Cost of a new build in northern ireland

laveylady

Hi all
I'd appreciate a bit of guidance, as the NI self build concept is new to me as I've moved here from SE England ( you'd need to win the euro millions to afford a plot in Sussex!)

I've seen a number of properties where the builder / developer has got the property built, electrics in, heating etc (seen it advertised as builders finish).

How much should I budget for kitchen, bathroom, flooring (wood/ tile),fireplace, stoves etc I appreciate this is a bit like how long is a piece of string as the quality can vary. I'm thinking mid range. The size of property is approx 3000sq ft

Any info would be much appreciated as it gives me an indicator as to what level of starting offer I should make to cover the additional costs

thanks

27brookfield

We have applied for planning permission for a 2000 sq.ft bungalow + garage. Two questions:
a) we have set a budget of 180k + 10% if we have to; will this allow for bathrooms and kitchen fittings?
b) tips for selecting a builder will be most welcome!

A.L.D.A

LongTallTexan wrote: »

I have a site and planning permission for a new 2-storey house (3 beds) + garage. The walls will be plaster rendered with a slate roof, septic tank, no nooks and crannies or dormer windows - pretty standard stuff. I intend to employ a builder. I don't need a 5 star build but neither do I want a housing estate standard build, something in between by a trustworthy builder. What price can I expect to pay ? From I have read above £55/sq ft is likely to be dodgy but £75/sq ft seems over the top. Does £60 - £65/sq ft at current prices seem reasonable ?

Sorry re delay, been very busy lately. Seems reasonable to me. Always allow something in reserve, there will be extras or changes that you decide during construction.

I am more and more convinced that choosing the right builder is more important than cost when it comes to quality of finishes. A bag of plaster costs the same no matter what the skill of the person applying it is, and bad tradesmen can often charge the same, or more, than good tradesmen.

The worry with very low tenders is the increased risk of the builder becoming insolvent during construction. The cost, and inconvenience, of unravelling that can be considerable.

EDIT

I am assuming that your site is average ie good bearing for foundations, services available nearby etc.

A.L.D.A

27brookfield wrote: »

We have applied for planning permission for a 2000 sq.ft bungalow + garage. Two questions:
a) we have set a budget of 180k + 10% if we have to; will this allow for bathrooms and kitchen fittings?
b) tips for selecting a builder will be most welcome!

Surely you should ask the person who drew the house and submitted the application? He or she would have a better idea as they would know the site. Budget seems adequate.

Selecting a builder,

1. Check if he has carried out similar work recently.
2. Ask for references and check them.
3. Check he is adequately insured.
4. Check if he is a member of the NHBC or similar and can issue a warranty on completion. Will the building Society Accept it? How much does it cost?
5. Tender with specifications, proper drawings, schedule of works and proper contract.
6. Check who his subcontractors will be.
7. Pick people who you are comfortable with.

REMEMBER never pay for work or materials in advance! Also try and ensure that all the work is under the main Contractor's Contract. Having people employed directly by yourself on site does increase the potential for problems.

rrobbo

Slight tangent. Wife has a small plot in the Mournes that she inherited from her dad. 4 acres with 3 room cottage and stone outbuilding. Cottage was last lived in back in the 50's, has no utilities and isn't habitable right now (roof giving way in parts, doors and windows boarded up). Cottage is about 150 feet down a narrow laneway (where water and electric connection will be).

Wife will never sell due to emotional attachment but would like to do something productive with it. Options would likely be to restore/extend existing cottage or go for replacement. I think that any restoration will be VAT free as the cottage has been derelict for such a long time but I'm not sure if that applies to any extension done at the same time. Current cottage has 3 roughly 12 feet square rooms and has traditional thick walls that seem sound from my (uneducated) view. We'd probably need to double the footprint and/or add a half storey in roof space to create a usable space. A further option would be just to restore as is and create a one bedroom character cottage but I'm concerned that some of the fixed overheads (electric/water/septic/etc) may make this unfeasible interms of the value of what we'll be left with.

We'd prefer to keep some of the heritage of the original building (even though we'd likely modify it quite a bit) but it often looks as though it's be more economical to build from scratch.

I'll need to work out what the potential income is for holiday or long-term rental for any of the options but we'd be happy to pretty much just break even so that there's something to hand over to the kids in years to come.

Anybody had any experience of a similar situation and priced up alternatives for restoration against new build. Assuming four solid walls with about 450 square feet what should we aim at for plumbing, wiring, roof, windows (3), door and whatever is likely to be needed to bring up to modern standards? Any idea of water and electric being added 150 feet from nearest connection? What price for each additional room of similar size (150 square feetish)? And if anyone has a rough idea of pricing for opening up the roof space to create a half storey then that'd be great as well (bearing in mind that we need a brand new roof either way). All this is subject to planning of course and they do seem to make it easier to just go with replacement dwellings unfortunately.

