Evening everybody. I'm a project manager working for a housing developer.  Trained as a techy but ended up doing this so am not an Architect or Engineer but something of a jack of all trades having a brief overview of all disciplines and overseeing and coordinating housing developments.  Hopefully ill be able to offer some advice occasionally instead of just seeking it.  

 

I would love to do my own self build one day and if i can make a good job of it id like to do more.  I think ive got the knowledge to make a good fist of it.  My dream is to build a nice place for my parents to retire to, they've worked so hard their whole adult lives and itd be a great way for me to repay them.  Ive found some land in a great location but it looks tricky technically, but im sure i could handle it.  The one string i dont have to my bow is the commercial one, ive no idea how much it costs to build a house so i dont know if i could afford to do it for them.  Any of you able to give me a rough idea of a cost for building a 2bed terrace of a decent spec?  

 

Just do it and start with a clean slate. Otherwise you'll suddenly find yourself at 50 and living in a money pit! Having a partner who can take a long term view is essential too.

 

 

Welcome... As @Onoff says don't leave it too late to start. His mention of a great  / understanding  partner is also valid as a self build will absorb your time, physical & emotional energy and shed loads of money. For all that you get massive sense of satisfaction.

 

Your skills sound like the ideal ones for such a project and you might even have a way of leveraging your colleagues in on the job. 

Welcome to the forum!

How much a self build costs is a bit of a 'how long is a piece of string' question, but there are some lower limits beyond which it is very hard to go. Most people opt to improve the spec in key areas and this inevitably pushes the price up.

The general rule of thumb seems to be about £1000/m2 is as cheap as it gets (you can go lower with lots and lots of DIY labour, secondhand goods, and careful design). Some pretty desirable houses have been built for not much above that basic figure, and it's not at all hard to spend £2-3000/m2 if you really push the spec and offload more of the work to a main contractor.

Thank you everybody for the advice.  My main concern at the moment is capital, i have very little behind me, say 5 or 6k. Do you just go to the bank with your plans and costings and hope theyll back you?

Welcome and a very commendable project - let's hope you can get it up and running. As with anything new, the key to success and understanding has to be research. Start by reading some building magazines and the various threads and Blogs on this forum. It will open up many questions which you can then find the answers to, via various internet searches.

Good luck PW.

9 hours ago, paul1979uk said:

Thank you everybody for the advice.  My main concern at the moment is capital, i have very little behind me, say 5 or 6k. Do you just go to the bank with your plans and costings and hope theyll back you?

£5 or 6 k is not a lot of capital, I'd say one of the first things you need to do is start saving. Start by looking at the frivolous things you buy and ask yourself why? Look at your living costs, could you reduce any of these, switch to a cheaper tariff, ditch extensive contracts for phones, TV, gym etc. Every pound saved now will make your self Build journey easier.

On ‎6‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 21:51, paul1979uk said:

Ive found some land in a great location but it looks tricky technically

 

Technical problems with a site generally make it more expensive. If you want to keep costs to a minimum you want a nice flat site with easy access to services and perhaps a simple house shape. 

I'd second Temp's comment above.  We bought a plot for around 2/3rds of the market value, because it had significant technical problems.  Just getting the site level, with a big retaining wall to hold back the land behind, cost over £50k.  If we'd opted to have mains water and drainage, then that would have added about another £40k, but we went for a borehole and treatment plant, which together cost a bit under £12k, with the pump, filtration and disinfection system. We ended up paying about £10k or so more than the market value for the plot, by the time we had it level and services in, which was probably about right.

Thanks for all the initial advice everyone, i hope in return im able to help with something in future. 

 

I drove and had a look at that piece of land tonight. Unfortunately Im not sure it'll work, i dont think i could build something my parents would love, shame because the spot is perfect but they'd have to pay for it so it has to be whst they want.  But hopefully i can learn lots from you all for any future venture.  

Hi Paul, 

 

With a good adviser or a decent builder anyone can finish a selfbuild with out too much hustle. 

 

In regards to the build cost, the main 2 things that will drive your cost/square meter will be the solution chosen for the structure and the finishings. Depending on what you chose expect to pay anything between £1200/sqm to £1700/sqm.

 

For the finance, there are ways to do it even if you have only 5- 6k in cash, but only if you are 100% sure that you will have no problem getting a mortgage once you have the new home build.

 

What i do not understand is:

1. as a PM for a developer you should know how much a build would cost.

2. Why are you asking for a terrace house ? Most of the self-builds are either detached or semi-detached.