Building your own house

[The Moose]

So, who's built their own house.

Wondering what the cost of a modest 4 bed property to build would be (I'm aware this is probably a bit of how long is a piece of string) in the south east (assuming nothing but land exists)

Cheers

The Moose

[Jasandjules]

As you say, it is how long is a piece of string - it will fall to what you want done.

However, the hardest part will be finding a plot of land for a reasonable cost (unless you already have some) which can get permission.

[Gav147]

Have a look at this guide, will give you a rough idea of the cost per m2 of a building one : Click.

It is a bit of a how long is a piece of string question but that will give you an idea, hth.

[mrmaggit]

I've never actually built a house, but I've been involved in literally hundreds of self-builds, although most are actually "self-managed".

As far as cost goes, budget £1-1.5k per square metre, and add 25%.

Change your mind when it's on paper, not under construction. Spend your money on the shell, you can change kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms later. Most self-builds contain better spec materials (although there are some complete horrors out there) and most have some unusual feature or more, which I think makes them more interesting.

Get all the agreements/conditions of the local planners in writing BEFORE YOU START, I had one poor woman practically driven to a breakdown because the local planner wanted stuff she didn't; in the end she ended up with the dream house the planner always wanted! And the planner wouldn't even let her have a kitchen with a window in it!

Luckily tales like that are relatively rare, but be warned!

[paul.deitch]

Just done it in Germany. Three beds and a room in the roof. Fairly stressful in another language and with all the normal problems that you get. Although we had no catastrophies, until now! 10m x 9.5m with cellar and big room in the 45 degree roof cost 255k euros, excluding land, utilities, street connection charges, driveway, paths, landscaping, garage. Probably another 30k to go to finish up.

[The Moose]

paul.deitch said:

Just done it in Germany. Three beds and a room in the roof. Fairly stressful in another language and with all the normal problems that you get. Although we had no catastrophies, until now! 10m x 9.5m with cellar and big room in the 45 degree roof cost 255k euros, excluding land, utilities, street connection charges, driveway, paths, landscaping, garage. Probably another 30k to go to finish up.

So, 285k euros. How much did you expect it to cost initially? What catastrophe have you got now then?!

mrmaggit - is £1,500 a sq m on the high side? Or is that realistic? If it's that much, an average house has got to cost circa £250k to build? That's gotta be on the high side, no? Please don't see this as me challenging what you're saying/your experience - just really trying to work out if it is even worth proceeding down this path!

Cheers

The Moose

[paul.deitch]

The "until now" bit is only a reflection of my cautiousness. So far only minor irritating problems which meant I withheld significant amounts on the stage payments until the problems were fixed. I also had some help in that the daughter of a friend is a lawyer for one of the biggest legal firms in Germany and the contract length she provided stunned them, but they signed.

On the matter of cost, I did my homework pretty thoroughly before committing. Of course we ended up installing extras like electric blinds on every window, but I think it will come in about 5/8k over, as we also took out several things as our ideas changed and I did the flooring and the decorating.

You can see what we got up to here: http://tlp4u.info/hbp/
I haven't put up any photos since Xmas as I was too busy finishing up till a couple of weeks ago and since then I decided to RELAX! However the rest will go up "soon".
Good luck if you do decide to go ahead, it is stressful, but as long as you have really thought through your needs and your financing/budget is realistic it is worthwhile.

ETA forgot to say that I managed to get the TVR in shot here http://tlp4u.info/hbp/photos/2010_06_10/IMG_4522.J...

Edited by paul.deitch on Sunday 3rd April 22:30

[Globs]

I'd budget for £200k with another 50-100 for contingencies.
The land may be your stumbling block, then the sts at planning.

[LivingTheDream]

I investigated this a few years back as we wanted to build. I ended up budgeting (for a 4 bed timber framed home of about 2000 sq ft) £200k plus £50k contingency. Plus the land cost.

I also fully expected that figure to vary depending on the finish we chose.

The land was the stumbling block though - finding a decent plot around us was near impossible - the only ones that did come up were small and very expensive.

[RWA441]

We did it a couple of years ago. Still got an en-suite left to do!!
I had the shell put up and then did most work myself other than plastering. (I'm a qualified electrician)
Got a few good friends/contacts for things such as windows, plant hire, heating engineer etc so called in some favours owed!
The footprint of the bungalow is approx 180 sqm plus a detatched garage of about 6 x 4.5m.
We managed to get to where we are now for about 90k.
Bit of a crap blog we tried to do here -
http://www.rhysandang.com/
You have to go right to the bottom of the page then to older posts to get to the start of the build and I'll update it tonight with the completed pics! We've been in the house for about 18months now.

[rednotdead]

paul.deitch said:

You can see what we got up to here: http://tlp4u.info/hbp/
I haven't put up any photos since Xmas as I was too busy finishing up till a couple of weeks ago and since then I decided to RELAX! However the rest will go up "soon".
Good luck if you do decide to go ahead, it is stressful, but as long as you have really thought through your needs and your financing/budget is realistic it is worthwhile.

I like that. I also know the area too - I lived on Bielefelder Str in Sennelager for several years.