Cost of a new build in northern ireland

finally found a good forum thread on selfbuild!!! have been looking for a couple of days (ish).

thanks!:beer:

now, just need a bit of land and a good architect, oh and the money!:j

One Word for your house .... WOW!!!!:T

I am hoping to build this year although I haven't put own house on the market yet as its so poor.

Can anyone give me an idea as to cost of 250m2 house with standard spec excluding electrical/plumbing work which I plan to pay seperate (family friends).

I am hoping sale of my own house will cover build cost.

Thanks

John

Many thanks for that polpoo.

Would you recommend project managing the build myself or getting a builder to do it?

Agree with above. Unless you know, what you are doing, have experience in the building industry, and free time think twice before you try it.

You have safety on the site, insurance, co-ordinating a workforce that you probably do not know, ordering materials, equipment, service connections etc. It will be a steep learning curve. To take a very simple example of the sort of problems: will you be employing the trades on time or on a price for the job? If it is time what incentive to finish promptly? If on the job what is included? Do you provide power and attendance, who clears up ................? All it takes is one bad trade to make your life misery. Unlike a Contractor you probably have no experience of working with them and will be unlikely to be a source of future work. If anything goes wrong on site, say high winds blowing over gables or theft, you are responsible and suffer the loss.

Before you venture on that course consider obtaining tenders. For that you will need a good set of tender documents. They are in your interest and will probably save you money in the long run. The process of producing them also forces you to think of your requirements in advance. This also is beneficial. The more you remove uncertainty the better.

In the current economic climate you may obtain competitive quotes. Beware extremely low tenders. Check thoroughly before accepting. It is not just a matter of ensuring tenders add up, but analysing the rates and how the costs are distributed. You don't want to see high rates for the initial work and low rates on the finishing trades! Avoiding a contractor who runs into financial difficulty is currently an important consideration.

You could also tender out the construction of the shell of the building and try and co-ordinate the internal work and services. If you do try this make sure that you allow for all incoming services in the first part. Accurate location of toilet wastes, incoming electrical, water, etc.You will still find this a challenge, but much of the stress can be reduced if you allow plenty of time and thoroughly check the work of each trade each day. Like Polpoo I also would tend towards employing a builder with a good local reputation. I have seen some people build amazingly good houses using direct labour, but also ones who should never have tried in the first place. A realistic assessment of your own abilities, contacts and skills are required.