Seren161

We completed our build 4 mths ago and we were well below the £/m2 that you are working with @Katie AG, East Kent so not too far. You have to remember that it is a process full of variables and so with a budget such as yours which seems healthy and reasonable you should be able to tweak your variables to make your self build dream come true with some careful planning and good oversight.

Getting our SB mortgage was easily the hardest and most stressful part of our build. What are the factors contributing to the high cost per square metre?

You sound like you have got a decent amount of support as well as a reasonable skill set to be getting on with it.. There isn’t any reason to be confused IMHO. The reasons you wish to self build and your personal finances, situation , risk appetite, ability to deal with challenging circumstances etc could be on a sheet of paper and help you clarify your thoughts about what will and will not work for you. Reading through this forum.. you’ll notice that the self builders are all very diverse in terms of experience, motivation, self build approach taken, reasons for self building, serial and very experienced self builders, complete newbies powering through on their own..etc but you’ll also see familiar themes in the challenges encountered. Rates will be up or down, the variable costs of labour or materials will also go up or down, there won’t often be a sweet spot to commence.. and if said sweet commencement conditions happened, they can and will change mid build.. sometimes multiple times. If you are thinking of self building just to save on the cost of your home, then yes you probably still can achieve this but you will need to do more by yourself, If you are self building because you want something that is exactly what you and your family want in the location you want.. then what are the chances of you finding this on the market and delaying it might save you some pounds but not yet met anyone who can buy back wasted time. If you want to flip the property and make a profit then possibly you have a greater challenge in the present market Self building is not easy and there will always be reasons not to do it but only you will know why you want to, if you truly want to etc and then you can move on to what can I afford and how can I make it happen within my budget..

Our two most wildly inaccurate quotes came from a professional cost estimator and a professional builder…Yet another project manager eyeballed the finished project and estimated our costs surprisingly accurately after a brief tour of the property. My point is there can still be significant differences regardless..We had multiple costings from many sources some paid for and some free “ calculators” and this informed our feasibility assessment. We went with a main contractor. 3 months post completion with all the costs calculated.. we ended up circa £1850/sqm for build costs including professional fees, investigations, planning, landscaping, light fittings, solar, ASHP, 3d renders etc.. Main exclusion to this figure: Land costs as we were a demolish and rebuild project. We are south east based but not in one of the more affluent parts of east kent.. All the variables matter.. Design, Build method, Spec, Main contractor or actual self build, Project manage yourself or not, Slope of plot and location…Serviced plot or no..So no easy answer..I found using as many costing and estimating resources as I could ( most of them free including this forum and most of them allowing me to change the variables a few times) as well as the TF companies even though we eventually went with Masonry gave us a good indication of financial feasibility.

We had nearly 14k ( 8 after the Govt grant) for a 12kW Arotherm plus.. Similar to your quote but electrics by our electrician and base built by our builder .. that was a year ago.. Difficult to know if it was overpriced..We were happy with the quality of installation etc etc

Thank you! Lots of useful advice. I hope to site it about 75cm away from the ASHP. On the same string as the ones above with a slight incline. Not sure if going for the landscape orientation will make it too close to the ASHP. Going for a structure that starts around where the green bin is will allow that but then a bit more shade will be the compromise. Current garage array is oriented about 145 degrees south east. Will be getting someone qualified to connect it all up but was hoping my OH can put up the structure and the panels to save a bit of expense.

We have an existing 5.3kWp installation consisting of about 16 Solarwatt panels on our south facing elevation and our garage roof… Having had a chance to assess our usage, we want to add about 4 panels to the string on our garage ( standard masonry construction) by adding a sturdy lean to and mounting these panels on the roof of the lean to and subsequently add battery storage to maximise our consumption. They are the Vision 325Wp ones and they weigh 22kg each and are about 1700mm by 1000mm. Wondering what we should be aware of when constructing the structure to make sure it is sturdy enough and adequate for the heavy panels and mounting system. Some of the kit lean to’s I’ve seen look flimsy, oak ones seem sturdy..but wondering if anyone can recommend or advise? TIA

@Bozza and @Conor are right. My experience was that 2 different professional cost estimating/project management companies quoted between £2100/sqm and £2800/sqm for our relatively mid range project…This was 12 mths before the build started so factor in the material increases and looked more like £2200-£2959/sqm. Real cost : planning, prelim investigations, random special requirements, improved spec , unexpected expenses and completed build..less than 1800. ..and the professional cost estimating service was the most inaccurate. An expectation of 2-£2.5k/sqm is realistic and with some careful planning you can probably come is slightly lower.

Welcome @Katie AG Really useful thread this.. I think the advice about not rushing is super important and also trying to get some individuality into your build. Fabric first approach can give the really low running costs that ease your day to day and the payoff lasts. Planning permission is sometimes not the wrestling match you anticipate so push the boat out a little and you may be pleasantly surprised especially if you are able to get a design that maximises solar gain. We built with a local builder and it was a bog standard brick and block construction. Final cost per square metre for a medium to high spec was about £1750 to £1800 so not bad, but there were definite compromises in terms of the build speed and the airtightness of the building fabric as well as the fact that when you aren’t building it yourself you are powerless to control certain aspects of the build. And this can be extremely frustrating. You will know what matters the most to you and the more research you do the clearer what you want should hopefully be. Bridging loans are only suited to very limited situations… would require very careful consideration and professional assessment of your financial situation.

Considerably cheaper than what we paid.. i The Solis inverter is Chinese and not as expensive as the German ones but by what I heard from an installer ..works perfectly fine. Seems reasonably priced ..I’d get the 7.29kWp array if finances allow. I thought DNO approval was over 10kWp? 3 phase electricity is usually expensive so worth really considering this. We were only 5.5kWp but in (sunny) Dover with a hybrid Fronius inverter ( to keep the battery option open) and 3 phase electric ..was considerably more expensive.. and still wish we went for a larger array …

I bought the electric fire, designed what I wanted, purchased all the decorative elements , handed all to builder, carefully and clearly illustrated what I wanted using photos and tasked our builder and plasterer with creating it. Will Pm an image. Fireplace companies are only happy to advise what you need ..decorative surrounds did not seem to be within their remit.

A VR walk through would give you a lot more “ feel” for the space arguably way more than you can get from room sketcher or even 3d renders..having used both and a bit of money spent on this sort of planning can yield superb results ..but at £1500 plus vat I’d say definitely nay…get a few 3d renders of the key spaces that are different in the two proposals .. costs way less..

You might be able to knock 10 percent of that quote …not sure you’d get more..

How many ..DG or TG windows?

As far as I am aware no certifying body..they go on a course and that’s it. Some installers are pretty good and happy to show you a portfolio of their work and combined with the extensive info on here..you can make an educated choice as to why you want an installer and if you do ..then the info on here gives you the means to choose one that seemingly knows how to do a good job. We had a tradesman install ours and I wish I hadn’t….despite the person “going on a course” I’d say I learned more about it on this forum than they learned on the course.