quote for new build...too pricy?

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nina

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My husband and I are building a 2800 sq. foot house and a garage. It is block build with hallmark stone finish. I t is a two story house with concrete floors upstairs.
We got a quote from a few builders and this is the cheapest, but still seems very dear to me. I'd like to hear what others think.
It is 255,000 euro but this doesn't include the following..
Clearing of site
Drainage on site
Digger hire
painting or tiling
Thermostats
doorsd, handles,frames, skirting, window boards, stairs
sanitary ware

I t is a standard house, concrete floor upstairs. There is no fancy plumbing system A pc sum of 10,000 for plumbing is included in the price.
We were3 totting up the figures and when you add in the extras it looks like it will cost us 320,000 including tiling ,kitchen and wardrobes. Lot of money!!! Any advice or is this just how costly it is?
 
sounds a bit on the high side alright......you should probably shop around,plenty of builders desperate for work at the moment.
 
a friend of mine in the South East recently built a very similar spec for about €235k. It was the only quote he got for under €260k so your one sounds ballpark. If i were you I'd get testimonials from previous jobs the builder worked on as you might get more than your money's worth going for a tidy builder
 
Well we know he is an excellent builder. Just wondering, was that price your friend built for the builder's price or what it cost him in total to build?
 
see here [broken link removed]

You mentioned standard house but having concrete first floors and stone finishes would not be normal, in fact concrete first floors add a whole new dimension (cost) to your ground floor wall construction.
 
nina said:
Well we know he is an excellent builder. Just wondering, was that price your friend built for the builder's price or what it cost him in total to build?
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Hi again, the €235k was the builders price.
The friend paid extra for the kitchen, the flooring, solar panels!, the stairs, drainage on the site, built in wardrobes.
He got the quote early last year (he's moved in a while now) but even then builders down the country were desperate for business, so €255k for a really good builder is not extortionate. Could let on you were quoted €235k but you'd give him the business if he was no more than €5k/€10k more (due to the quality of his workmanship!)
€70k for extras sounds a lot, I'd say you could trim or postpone much this. Not every room has to be done now, and do as much of the decor as you can yourself (with help from family and friends)- you'll feel more like it's your own home then. You could get a really good kitchen for much less than €15k and I guess you could spend as much a you like on tiles, etc. I've heard prices of around €1.5k per built in wardrobe. A decent driveway could be expensive
 
€10,000 for the plumbing seems ok. and as someone else has pointed out, concrete 1st floors aren't standard and change the whole build.
 
Hi,

Sounds about right to me especially with concrete floors etc - that isn't a standard house. E91.07 per sq foot for that from the prices I got seems like good value to me. People will always say that there are plenty of builders out there that are not busy - the goods ones are still kept going maybe not as mad as they used to be but good tradesmen are hard to come by and if he has good recommendations and the price seems reasonably good - go for it.

Angela59
 
why not go for direct labour? uncle of mine built his house that way a few years back,,,saved himself a small fortune. have to have a bit of building know-how though.
 
agree with starlite....if you have the patience of a saint!

ive just completed (moving in at the weekend) a 2500 sq foot old stone farmhouse (with old stone on all facades)....with plenty of added features....beautiful oak staircase, marble\porcelain tiles in kitchen, bathrooms, granite worktops, wooden sash imitiatioon windows, blue bangor roof slates, granite sills etc and i managed to do the whole lot for about 190k (excluding prof fees which were about 30k in total)...ready to move in. it is a beautiful house....i got it valued last week for 880k even in the falling market.

so as u can see above, alot to be saved and gained if you have the patience for a self build....i will admit tho it was the most stressful experience of my life but i'm sure i will forget that this weekend when i am sitting in my kitchen knowing i have a beautiful house with a very manageable mortgage.

something to consider!
 
thats it...if you have some building knowledge and the spare time to oversee the build you can save a fortune...that said though its probably not for everyone.
 
starlite68 said:
thats it...if you have some building knowledge and the spare time to oversee the build you can save a fortune...that said though its probably not for everyone.
Click to expand...


one tip for self builders, buy a pair of snickers or other work ware esp when you have to call to suppliers. you will be taken more serouisly.
 
Another option would be to hire a Project Manager to look after build.

