My costings per sqm

[Water]

Hi all,

 

Thought I’d share the build costs I’ve had, I know people are always interested and they are quite different from most others on here. 
 

We are at the stage of instructing a single contractor to complete in the build in a “turnkey” fixed price contract. 
 

This is for a 120sqm detached house in the South East, 2.5 stories, on good ground to a very standard only slightly higher than a “barratt” new build spec. 
 

Build: 2200psm

Land*: 1800psm

*incs all fees, planning etc 

 

So in total it will be £4,000 per square meter. ? There was nothing particularly tricky and we did shop around for good prices. 
 

I think I’m going to go and throw up now. 

 

Edited December 17, 2019 by Water

[nod]

2200 seems very high 

 

Sorry just seen your location 

SE Labour must considerably higher than the rest of the U.K. 

Edited December 18, 2019 by nod

[Ralph]

Sorry to hear this, I know how you feel.

 

We are 150psm 2 story timber frame kit, Hardi plank cladding and metal roof in NE Scotland. Finish is good but not excessive and we're getting some prices as high as £2,500psm for the build (not including fees)

 

I firmly believe that some of the contractors came up with the prices based on what they thought the house would sell for rather than what it cost to build plus reasonable profit. Even then they were well over.

 

We've talked to a load of contractors and have finally found one that is affordable and actually capable but it took a very long time.

 

Just noticed the land price, holy sh*t!

[Bitpipe]

For turnkey, I don't think £2200/m2 is outrageous for SE England.

 

The initial QS / turnkey estimates we got for our near 400m2 build (basement, + 2.5 floors) in Berkshire was about that if not a bit more. We pulled it closer to £1500/m2 but that was by doing PM ourselves and really drilling into costings, doing some work ourselves (MVHR) etc..

 

Land costs what it costs - our plot was £700k with an existing house on it (which we lived in for 4 years prior to the build starting).

 

Flip side is property prices are much higher here so we more or less came out whole.

Edited December 18, 2019 by Bitpipe

[Mr Punter]

Perhaps you should look at what sale values are in the area and show the plans to some estate agents.  If it is worth less than £500,000 you may need to rethink.

[nod]

5 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

For turnkey, I don't think £2200/m2 is outrageous for SE England.

 

The initial QS / turnkey estimates we got for our near 400m2 build (basement, + 2.5 floors) in Berkshire was about that if not a bit more. We pulled it closer to £1500/m2 but that was by doing PM ourselves and really drilling into costings, doing some work ourselves (MVHR) etc..

 

Land costs what it costs - our plot was £700k with an existing house on it (which we lived in for 4 years prior to the build starting).

 

Flip side is property prices are much higher here so we more or less came out whole.

Yours is a prime example why when we talk about cost per m2 The land and the build always need to be split 

[Ralph]

Just now, nod said:

Yours is a prime example why when we talk about cost per m2 The land and the build always need to be split 

 Yup because mine is coming out at under £25 psm 

[MikeSharp01]

2 hours ago, Ralph said:

Yup because mine is coming out at under £25 psm 

Land we assume?

[MikeSharp01]

Just worked out our plots land cost - in Whitstable at around £400 per m2. 

[Ian]

I got our plot free (inheritance) but it had no planning permission. It's outside any settlement boundaries and in an AONB so getting PP took 2 years inc an appeal.

 

With PP the 1.5 acres of land, which is on a steeply sloping welsh hillside, is worth about £40k which works out at £7/sqm.

Edited December 18, 2019 by Ian

[Markblox]

Just to be clear are you dividing the price of the land by the size of the plot or the size of the build?  I think both are being used although tbh it's all a bit off topic as it is the build cost that is relevant here as land cost is so massively variable across the country.

[Ralph]

47 minutes ago, MikeSharp01 said:

Land we assume?

Yup

[MikeSharp01]

1 hour ago, Markblox said:

Just to be clear are you dividing the price of the land by the size of the plot or the size of the build?

Size of overal plot in our case. I guess it might make sense to use the build m2 but there are costs to the landscaping etc. Doing it on build size for our build and we get £700 ish / m2

[nod]

2 hours ago, Markblox said:

Just to be clear are you

2 hours ago, Markblox said:

Just to be clear are you dividing the price of the land by the size of the plot or the size of the build?  I think both are being used although tbh it's all a bit off topic as it is the build cost that is relevant here as land cost is so massively variable across the country.

dividing the price of the land by the size of the plot or the size of the build?  I think both are being used although tbh it's all a bit off topic as it is the build cost that is relevant here as land cost is so massively variable across the country

2 hours ago, Markblox said:

Just to be clear are you dividing the price of the land by the size of the plot or the size of the build?  I think both are being used although tbh it's all a bit off topic as it is the build cost that is relevant here as land cost is so massively variable across the country.