Thanks for any input - beginning to research myself but thought that any initial guidance may keep me on the right lines at the start.

polpoo

Hi rrobbo
it seems to me that you might be better getting some professional advice. I think its admirable that you want to keep the existing cottage, but i would suggset adding anything to the roof will ruin its character. In my opinion i would refurbish the existing, creating 3 bedrooms and then build a new block running parallel to the original, similar in size and feel to the existing cottage, which would contain kitchen living dining utility etc. You could then link the two blocks with a glass extension.
By doing this you are preserving the original cottage and its linear plan and creating all the accommodation you would need for a hoilday let. Its also a very common traditional building form for rural dwellings. All this work should be VAT free or at worst 5%. The costs of access and bringing services to the site can only really be assessed on site and knowing the conditions. The build costs though should be easy enough to work out though once the condition of the existing cottage is determined

rrobbo

polpoo wrote: »

Hi rrobbo
it seems to me that you might be better getting some professional advice. I think its admirable that you want to keep the existing cottage, but i would suggset adding anything to the roof will ruin its character. In my opinion i would refurbish the existing, creating 3 bedrooms and then build a new block running parallel to the original, similar in size and feel to the existing cottage, which would contain kitchen living dining utility etc. You could then link the two blocks with a glass extension.
By doing this you are preserving the original cottage and its linear plan and creating all the accommodation you would need for a hoilday let. Its also a very common traditional building form for rural dwellings. All this work should be VAT free or at worst 5%. The costs of access and bringing services to the site can only really be assessed on site and knowing the conditions. The build costs though should be easy enough to work out though once the condition of the existing cottage is determined

Thanks polpoo. Yes, the parallel block with the contemporary connection is what we're thinking is most likely. We're having an informal meeting with someone from planning to get an idea of what they're likely to be happy with and we're lining up a surveyor to assess the structure that we have at the moment to make sure that it's in good enough condition to work on. When we've got an idea of what we're going to do I'll start looking at builders and getting quotes.

0302050

I have just recieved planning permission for a new build in County Armagh. I have a rough idea on cost but thats what it is rough.

I am edging towards self building as my job is local to the site and I can nip on/off site. I think I will get quotes though to give me an idea. I have family electrician and I am a grafter.

I am looking for recommendations on builders, cost etc. This will be my home for hopefully 50 years so will be high specification. The one of parts are the large barn section whihc is going to be a zinc roof and the glazing is bespoke aswell. Any recommednadtions for these would be great.

Also anyone know how to upload a photo to this?

motorguy

0302050 wrote: »

I have just recieved planning permission for a new build in County Armagh. I have a rough idea on cost but thats what it is rough.

I am edging towards self building as my job is local to the site and I can nip on/off site. I think I will get quotes though to give me an idea. I have family electrician and I am a grafter.

I am looking for recommendations on builders, cost etc. This will be my home for hopefully 50 years so will be high specification. The one of parts are the large barn section whihc is going to be a zinc roof and the glazing is bespoke aswell. Any recommednadtions for these would be great.

Also anyone know how to upload a photo to this?

Budget £90 minimum a sq ft if you're going for a high spec.

Ecobuilder

0302050 wrote: »

I have just recieved planning permission for a new build in County Armagh. I have a rough idea on cost but thats what it is rough.

I am edging towards self building as my job is local to the site and I can nip on/off site. I think I will get quotes though to give me an idea. I have family electrician and I am a grafter.

I am looking for recommendations on builders, cost etc. This will be my home for hopefully 50 years so will be high specification. The one of parts are the large barn section whihc is going to be a zinc roof and the glazing is bespoke aswell. Any recommednadtions for these would be great.

Also anyone know how to upload a photo to this?

Hi there,

I work for a timberframe company who specialises in building affordable energy efficient homes.

As said before, how much a house costs is "a piece of string" question. We specialise in building a house correctly. We build he structural and thermal envelop and you self build/ contract the rest (block work, tiles,windows, internal joinery, plumbing,electrics, sanitary ware, kitchens etc). This means you have more control over you budget.

Many houses we are involved in come in at £70-80 although one or two are over that due to particular design features. We have experience in zinc roofs and large glazing areas.

In the last 5 years we have built a number of homes across the UK and Ireland which have such little heat loss that they do not need a central heating system, just a small heat source. This means that an open plan house of +3,500 sq ft with large north facing picture windows and no curtains, built at £75 per sq ft with a constant internal temp of +20 oC had a space heating bill of £350 using a 5.5 kw pellet burning room heater. A 2700 sq ft house using a 5 kw multi fuel stove last year used £130 of logs/briquettes. We have plenty more examples of how by building homes of between 1500-4500 sq ft, the heat requirement to maintain an internal temperature of 20 oC when it is -5oC outside is .5-7 k/wh repectively. All at a sensible budget with no catchs!


A