Just for fun - build a house for £100k

[Gav_P]

So just as the title says... you have £100k (Plus £30k contingency ;)) and an existing plot (which you have pp on) to build a detached family home in 12-18 months max. 
 

What would you build? How many floors, beds, bathrooms? What materials, structure, etc?
 

Can it be done? 
 

[Declan52]

Can be done but will depend very much on your location. No chance around London but in Scotland and Northern Ireland you could do it. 

A simple square box not much more than 100sqm of a footprint with a basic finish. A 2 storey 3 bedroom, 1 main bathroom and maybe a toilet under the stairs. Brick and block would be maybe the easiest material to work with.

Much will depend on what skills you can bring to the party though. Your going to have to do a lot of work yourselves to get it under this budget.

[ProDave]

Many of us are self building for £1000 per square metre or even less if you do enough of the work, so a simple no frills 100 square metre, square, 2 storey house should be possible.

 

There was a tv program a few years back, that house that £100K built, but very few actually built a house for £100K

[Gav_P]

7 minutes ago, ProDave said:

There was a tv program a few years back, that house that £100K built, but very few actually built a house for £100K

I think that may have been what made me think about it. 
 

[Gav_P]

It’s not a real scenario, just theoretical... If you had a plot and £100k what would you do. 
 

I think I would do the whole build myself. Probably go for a timber frame, either stick or diy SIP panels. 
 

As getting out of the ground is always a very pricey bit, I wonder if building on concrete pads (A bit like doing a shed) would be quicker and cheaper. Seems to be popular in other countries, like the US. 

[Gav_P]

17 minutes ago, Declan52 said:

Can be done but will depend very much on your location. No chance around London but in Scotland and Northern Ireland you could do it.

Why do you say this? The cost of labour? 

[SteamyTea]

37 minutes ago, Gav_P said:

and an existing plot

Does it have all the 'services' i.e. water, power, road access, environmental surveys, structural 'stuff' etc etc?

 

There are some on here that have probably spent close to that before they start digging.

[Declan52]

1 minute ago, Gav_P said:

Why do you say this? The cost of labour? 

Yes labour costs would be much less here. Another thing is materials cost vary massively depending on where you are. We have easy access to sand and gravel here in northern Ireland so things like hardcore, building and plastering sand, blocks , concrete, concrete tiles, concrete lintels etc are much cheaper. 

Plus you have plastic manufacturers like Brett martin, polypipe,wavin and radius all set up here so you can get plenty of good prices with all your drainage materials. Quite a few insulation companies are also based here as well. All of these things all add up.

[joe90]

Well I married for my plot!!,!, and had to supply “the house”. We had all services as that makes it easier/cheaper which is why “bungalow gobbling” is so popular. I did a lot of my own build but at my tender age (and I wanted it finished before I pegged it) I paid a local, very good, builder to put up the shell. Bought my own JCB, dug the foundations, did all timber work, plumbing etc. What it cost me is sketchy as I am crap at keeping records but I am sure £100k would get you a long way. Had I been younger (and more broke) I probably would have done a stick build as timber is what I am good at (and have all the tools) .

[Carrerahill]

3 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Well I married for my plot!

So what I may be looking for is another woman?

[Gav_P]

6 minutes ago, joe90 said:

Well I married for my plot!!,!

So with that long term expense you were well over the £100k budget before you started!! 

[joe90]

4 minutes ago, Carrerahill said:

So what I may be looking for is another woman?

Oh no, one is more than enough.

 

1 minute ago, Gav_P said:

So with that long term expense you were well over the £100k budget before you started!! 

i could not possibly comment (as she often uses my iPad) ?‍♂️

[Gav_P]

17 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

Does it have all the 'services' i.e. water, power, road access, environmental surveys, structural 'stuff' etc etc?

 

There are some on here that have probably spent close to that before they start digging.

Yeah, assume it’s a sensible plot (Level ground without silly soil structures etc) with services to the site. And all surveys were completed as part of getting the PP sorted, so sunk costs and not in the £100k budget. 

