Self Build - The costs?

Plane,
170k - Incredible!! Our 2900sq ft will cost us 400k and believe me we're hot going overboard on materials, furnishings etc
 
47E per sq/f. I find that pretty unbelievable, as others have asked, could you give a breakdown so everyone else can realise where they are going wrong. With the cost of materials even a builder doing most of the work himself including blocklaying, plastering etc he would still find it hard to do it for that amount
 
I dont know why everyone is doubting the poster who said 170K. remember 5 years ago down the country you could buy a mansion for 150K. Materials and labour havent gone up that much in the meantime.
I am building at teh moment ( 1800 m2 ground floor, will have 3 rooms upsatairs) and i will be upset if it costs more than 120K. I got the site off my father and will co ordinate the works myself. It will take longer than getting a builder but im in no hurry.
I think 400K is crazy for one house ( i dont know how much the site is worth, and i suppose all prices are relative)
 
KimWilde. Yes we did use the Nudura system and the roof is a Truss roof.
Let me know if you need more information.
 
ludermor said:
I dont know why everyone is doubting the poster who said 170K. remember 5 years ago down the country you could buy a mansion for 150K. Materials and labour havent gone up that much in the meantime.
Click to expand...

Labour hasn't gone up that much?!?!? I'm afraid it has - have you tried getting a tradesman lately - how long were you waiting - how much did it cost - did they do a good job? My brother got a very small plastering job done lately - about 2ft x 4ft - waited 3months for 1 guy eventually got someone else but he charged €350! With the first lot of SSIAs maturing and the inevitable amount of people who want home improvements, it's only going to get worse! Labour HAS increased as has fuel & insurance and these have a knock on effect on ALL building costs (incl. supplies)
 
Ludemor. It depends where your building. We got quotes for a roof for our house at around 65K. and its only 2500sq ft. ELec and Mech was also astronomical...... This was after badgering about 10 - 15 people to give us a quote.!!!
Let me know if you can build a house for this and I will give you 10% commission on top and sub let it to you to do for me !!
 
Lorz
I didnt say labour hasnt increased, it has but not to justify the increases stated. If you ring any construction labour agency you will get most tradsmen for less than 30/hour plus VAT. You will have to get the materials yourself but if you are prepared to do some work yourself you will get value. If you want a self employed person to do the job then they will ( and entitled to ) charge mimimum call out/ travel. Just to say your brother had a 4ftx2ft wall to do is immaterial, he probably would have been charded the same if it was 14ftx2ft ( if it could be done in a day)

Polo1
of course your right about location and getting people to quote for you. 65k is crazy for a roof. If a subbie is busy and has loads of work on he will charge a premium, if he gets this job he is happy if he doesnt then he doesnt care. However when work is tight he will price work cheaper. There is an element of luck involved. As a lot of people get trades thru word of mouth, these people can get busy very quickly.
 
I stand by my opinion - we've researched it - OH works in the industry - plenty of contacts - plenty of "favours" owed - more than willing to do as much as we can ourselves and we'll be lucky to come out at €75 per sq ft. I presume his figure incl. kitchen, tiles, bathrooms suites, etc.

As for my brothers plasterer, he had to travel 5mins to the house each way - total time incl. leaving his house and doing the job = Less than 1 hour! Of course he's entitled to make a profit (he'd be a busy fool if he wasn't making money) and of course there is a min. charge but €350 for 1hr (incl. travelling) and no expensive equipment just a trowel seems a great business to be in!

The construction industry is so busy at the moment that contractors can charge as they please - there are an abundance of apprentices who intend going out on their own as soon as they're finished with very little experience. It's going to get more and more difficult to get good quality work done.
 
350 is excessive but surely you agreed this before he started? Its supply and demand, as i sadi when the work slows doen the prices will drop. As someone stated another post there are plenty of european workers willing to work for less. If you didnt want to pay get someone else to do it.
 
wow there seems to be a great difference on what people expect to pay
to buld their house. Our architect told us rougly 75 per sq foot to have house ready to move in! this would be say for 3100 sq foot - 232,500. We are going direct labour and hope to do alot of work ourselves. Also we will just do the first floor of the house and then finish upstairs as we go along - painitng etc. So we hope to do it for 200,000 not including furniture, kitchen etc.

Does anyone think this is unrealistic and why??
 
What stage are you at at the moment venus? I would be interested in finding out what prices the contractors have quoted, when you sent your drawings to them!

Im building a similar sized house at the moment by direct labour and was thinking of sending around some plans just to guage what the going rate per sq foot is!
 
Well Salmon we haven't given to any contractors as yet. Did you get any costs from contractors? Our architect told us 100 per sq foot for a contractor- don't know how true this is! I would say even more..

What stage are you at Salmon and how much do you think your build will cost?
 
hi folks, this is a breakdown of my self build costs - hope you find them useful - note no furniture, timber floors etc included
Demolitions & Alterations 4k
Substructure Raft26kExternal & Internal Walls48kConcrete Suspended Floors, Handrails & Stairs 17kRoof Structure & Finishes 29kInternal Doors & Joinery15kWall Finishes Externally 13kInternal Wall Plastering 19kCeiling Finishes 12kPlumbing & Heating 29kElectrical Services (€1,000 included for light fittings)6kPainting & Tiling 11kSiteworks & Drainage 22kBuilders Preliminaries, Insurances, Scaffolding, Crane Hire, Protection, Health & Safety etc32kWindows & External Doors20kKitchen & Utility Units12kSanitary Ware3kWardrobes & Built in Furniture 3kTiles (supply of only)2kFireplace2kContingency Sum 12kplus vat at 13.5%
 
Venus,

I am waiting out the 4 weeks after the planning was granted and am looking into some prices for stuff! Unfortunately the council wanted some alterations to my plans so i havent got a final draft yet to send to builders, so hopefully my engineer can send me some asap. I would hope to get the house build for around 240K and will be doing it via direct labour. I came across a spreadsheet on here a few weeks back and have altered it to suit my build and I can put up a link soon so ye can see what i estimate things will cost. I need some quotes though because i might be way off with some of my figures. The house is quite big, but I tried to design it as simple as possible! Its basically a rectangular building with a gabled roof. My brother is a carpenter and he advised me to keep the design as simple as possible and build the house a little larger if possible. I am looking forward to the whole project, but i guess there will be many heartaches along the way!!

arasain,
Thanks for posting that info! Have you built the house or are these estimates? Also how much of the work have you done yourself in the house?

All,
My brother is building a house at the moment and I might offer my services to help him on some of the jobs, to pick up a little knowhow!, what jobs would it be possible for me to pick up by helping him? The obvious ones to me might be a little tiling, putting in architrave, painting etc. Has anyone taken on a job in a self build and really regretted not getting a professional to do the job? I suppose anything I can don myself will decrease the final cost of the build, but i dont want to take on something thats too difficult!!!!!
 
Salmon,
I'm up to roof level at the moment and the costs are broadly in line with the tender.
 
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