Realistic Self-Build Budget?

[ToughButterCup]

Wot @Jenki said.

We're now bouncing along on what we don't spend elsewhere: thank God I'm a    s l o w   worker.

[LA3222]

Another advocate here for 'don't be disheartened'....material prices are horrendous compared to a few years ago but you can still achieve what you want. I would suggest getting a QS estimate done and spending some time on that to really drill down into costs - I used estimates online, cheap and cheerful with some useful spreadsheets at the end, I had to tweak it quite a bit but it did give a very useful starting point to work from. 

 

Once you have a good handle on where your costs are going to lie its then a game of trading things off against each other, where you have to use trades vs where you can DIY, parts that can be put off until further down the line vs what's needs to be up and running now....etc.

[Pocster]

8 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

thank God I'm a    s l o w   worker.

You are mr. Speedy ! . I am the slowest worker ! ( I said wORker ) 

[Onoff]

17 minutes ago, pocster said:

You are mr. Speedy ! . I am the slowest worker ! ( I said wORker ) 

 

Ahem...

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, Bozza said:

they would have economies of scale that you wouldn’t.

I'm not so sure. With research and persistence an individual can often get similar prices.

[SteamyTea]

9 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

I'm not so sure. With research and persistence an individual can often get similar prices.

The only really big difference is in the professional fees and connected services, they can be spread across many houses, rather than just one.

[Jim30]

1 hour ago, Jenki said:

For me, the jury is out on this..  

Can you build block / block cheaper than ICF 100% Yes.  Can you get the same levels of insulation and air tightness for the same money?  there's the detail.  My budget is low, so much so, I can't even type the figure, but I'm building ICF (100% DIY), will we run out of money yes.  will the house be very thermally efficient / airtight  / watertight and heated before then Yes.

There's so much extra work in time and money getting block built as efficient as ICF. Once the ICF is up its insulated and air tight. 

@jim30 If your  getting trades in and a hands off approach your budget is way too low - sorry.

 

Thanks Jenki, we plan on doing a lot of the work but some stuff, electrics etc you need trades 

[Thorfun]

1 hour ago, Jim30 said:

Thanks Jenki, we plan on doing a lot of the work but some stuff, electrics etc you need trades 

our electrician is a friend and he agreed that we do the labour of running the cables and he'd come and connect it all up and sign it off. sadly we needed to catch up some time so we paid him to do first fix as well but it would've been a substantial saving if we had the time to do it ourselves. maybe you can find a sparky who is amenable to something like that.

[Jim30]

4 hours ago, Bozza said:

agree with all other posts.

 

With posts like this I always recommend you look at :

 

https://www.dan-wood.co.uk

 

their prices do not include foundations nor kitchens.   So them being turnkey,  you can price southwards for a true self build.   But of course they would have economies of scale that you wouldn’t.

 

What you have to factor in with a modest budget / small build is that if a decent plot comes up you are likely to be in competition with others wishing to build a bigger house and thus someone with a bigger budget.  Depends where you wish to build & plot prices etc.

 

If you have a decent paid job one thing you could consider doing is sticking with your job perhaps working overtime or second job combined with saving like buggery for a few years.  During that time pick up bargains that you can stockpile for a future build.    There are bargains around.  Regardless of how competent a DIYer you are sometimes with self build some elements can be a false economy not to get trades in though.

 

I sometimes wonder of the logic of those grand designs shows when “IT expert Jimmy” gives up his £80k salary to go on the tools for 5 years and lives in a caravan in a mud pit and rarely sees his kids etc.
 

If you wish to share your relevant circumstances it may help us to help you identify a potential pathway to your dream.  Some of us have had to park, or adjust, our self build dreams for a few years until financially able to self build.  
 

If it were me and you are working age what with interest rates as they are I’d work more and save more for next few years.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've looked at dan-wood (and others) and our thinking is that if we're going for a "new" house then we want to future proof it and design it ourselves rather than their designs. Probably do need a bigger budget but we're not area tied and really want a decent energy efficient home with a big garden (wife loves growing vegetables) and some chickens. 

We're mortgage free and have "some" more funds available but those are earmarked for other things. 

The alternative is buying "any house" and upgrading it but my research indicated that can be just as expensive (and potentially more) than building from scratch. 

We're early 50's and aren't working until we drop, life's too short. 

[Jim30]

20 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

our electrician is a friend and he agreed that we do the labour of running the cables and he'd come and connect it all up and sign it off. sadly we needed to catch up some time so we paid him to do first fix as well but it would've been a substantial saving if we had the time to do it ourselves. maybe you can find a sparky who is amenable to something like that.

Actually we do have a friend who's a sparks but haven't approached him yet as plot could be other end of the UK from him 😂

[Jim30]

2 hours ago, LA3222 said:

Another advocate here for 'don't be disheartened'....material prices are horrendous compared to a few years ago but you can still achieve what you want. I would suggest getting a QS estimate done and spending some time on that to really drill down into costs - I used estimates online, cheap and cheerful with some useful spreadsheets at the end, I had to tweak it quite a bit but it did give a very useful starting point to work from. 

 

Once you have a good handle on where your costs are going to lie its then a game of trading things off against each other, where you have to use trades vs where you can DIY, parts that can be put off until further down the line vs what's needs to be up and running now....etc.

Thanks, some useful advice and the 2nd recommendation for QS

[Thorfun]

3 minutes ago, Jim30 said:

Actually we do have a friend who's a sparks but haven't approached him yet as plot could be other end of the UK from him 😂

the money you'd save doing the first fix would pay to put him up for long enough to do the rest of the work! 😉

[Jim30]

Just now, Thorfun said:

the money you'd save doing the first fix would pay to put him up for long enough to do the rest of the work! 😉

Cheers! 