[the_r_sole]

I wouldn't build a house as we know it... I'd build a collection of individual bits with a big covered area joining them so it can be added to if required and areas not in use don't need to be heated etc when not in use - eventually you could join them up with heated circulation, or close in the sheltered area but I reckon you could get something amazing for 100k!

[Gav_P]

This lady did it for £105k apparently..

 

https://www.self-build.co.uk/home/budget-family-home/

[Gav_P]

2 minutes ago, the_r_sole said:

I wouldn't build a house as we know it... I'd build a collection of individual bits with a big covered area joining them so it can be added to if required and areas not in use don't need to be heated etc when not in use - eventually you could join them up with heated circulation, or close in the sheltered area but I reckon you could get something amazing for 100k!

Hey, I like the idea of that.. actually thinking outside of the box! 
 

Have you seen anything like that done before? 

[the_r_sole]

Just now, Gav_P said:

Hey, I like the idea of that.. actually thinking outside of the box! 
 

Have you seen anything like that done before? 

 

I've designed it a few times for myself but never built it!

I've lived in a few places with big covered areas and i don't know why we don't do it more in scotland as it can be ok temperature wise if you can avoid the wind and rain...

[ProDave]

You could do a lot worse than build a single storey timber building within the definition of a "caravan"  Which will get you to just over 100 square metres free of building control and can be set on simple pad foundations.

[Gav_P]

5 minutes ago, ProDave said:

You could do a lot worse than build a single storey timber building within the definition of a "caravan"  Which will get you to just over 100 square metres free of building control and can be set on simple pad foundations.

100m2 caravan! Don’t they have to be on wheels or moveable or something? 

[ProDave]

They have to be moveable which includes being lifted by a crane onto a low loader. There is no requirement to be on wheels. It is accepted to just build a timber structure on pads or a concrete raft complies, as long as it has sufficient rigidity that you could lift in by crane without it self destructing.

[the_r_sole]

5 minutes ago, ProDave said:

They have to be moveable which includes being lifted by a crane onto a low loader. There is no requirement to be on wheels. It is accepted to just build a timber structure on pads or a concrete raft complies, as long as it has sufficient rigidity that you could lift in by crane without it self destructing.

 

What regs would you want to avoid to save money?

[ProDave]

44 minutes ago, the_r_sole said:

 

What regs would you want to avoid to save money?

Building control fee for a start.

 

And not having to comply with building regs may make your layout more creative, e.g not having to comply with all the somewhat overbearing accessibility regs?

 

Freedom to not have anyone inspecting what you do and criticising.

 

Simpler cheaper foundations.

 

 

[the_r_sole]

1 minute ago, ProDave said:

Building control fee for a start.

 

And not having to comply with building regs may make your layout more creative, e.g not having to comply with all the somewhat overbearing accessibility regs?

 

Freedom to not have anyone inspecting what you do and criticising.

 

Simpler cheaper foundations.

 

 

 

Yeah, interesting - I guess that I'm so used to designing with the activity spaces required in mind that I don't really consider them a hindrance to layouts.

I'd want my foundations designed and certified by a structural engineer no matter what, and tbh I'd swallow the building control fee too and then I've got a mortgagable, saleable property...

[Triassic]

I built a one bedroomed timber framed, latch clad tiny house for £30,000.

[nod]

3 hours ago, Declan52 said:

Can be done but will depend very much on your location. No chance around London but in Scotland and Northern Ireland you could do it. 

A simple square box not much more than 100sqm of a footprint with a basic finish. A 2 storey 3 bedroom, 1 main bathroom and maybe a toilet under the stairs. Brick and block would be maybe the easiest material to work with.

Much will depend on what skills you can bring to the party though. Your going to have to do a lot of work yourselves to get it under this budget.

I agree 

Definitely can be done 

We built 258m2 for 200

We could have easily shaved 30 off that