondering if that’ll do solicitor, stamp duty, design fees to planning, etc.

mike_2009

You can get preliminary approval for a mortgage to test the waters if you go the standard route = your build budget, that way you don't have to submit build costings. Preliminary costs for me were:

Realign/New Driveway: €7.2k

Estate Agent: €2.4K

Solicitor: €756 (dealing with a boundary issue)

Surveyor: €650 + VAT (330 + 400 + VAT for subsequent folios I required in my case)

Architect: I paid €7K + VAT for the first 3 stages - the first two take you to planning, the third is for construction drawings. Final stage was 7K + 6.3K + VAT for PSDP/assigned certifier and BER certs. Depends who you employ. This was a fixed price at least.

Move Shed: €600

House Deep Clean: €250

New Shed on site: €2000

Skips/waste removal prep - as much as you like! €350 for a grab truck hire - 20T is good value here vs skips

Site Insurance - when you buy you'll need public liability, buy subject to planning if you can. Budget €2K for this.

Some of this is a little beyond planning but gives you an idea....