[Ajn]

1 hour ago, SteamyTea said:

The only really big difference is in the professional fees and connected services,

We fell foul of this one. The "professional" fees and insurances would have been six times the price of our first house we bought 1977. The build loan insurance was the worst. One wanted 12k, we paid 4k in the end.

 

[Haylingbilly]

9 hours ago, Jim30 said:

Hello everyone, 

 

Occasionally a lurker here over the years but finally decided to change things up and join up and ask for advice (and maybe add some in the future?). 

 

My wife and I are looking at how realistic it is to do a self build (ICF preferred) of approx 100m2 (either 1 or 2 storey) with a total budget of £150K (excluding plot cost), right down to the kitchen /bathroom fittings (midrange). 

 

I intend to DIY as much as possible, paying trades for the skilled aspects etc. 

 

Now I know it's a how long's a piece of string question and I suspect that I'm missing something / seriously underestimating costs but some "rough" calculations look like this (excuse the ordering!) :

 

Carpet etc inc. fitting £3,000
Electrics £5,000
Plumbing & bathrooms £10,000
Triple glazed windows £15,000
Kitchen complete £10,000
Stairs £3,000
Foundations £12,000
Fencing £3,000
Heating, solar, pump, etc £15,000
Legal fees etc £10,000 
Roof £11k
ICF walls & concrete £25,000
Flooring frames £3,000 

 

For a rough total of £125,000. How wrong (or right) am I? 

 

I appreciate any answers because currently I'm reading so much that one moment my budget seems reasonable and the next it's nowhere close! 

I think you need to add money for services (can be quite expensive if you are remote), plasterboarding and plastering, decoration, internal doors, skirtings and architraves, wall and floor finishes, prelims (skips, scaffold, insurances), landscaping.

[Pocster]

You can do all the wiring yourself ( apart from CU and some specifics )

 

You can do all the plumbing yourself and drains 

 

You can build all the stud walls and plasterboard yourself 

 

You can paint / tile yourself 

 

You can install kitchens and bathrooms yourself 

 

You can build the entire house pretty much yourself and save £100k ‘s - it might take a bit longer though …. 🙄

[catrionag]

3 minutes ago, Haylingbilly said:

I think you need to add money for services (can be quite expensive if you are remote)

 

Or even if you're not! Services running right in front of our plot and the water connection has ended up costing almost £15k due to Scottish Water's incompetence and incorrect drawings (having to re-lay 30m of sewer to achieve the correct slope after we discovered their sewer almost a metre higher than the plans stated was a real kick in the teeth).

[saveasteading]

11 minutes ago, Haylingbilly said:

skips

None, zero, zilch. If you have one it fills. 

If you don't have one there is very little waste.

Doesn't apply to demo and rip-outs of course.

Allow cash for buying equipment instead of hiring. Then in theory you can sell it again. But do you, or is that lovely dewalt stuff too good to part with? So allow the cash anyway.

[Jim30]

14 minutes ago, pocster said:

You can do all the wiring yourself ( apart from CU and some specifics )

 

You can do all the plumbing yourself and drains 

 

You can build all the stud walls and plasterboard yourself 

 

You can paint / tile yourself 

 

You can install kitchens and bathrooms yourself 

 

You can build the entire house pretty much yourself and save £100k ‘s - it might take a bit longer though …. 🙄

That's pretty much the idea but it's so difficult to pin down a realistic budget. 

[saveasteading]

12 minutes ago, catrionag said:

£15k due to Scottish Water's incompetence and incorrect drawings (having to re-lay 30m of sewer to achieve the correct slope

Ouch. That is expensive drainage at £500/m.

Did nobody look in the adjacent manholes before starting?

 

A very good example to the OP of the unexpected.

If you did the same again you would know so much more, and thus there is generally a cost to being a first timer.

[catrionag]

2 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

Ouch. That is expensive drainage at £500/m.

Did nobody look in the adjacent manholes before starting?

 

A very good example to the OP of the unexpected.

If you did the same again you would know so much more, and thus there is generally a cost to being a first timer.

 Yes, but unfortunately the nearest manhole was far enough away that the height was completely different by the time it got to us. As I keep saying (as we spend more and more money on unexpected things) you can't know what you don't know. It sounds wise, anyway 😅

[Pocster]

13 minutes ago, Jim30 said:

That's pretty much the idea but it's so difficult to pin down a realistic budget. 

I know . A ‘budget’ and a ‘time scale ‘ are pigs .

My advice . Forget time scale and take 10 yrs like me 

Budget matters less then because you’ve got 10yrs of extra income to fund it .

Oh yeah ; I believe divorce is expensive 🙄

Still ; pretty much a win I’d say .

[Pocster]

14 minutes ago, saveasteading said:

cost to being a first timer.

🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄

true in SO many ways 

[ToughButterCup]

24 minutes ago, pocster said:

I know . A ‘budget’ and a ‘time scale ‘ are pigs .

My advice . Forget time scale and take 10 yrs like me 

....

 

As you hint later on in your post: divorce is expensive. 

Part of our budget is the knowledge that we both want this house, and we are both prepared to compromise. She's only been a bit down about the lack of progress twice in eight years.

 

Pragmatic is the right word. And the recognition that self-building is a massive priviledge. 

How many do we know who would give their right arm to be able to build their own house?

[Pocster]

Just now, ToughButterCup said:

 

As you hint later on in your post: divorce is expensive. 

Part of our budget is the knowledge that we both want this house, and we are both prepared to compromise. She's only been a bit down about the lack of progress twice in eight years.

 

Pragmatic is the right word. And the recognition that self-building is a massive priviledge. 

How many do we know who would give their right arm to be able to build their own house?

Agree 100% and it’s not easy getting away with murder