Buying Land

redsquirrel_3

nadnad..

When we asked a builder for our build cost we were told £75,000 was about average for a 3 bed chalet bungalow. He said it costs about £3000 for hooking up central heating.

I am a little worried that you say electricity connecting, water connection etc - i would have assumed these come in with the build price?

Treacle_2-2

Thanks nadnad - just the sort of info I was looking for. Thanks to the rest of you too! I do know what I want but also trying to be realistic! I'd been thinking mobile home as a temporary solution. I know an old couple in their 80's who have been living in their mobile home for years - they've just received the go-ahead and are getting on with it now - that's dedication for you! I'm very aware, like you say, that it requires a hell of a lot of dedication which wouldn't be easy without someone to share it with. I've always wanted to take a step back and be in a rural situation, though whilst I haven't found the right person to do it with, my life in the meantime is very full and social. Something would have to give and I'm in the process of weighing everything up!

nadnad

no the builder won't have quoted you for the connection charges - he will be talking pure building work. Connection charges are paid separately to the Electricity and water provider, also if you are to be connected to mains gas you have to pay for that. Another thing to think of - is your builder contracting i.e. is he quoting for the house to be finished i.e. plumbing, electricians etc - it doesn't sound quite expensive enough for all that - especially as he has specified the central heating separately. Our builder is our main contractor and is sub-contracting to the other tradesmen - like I said NI is a lot cheaper than elsewhere - hence we get the whole lot for £85K.

If your builder is quoting for pure building work then you need to get quotes for:
Electrician, Plumber, Plasterer, etc etc. Have you found out if you are to supply the materials? That could be an added cost. There is a difference between a true "self-build" and getting a contractor - a "self-build" is usually when the homeowner is the "project manager" - this means you have to employ all tradesmen individually, and a lot of the time supply all the materials they require, it means that you have to make sure they are on site when they should be. Its a lot of hard work and I think that this should not be undertaken unless you know what you are doing. Now people will say that you can save up to 15% if you are the project manager and do the above - but I think from what I've seen that unless you know what you are doing then the costs will rise above what they would be with a main contractor. If you don't know what you are doing then the likelyhood is that loads will go wrong costing you time and money.

We cannot "self build" as we both have full time jobs and are based 40 miles away from where our site is - we also don't feel confident enough. Our main contractor has quoted £85K although not everthing is passed yet so that is not a complete breakdown - when we get everything finalised I will get at least 3 full quotes choose the best and agree a fixed price - i.e. if anything goes wrong/takes longer etc then the buck stops with my contractor and I pay no more than we agreed.

nadnad

Another thought - your kitchen/bathroom(s), tiles, paint, flooring, etc won't be included in that price - you need to ask your builder exactly what he is quoting for - is he even including carpentry i.e. doors, skirting etc?

Doozergirl

Really interesting reading, nadnad, thank you for posting this.

redsquirrel_3

nadnad wrote:

Another thought - your kitchen/bathroom(s), tiles, paint, flooring, etc won't be included in that price - you need to ask your builder exactly what he is quoting for - is he even including carpentry i.e. doors, skirting etc?

im pretty sure when we asked for a quote most of them said up to decerating stage.. and that that included kitchen/bathroom etc.

When i find out if we get planning permission ill get back in touch with them.

As far as I know, the house next door is insured for £80,000 (in the case it needed to be rebuilt because of fire etc) and ours would be of simular size.