Its kinda in between Self build and a Builder.

I am just about to start building in Galway County, and have hired my engineer to source the labour, materials, and manage build. He recokons that I will save at least twice his fee, as he can get materials cheaper and able to make sure all the build goes to planned.

I do not have much of a clue about building so total self build was not an option ... but learning quickly ...
 

I would have thought there is potential for conflict in using the engineer who certifes the work as the builder. If the work is improperly done because engineer uses poor tradesmen or materials will he put on his engineer hat, require it to be redone and have you pay for it?
 
I'd think not, tradesmen are being sourced by Engineer, but are paid directly by me. Improper work=No pay
 
thanks for all the advice guys. We have decided to hold off for a while as the mortgage is just too much for us, especially in the current climate. We have a young family and don't want to get snowed under. As for self build, i'd be divorced by the time it was built nagginag my hubby!!!!!!
 
Have just moved into our new house in the past month. It is 2,700 sq.ft, and I paid a contractor €220,000 to build it. This didn't include the following: Sanitary ware (we prefered to choose more expensive lines), kitchen, internal doors & handles (as per sanitary ware), solar panels or fireplaces.

The other marked difference is that we didn't go with the concrete 1st floor.

Looking at your price I would say grab it with both hands if you the builder & are confident in his work, and he is supplying a concrete 1st floor.

For what it is worth- you probably should have investigated the build costs before designing such a large house? If you are worried about the build cost I would seriously urge you to re-consider the entire project. The build cost is literally only part of the equation- in our case we spent €220,000 building but it has cost another €140,000 between kitchen, tiles/tiler, fireplaces, carpets/curtains/blinds, paint/painter, wardrobes, furniture, kitchen appliances/TVs etc etc etc.

By the way- this is the 3rd house which we have built- built the 1st one direct labour- A TOTAL NIGHTMARE! Unless you or someone in your immediate family is an engineer or architect DO NOT even go there or at the very least sign in to the local asylum. Many people kid themsleves into a situation where they think that it worked out cheaper but if they really sat down & were honest any savings (if there really were any) weren't worth it! I know as I was one of these people who kidded themsleves- hence why the last 2 houses were built by contractor- pass him the headache!
 
nina,

In a rural area the build cost to a builder's finish should be no more than €75 per square foot.This includes water connection, septic tank & treatment plant, esb & eircom and the lawn ready to landscape.I am an engineer myself so have planty of experience.
Does not include alternative energies like solar panels, geothermal heating etc.
The finishes cost really depends on personal taste - can be as little or as much as you like.There is a massive saving in going direct labour.

Before you start you should have a v close look at the following:
- your house should be orientated such that you achieve maximum free energy from the sun, house is protected from the prevailing wind and have as few as possible windows facing north.if you don't do this your house will be expensive to heat.
- you need to consider how the house will be insulated and how the house will be heated.A good geothermal system with ufh will cost more starting off but a large house like yours may well be worth it in the long run.
- you don't need to pick all your finishes before you start but if you have the locations of your sanitary ware sorted proir to starting it will save costly adjustments later.

The key is plenty of time planning the house will make building alot smoother and hassle free.
 


Nina, Its way too much. I just completed a 3000 square foot house for 147000 all in (builders finish level +10% additions). The spec would be way higher than what some of these contractors are trying to charge. Details of my house include hollowcore flooring on first floor.I maxed out on the insulation-BER just shy of A rating-(insulation u value .11 in floor, .15 in walls and .11 in roof) A rated windows and doors, insulated precast chimney with stove insert. I have oil fired central heating with 5 zones, a 300 liter cylinder and pipewok to allow for future and backup stove. This is included in the above price as is all electrics and footpaths and driveway kerbing and first fix carpentry. The kerbinga nd footpaths will prob not be standard with your builder.
To be honest some of these contractors would want to wake up and realise what is going on in this country. Materials prices are falling by the day. E.g current quotation on 4" block i received yesterday=40c + VAT. I remember paying 53 cent back in 2006. This is teh state of play. Another example is steel. I sourced sheets 16 x 8 sheets of A393 mesh yesterday also for €44 + VAT.
It doesnt matter what part of the country you are in I m telling you honestly that your contractor would want to be coming down at least 50K
 
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