Cost of housebuilding

[harryd]

This may be a daft question, and I'm not expecting a precise answer, but how much would it cost, in terms of materials and labour, to build a pretty average 3-bedroom house in a middling expensive part of England, excluding plot costs, utility fees, Section 106 money, economies of scale... excluding everything, in fact, but labour and materials.

 

[finneyb]

TRy this http://www.jewson.co.uk/working-with-yo ... alculator/

 

[AndyT]

If you want a proper, quantified answer that you can adjust for yourself, you might like to look at "The Housebuilder's Bible" by Mark Brinkley - http://www.thebuildingsite.com/book-ite ... s-bible-12

I only have the seventh edition, from 2006 - I'm not planning to build a house - I just thought it looked interesting.

It's aimed at self builders who want to understand enough of the options so as to keep control of what they are building and come in within budget. It also includes a "benchmark house" - a simply designed small (112 sq metres) four bedroom house of conventional construction. In the edition I have, the benchmark house cost £70,000 for materials and labour, or £639 per sq metre.

There's probably more at Mark Brinkley's blog - http://markbrinkley.blogspot.co.uk/ .

 

[RobinBHM]

£70k doesnt sound much, The typical timber orangery we build are around £80k, although the cost per square metre is far higher than for a basic housebuild.

I think simple extensions can be done for £1000 to £1500 plus vat, so maybe that might translate into a house build.

Is section 106, the same as CIL community infrastructure levy? -around here, that can add £30k to a build price. Its good to know government encourage house building

 

[doctor Bob]

I kept my housebuild very much on track. it is a good quality build and I did the kitchen and bathroom furniture. Mine cost £1100 per meter sq.
Very easy to add the odd £20 grand here and there if you get carried away.
There is always more than the house though. I've done a third of the total again on garage, landscaping, patio area, storage etc

 

[harryd]

Thank you all for the information - very helpful, and exactly what I was looking for.

 

[powertools]

We have just gone through the process of having a house built in the garden of our previous house and could help you with our experience. You will never build a house at the prices quoted unless you are prepared to do much of the work yourself and the costs involved that have a nothing to do with the construction will shock you.
If you think i can help send me a pm.

 

[doctor Bob]

Same here, PM me by all means. You will not regret doing it.

 

[powertools]

I kept my housebuild very much on track. it is a good quality build and I did the kitchen and bathroom furniture. Mine cost £1100 per meter sq.
Very easy to add the odd £20 grand here and there if you get carried away.
There is always more than the house though. I've done a third of the total again on garage, landscaping, patio area, storage etc

If you have taken in all the costs that have nothing to do with the build but add to the price it is amazing that you came in at your costing per sq mt.

 

[Friedrich]

Simple answer= too much variables..and how much of it you are doing yourself?
just for foundation/shell/insulation/roof/windows/outside if you are doing EVERYTHING YOURSELF and just pay for materials you can do that for as little as 20-25k ,
than comes the expensive part= finishing the inside to a standard you want+ hooking up heat/water/communications .However again if you are smart you can cut your costs very very very well with this one,just depends what you want..all the furniture/stairs/windows In my house I have made myself so it really hasn't cost anything except materials.

I suggest building a Passive house (not with all the solar panel gimmicks but proper ones like they build them in Norway)
Well executed Plan will save you Massive amounts in the building process and after you start living in there.


You can do it for as little and as much as you want to spend...
Calculate your costs and than add another 30% to that = that's how much it will cost you The small things which you didn't even thought about will end up costing you the most

I have built my own house where 95% of the labor has been only mine and the part you will hate the most is all the planing stuff and wasting all the money paying useless people who do nothing just to get a stamp.
I have no idea about labor costs, however they can be 2x of what your material costs are if you aren't the smartest guy on the block and get a bad deal, again = Depends!
However I guarantee that all the Fees + Labor costs will cost you way way more than the materials to build the house.

There is no online calculator to provide a simple/fast answer.
Start drawing up your plans and calculate yourself based on what you want, no1 can really answer this.