Cost of building a new house?

[islandmummy]

Just wondering if anyone has ever knocked down a house and built a new one and how the costs compared to just getting an extension?

This is probably a pipe dream as not sure we could ever afford it, but we live on a lovely road with lovely neighbours less than 5 minutes' walk to the station and have a large plot, but our house is...meh. It's a boxy 70s one which is much smaller than others on the road and we could do with more space. Moving would be easier but I'm not sure we'd get the mortgage. Extending is the obvious choice but it kind of feels like we'd be polishing a turd and because of the ugly badly-designed house we would never recoup that investment if we did sell. The ideal would be to start from scratch and put a new house sympathetic to neighbours' size and style on our plot.

Has anyone ever done this? How much does it actually cost to build a house (leaving aside costs of how fancy you want your kitchen/bathroom etc).

I'm prepared to be told I may as well move as it's too much!

I was going to come on and say depending where in the country you are, it's the land that costs the money. Certainly in the south east. Bit you've already got the land!

The rebuild cost for insurance purposes on a substantial 4 bed 2 bath detached with study, utility, double garage, conservatory was 330k on a recent surveyor estimate.

Depends what you want, how much you are able to do yourself, and what level of luxury you're after. Definitely worth considering though if you're in an expensive part of the country or you really love where you live.

Consider where you would live while it was being done and if you have a mortgage, talk to the lender as the loan is secured on the property. They probably won't like you destroying that property!

Thank you xyzandabc. Yes, south London suburb. I suspect the land we're on is the most valuable bit, as the garden is so huge you could easily put 2-3 houses on it! Good point about the lender. Hmm, we don't have £300k+. Looks like I'd better get the polish out and accept we can still make a lovely functional, if not attractive, home here :-)

There is an interesting looking architects I've seen on Pinterest.

www.backtofrontexteriordesign.com

They seem to manage to do some amazing renovations of some very dull and ugly houses. There may be more potential in your property than you realise.

You can often struggle with achieving planning for this, depending on your area - they are a lot more eco conscious now.

Depending on what is on site at the moment demolition and removal is increasingly expensive. We have just removed the "crap" ( think old sheds, wheelbarrows and miscellaneous junk) to clear a build site ready for foundation work and it has cost us £5000. A few years ago we cleared a bungalow and it cost around £10k. Expect to double these costs if they find asbestos.

Our build costs around £160 per square foot ( depending on the finish)

We have re-jigged ugly boxes by e.g. adding a beautiful entrance, rendering and painting 1970's brick, adding a slate roof and a big kitchen/diner extension. A lot cheaper!

We did this last year (demolished house, built new one). Fairly basic timber framed Potton design, slate roof, fibre cement cladding, five bed, three bath, huge open plan downstairs. Cost us total £350k (inc project manager, landscaping, kitchen, ventilation system, underfloor heating, boiler, water softener, oak flooring) and we reclaimed £11k VAT (which you can’t do for an extension)

If you’re interested, I’d gladly give you more details and pics, etc privately. It was an amazing project, slightly stressful and I’m glad i never have to move again. But it is my dream house, planned for 15years and I wouldn’t change a thing

We are about to do this. Go to Homebuilding and renovating website and they have a build cost calculator. Costs range from 1,500 - 2,500 per m2. But I wouldn't knock a 70's house down really if it had been maintained. You just need an architect who knows what they are doing and you can really transform that type of house both in terms of appearance and thermal performance.

Unless you have a lot of trade contracts, you are looking at £1200 p/m2 for something fairly basic, possibly a "kit" house and probably not a lot more inspiring than your current house (although probably a lot more energy efficient). Once you start doing a more bespoke build, then costs climb very quickly. If your plot is quite large and you live in London, you could consider building two houses and selling off one to help cover (or cover entirely) your costs...

We are in the NW and currently building a 2 bed dormer for about 200k. It's an annex but we will likely sell as a separate property long term.

Sell half the garden for a building plot and then find what you want.

Sarah Beeny had a programme a while back following a couple who transformed a 70s house and I'm certain that The Restoration Man programme has had the same. Worth a watch for visual inspiration?

How about a Huf House? There is a showhome in Weybridge to visit. It's fantastic.

If your garden is huge, can you plan to sell your existing house on a much smaller plot and use the money to fund a second house in the garden? There may be some kind of bridging financial arrangement that would mean you could stay in your existing home before selling? While there are planning restrictions on this, there are also pressures for more housing - a sensitive design (and this is vital) isn't that hard to get through.

My friend is building a new place in her garden while living in an old one- she's gone for timber-frame construction and the new house has already been featured in the architectural press for its innovative and amazing design. It's going to be the best house in the area when it's done.

You need to compare the cost of doing what you want with the existing house (which incurs VAT) against the cost of demolishing and building a new house (with no VAT). Sometimes the latter is more cost effective, plus you get exactly what you want.

Depending on where you are, splitting the plot might be an option and your planning department would be able to advise if this was feasible.