Cost m2

[nod]

As most will know we’ve marketed our first build We have someone interested Who has now said while they love the house They would have preferred it slightly bigger and would be interested in purchasing our second plot and paying me to build it 

I’m not a builder But following on from Dave J conversation of 2500 m 

The figures arnt  stacking up 

The design would give him 325 m2 

£812500 

Plot 250 k 

Plus legals 

 

Ours is 270m2 Up for 725k 

Both are in the same area 

Im going to go back to him in the morning 

But I  think the end value would be around 800k

[Dave Jones]

place is too good for the location.

[Lofty718]

@nod I swear you wrote in a recent post that you're not a builder😄

[nod]

41 minutes ago, Lofty718 said:

@nod I swear you wrote in a recent post that you're not a builder😄

I’m 

Not I’d just oversee it for him

Some-else can build it 

But for the hike in the cost of everything we wouldn’t have done as much as we have 

48 minutes ago, Dave Jones said:

place is too good for the location.

No

Its a good area Good schools etc Average 

Plots going between 250-350 

I think most are going to find this to be the case Builders must be working on fine margins Or getting them done much less per m2 

[Dave Jones]

there's a price limit for every location. if the location doesn't increase the price the size has to come down to make the maths work. 300m2 is very very niche size.

[twice round the block]

Not sure how they plan to fiance buying the plot and a build, but it's a huge risk for you if it all falls out of bed in the next two years..... change of government,  another pandemic, global war.. everything you have no control over. 

Your investment your gamble

[gavztheouch]

Would love to know the rational for anyone buying a plot right now and building a house using builder at say £2500m^2

 

Trouble is interest rates look set to stay high. Job security is prob falling. If your self employed there may be less work. Building materials are in some cases double what they were 2-3 years ago. It’s a bit of a mess. The only way out is for wages to catch up with the price of building but that could take years or never happen if material prices keep rising. It’s possible self build to current standard may never be achieved again in the county by the same number and type of people that did it in the past.

 

I guess solution would be to build drastically smaller and plot values to fall a lot ie 90%
 

My grandad built a house in the village. Build cost was something like £5000 but the plot was £100. We could see something like this happening.

 

 

 

 

[Mr Punter]

I prefer to build, then sell.  The only choices the customer gets are carpets and I don't do those until contracts are exchanged.  That way, the customer can take their time and make sure everything is OK.

 

Don't mention the prospect of another plot, just sell the one you have for as much as possible.  That will save any grief from timewasters.

[Ecthelion]

The garage I have just built is 113sqm of usable floor space and including a small kitchen and bathroom and flooring etc in the upstairs it came in at £1249 per sqm. This is in Ayrshire. The builders built the timber kit themselves apart from the attic trusses. 
 

I think I could have swapped the price of the steel door frame, the garage door, the outside staircase at £12k and possible have had a reasonably finished house. There are smaller houses near me by big house builders selling at £375k. And yes I paid vat on everything. 
 

but I was very lucky with these builders who I trusted because they worked very hard at pricing the job, looking into everything. I had 2 cheaper quotes but I know they would end up costing more because they hadn’t done their homework. 
 

in Scotland, there’s hope for self build but it dwindles by the day.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Ecthelion

[Eric]

18 minutes ago, Ecthelion said:

The garage I have just built is 113sqm of usable floor space and including a small kitchen and bathroom and flooring etc in the upstairs it came in at £1249 per sqm. This is in Ayrshire. The builders built the timber kit themselves apart from the attic trusses. 
 

I think I could have swapped the price of the steel door frame, the garage door, the outside staircase at £12k and possible have had a reasonably finished house. There are smaller houses near me by big house builders selling at £375k. And yes I paid vat on everything. 
 

but I was very lucky with these builders who I trusted because they worked very hard at pricing the job, looking into everything. I had 2 cheaper quotes but I know they would end up costing more because they hadn’t done their homework. 
 

in Scotland, there’s hope for self build but it dwindles by the day.

Would you mind sharing plans/photos? I am looking for ideas for a garage with room above.

[Ecthelion]

21 minutes ago, Eric said:

Would you mind sharing plans/photos? I am looking for ideas for a garage with room above.

Sure.

 

 

[Ecthelion]

Actually no, sorry, those are the old plans and were going to need to much steel so we reduced slightly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by Ecthelion

[jayc89]

Building Merchants have been charging astronomical prices for too long, Builders have been passing these onto customers, resulting in inflated £/m2 figures. 

 

Whilst renovating our house, I've typically got 30-40% off any first quote a BM provides, but it takes time and perseverance which most builders don't have. 

[Big Jimbo]

I agree with @jayc89 builders i know are slowing down re quoting for new work. Builders merchants sales are going to be falling in the next 6 months. I will not be loyal to any, and will shop around and bash each of them off each other. I have already told my bricklayer that his rates are to high, and he has asked me to discuss before giving the build to somebody else. He admits that his work is starting to tail off. As he said a lot of his clients are homeowners borrowing 100 to 200K to extend and refurbish. Previously borrowing at 1%, and now just not borrowing, and not having the work done.

[jayc89]

After a couple of days of haggling I managed to get my most recent order from my BM down from £4700 to £2800, that's over 40% off their initial quote. I had to ring around and barter them off against one another, but it goes to show how much markup there's to be had. Their initial quote was also massively discounted from their website prices too. 

Edited September 21, 2023 by jayc89

[jack]

10 minutes ago, jayc89 said:

After a couple of days of haggling I managed to get my most recent order from my BM down from £4700 to £2800, that's over 40% off their initial quote. I had to ring around and barter them off against one another, but it goes to show how much markup there's to be had. Their initial quote was also massively discounted from their website prices too. 

 

Wow, nice work.

 

It just shows how ridiculous builders merchant pricing is for people walking in off the street. Even with an account and my missus being pretty good at negotiating, they were still almost never the cheapest way of buying things. We mainly used them when we had no choice (time or availability).

[jayc89]

8 minutes ago, jack said:

 

Wow, nice work.

 

It just shows how ridiculous builders merchant pricing is for people walking in off the street. Even with an account and my missus being pretty good at negotiating, they were still almost never the cheapest way of buying things. We mainly used them when we had no choice (time or availability).

 

To be fair, I've probably hit lucky with the Branch Manager. He was at Jewsons, moved to Travis Perkins and every time he comes up trumps. 

[gavztheouch]

Any tips for negotiating prices?

 

 

 

[bgmill]

We have a main contractor quote to weathertight (including groundworks but not windows/doors) that's around £1000/m2.

 

I'm considering asking for a breakdown of materials/costs prior to each phase so I can shop around and try to get better prices but I wonder how this might be received. I'm guessing he's factored in whatever discount he gets from the local BM as extra profit on the job.

[Dave Jones]

dont forget to compare apples with apples.

 

The new regs are much more stringent and costly. building on old regs was much cheaper.