Newbie hoping to self build near Glasgow

[Marsh]

Hi everyone,

 

I hope you are all well and I apologise in advance for my lack of knowledge but if I can’t get the answers to all my questions in here then I don’t know where I will...

 

I am hoping to purchase some land I have seen to build a one and a half storey house with a basic square design (10m x 10m) 

Everything I read online seems to say it will be a lot more expensive than I was anticipating as I assumed building a house would be cheaper than buying. I know some of the answers to my questions will be how long is a piece of string but please bare with me as I need all the help and advice I can get. 

 

About the plot,

 

It’s around 500sqm (15m x 33m) 

Basically on a main road and in between two houses that have been there a long time (hopefully easy/cheap for utilities)

Houses on the street are bungalows or one and half storey so I have to adhere to that 

It’s a flat site with easy access 

 

I am mostly looking for rough prices or the minimum and maximum people have spent or been charged for certain things...

I have lots of friends who are Joiners, plumbers & electricians who all owe me favours so I’m hoping that will keep certain costs down 

 

Some of the questions I have are 

 

What’s the most/least people have paid for connecting utilities?

What sort of price are foundations for a 10m x 10m timber frame house?

What timber frame companies can anyone recommend?

How much usable floor space will I have upstairs in and one and a half storey with a downstairs 10m x 10m?

Excluding the land is it unrealistic to think I can achieve my dream house for around 140-150k?

Kit homes seem to be around 50-60k for wind and water tight so where does the rest of the budget go? (Naive question I know)

 

Off the top of my head I was hoping for these costs

 

20k foundations 

10k utilities

60k house frame

15k landscaping/drive

8k kitchen

6k bathroom

4k flooring

5k boiler & radiators

4k electrics

4k plumbing 

8k tiling roof 

 

144k  I know I’ve missed some things

 

If you have advice on anything even if it’s not something I’ve asked then please inform me as the more information I can gather from you all then the easier it will be for me

 

Thanks in advance 

 

 

[ToughButterCup]

27 minutes ago, Marsh said:

...

What’s the most/least people have paid for connecting utilities?

What sort of price are foundations for a 10m x 10m timber frame house?

What timber frame companies can anyone recommend?

How much usable floor space will I have upstairs in and one and a half storey with a downstairs 10m x 10m?

Excluding the land is it unrealistic to think I can achieve my dream house for around 140-150k?

Kit homes seem to be around 50-60k for wind and water tight so where does the rest of the budget go? (Naive question I know)

...

 

You are very welcome indeed.

Your first post I see, so you probably don't know how to use the site search engine: it's very powerful: lets take the first question:

 

'... What’s the most/least people have paid for connecting utilities? ...'

 

Take the key words :   connecting utilities .

 

Top right of every page  > search

 

copy and paste >  connecting utilities   - and this happens

 

over 1000 results - too many 

Now  play with the filters for example  connecting AND utilities    or     in content titles only   like I have linked to here

There are more search options, some are extremely useful, others not so much.

 

Your effort really will be repaid. There's very little that hasn't been covered before ....

Go on, enjoy poking round

Ian

[Bozza]

If you are building to a finite budget, my best advice would be to identify a house design / style you like, but that you could enlarge or shrink in size depending on the quotes you get back from builders and what you can afford.  Also preferred spec and what you’d compromise on.  Eg concrete or slate roof.

 

In terms of how much cheaper is self building than buying a house it depends on how much you can do yourself.  I’ve gone down the turn key route which is the most expensive,.  My estimate is that my house might be worth maybes 15-20% more than I have put into it.  
 

Have a look at Danwood Homes.  They are turnkey and will give you a rough idea of how much houses cost to buy turnkey, but their prices exclude foundations and kitchens.

 

I don’t think you’ll build a 180-200 sqm house for less than £200k unless you do a lot yourself.   You haven’t allowed for fees, plasterboard, contingency,   Also £60k for timber frame kit won’t include the external material eg cladding, brick, render etc. It

l be just for the kit.  £8k for a roof sounds light too.

 

You’d have to try hard or be very unlucky not to make a  profit on a self build.  But you will have to work hard to achieve that.  But what you do get i, or should be, a better quality phone than what is built on your local estates. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marsh]

Thanks guys 

[SuperJohnG]

Hi Marsh and welcome, I'm just south of Glasgow. 

 

 You are bang on that its a hard question to ask about how much and once you've done 6 months of reading you'll be anle to answer that question yourself. But I started right where you are a few years back, so you need that figure to start to work with something. 

 

Have a guess at say 1600 per sqm if you are leaving a lot to trades. It much be much less...one person  ( @nod) managed 800 odd person sqm but that is an extraordinary case. 

 

its 10m x 10m and 200sqm. So budget on 320k...and you'll eat it up. Go Bobby basic or do loads of DIY and that can become 1200.

 

I've budgeted on 1200...I'm now realising I won't achieve that and I havent even started. But I have a SIPS house coming and insulated foundation with ASHP,.MVHR triple glazed timber framed aluminium windows. It goes up quick. 

 

Educate yourself here and it'll become clear, lots of great info and people willing to help.