Not really off topic 

I was referring to a previous build cost thread 

Bit before your time on here 

I had posted that we had finally got all our costings in and for a high spec build we had come in at £830 m2 Someone suggested that we should add the land in 

I think my answer is pretty much what is written above 

Some land is I expensive or free while others are paying more than most of us are paying in build costs 

 

I would always say include the fees and connections costs 

But leave the land out of the build cost 

Though it’s great to see the two separated 

[Moonshine]

15 minutes ago, nod said:

I would always say include the fees and connections costs 

But leave the land out of the build cost 

Though it’s great to see the two separated 

 

i agree, but i think build costs should also include landscaping and driveways.

[nod]

10 minutes ago, Moonshine said:

 

i agree, but i think build costs should also include landscaping and driveways.

Sorry miss that out Good point 

mine included electric gates and 450m2 of paving also and a DG

[Bitpipe]

3 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

Just worked out our plots land cost - in Whitstable at around £400 per m2. 

 

Our plot is 1/2 acre so just over 2000m2, makes the price we paid £341/m2 and as it had mains sewage, water, electric, gas & BT plus established in / out access (and a habitable 3 bed house to boot) then I guess it was a bargain

 

It's a rectangular ish plot (27m wide at front and 17m at rear, 100m long) when we positioned the house we maintained a 6-7m gap down one side from one of the access splays to enable potential development at the rear (if planning was ever granted). Back half of the garden is a bit of a wildlife wilderness  

 

[Markblox]

34 minutes ago, nod said:

Not really off topic 

I was referring to a previous build cost thread 

Bit before your time on here 

I had posted that we had finally got all our costings in and for a high spec build we had come in at £830 m2 Someone suggested that we should add the land in 

I think my answer is pretty much what is written above 

Some land is I expensive or free while others are paying more than most of us are paying in build costs 

 

I would always say include the fees and connections costs 

But leave the land out of the build cost 

Though it’s great to see the two separated 

And I was referring to the original poster, who is also a bit after your time on here (does it matter?)

He separated the two costs, I presume to make sense of costs, as land costs are much more variable across the country than build costs.

£830, very impressive.

[nod]

Just now, Markblox said:

And I was referring to the original poster, who is also a bit after your time on here (does it matter?)

He separated the two costs, I presume to make sense of costs, as land costs are much more variable across the country than build costs.

£830, very impressive.

Of course it doesn’t matter 

It was a long protracted thread 

Asking cost per build how much work had been put in by each self builder and also the spec of each house 

A very useful thread 

Im sure one of the mods could put it back up as there are quite a few newbies sonde it was started 

[Markblox]

5 minutes ago, nod said:

 

It was a long protracted thread 

 

I'm a bit confused, this thread is only 17Hrs old and is one page.  Never mind, lets move on.  It's not important. 

[MikeSharp01]

Do we need to make it longer? 

[SuperJohnG]

I'd just like to chime in a little. 

 

IMHO. Cost per m2 should be build only, not land, utilities, or landscaping. These are too highly variable. 

 

For example...I am 3.25/m2 for the land...but my utilities will cost the best part of 40k for electricity (3 fields, 5 poles and my own transformer) and water (new borehole). 

 

But the house...I am aiming for will  be 1200/m2. It will be to a medium standard with me doing technical tasks like MVHR, ASHP all plumbing and heating. 

 

Its has to be build only for me as this is what we can accurately  judge on. 

 

If you quote a per/m2 figure with a standard of finish and level of input and location then it helps add context.to compare with others. The table in the homebuilding and renovating mag works well I beleive

[LA3222]

7 hours ago, SuperJohnG said:

IMHO. Cost per m2 should be build only, not land, utilities, or landscaping. These are too highly variable. 

I cant but help think that the obvious is being missed here.  The entire build is highly variable so you simply cannot use the per m2 costing and compare them.

 

Build cost variables:

 

Labour cost

How much work done yourself

Standard of finish

 

 

That is just three variables which can have a massive impact on the per m2 cost.  It is a bit false for people to strip out the parts which skew the all up cost, such as land etc and go 'ta da' my per m2 cost is .......

 

Every single element of expense associated with self building is highly variable - even getting TF etc from big companies the prices variations are wild!

 

It is simply impossible to compare apples with apples in this arena, unless someone is doing exactly the same house and finish as yourself.

 

Now, the per m2 analysis is a useful exercise and does have value in helping potential self builders to get a flavour of what costings need to be accounted for and ballpark figures of whey they may expect them to be, therefore helping to establish initial budgets etc.

 

Just my opinion?‍♂️

Edited January 24, 2020 by LA3222

[SteamyTea]

43 minutes ago, LA3222 said:

The entire build is highly variable so you simply cannot use the per m2 costing and compare them.

 

Gets even worse when you compare different sized buildings.

Even if you forget about the price of the land, building a small house, compared to a medium sized one, will be more expensive per square meter because of the fixed costs i.e. you cannot have half a sewer, half a kitchen or bathroom.

 

Edited January 24, 2020 by SteamyTea

[Gone West]

1 hour ago, LA3222 said:

The entire build is highly variable so you simply cannot use the per m2 costing and compare them.

Exactly right. I had quotes for a staircase that varied between £3000 and 30000.