Is this a realistic self build budget?

[Irishstout]

Hi all,

I'm just wondering if we're being completely insane. We're drawing up for outline planning at the moment, want to make sure we can get something before spending £££ on full plans.

We have savings of around 80k. Can we build a house for that? We're thinking very simple rectangular shaped, possibly steel or timber frame. We have a digger that we can use to do a lot of the foundations with (understand this may need to be tidied up by a pro). We have friends in trades who will help with bits and DH is a very practical sort. We're happy to put in a second hand kitchen and bathroom, use standard windows etc.

Am I dreaming that this would be enough money?

Assuming you have the land then yes it sounds insane. If you don't it's a dream.

Yes we own the land outright.

I would be astounded if you could do it for that

I’ve just had a quotes for similar but with demolition, and they’ve ranged from £250k - £600k. South West UK.

I don’t think £80k is practical given current costs of materials.

I think it would be very hard on that budget.
I think you’d get the house water tight but not finished.
Have you looked at alternative building materials such as straw?

I think it's unrealistic too.

Materials are insane at the moment. We’ve just been quoted £3.5k (for materials only) for a single skin breeze block 8’ square with a corrugated roof. That doesn’t include anything else.

@Irishstout are you in the U.K. or Ireland? Is it a virgin site? Architect/engineer fees, Planning, electricity,water connections and swearer alone would be half your budget gone.

Sewage not swearer

[quote shabbalabba]@Irishstout are you in the U.K. or Ireland? Is it a virgin site? Architect/engineer fees, Planning, electricity,water connections and swearer alone would be half your budget gone.[/quote]
Should say I’ve done all those things and my quotes were £250k - £600k from that point.

Highly unlikely OP. Most self-builds cost between £2000 - £4000 per square meter.

I think you will need a little more. Standard windows and doors on a whole house could I think cost £15k+ on their own. I think you need a spreadsheet to cost all the materials, fixed fees such as building inspectors etc and go from there.

@Irishstout if you own the land and have 80k then you would get a mortgage to build I'm sure...

We could go for more unconventional construction methods eg. Straw. The thoughts of steel frame was that DH could erect some of it, as we have the machinery to lift it all etc.

We've looked at some of the kit houses and while I know they don't include ground work or building would seem to be able to get a house shell for ~50k. Which is what makes it seem slightly less mental. But I don't know if it's more sensible to do this or go it alone. I think I'd rather the safety of knowing I'd paid for the shell and no unexpected costs from that angle, DH seems to think if they can make it for that make and make money then we can do it cheaper

Even if we could just get to water tight for 80k and finish it ongoing that would work for us.

We Know it wouldnt be a mansion or massive new kitchen etc. And that's fine we can sort as we go. We could get a self build mortgage but we both work fairly unconventional jobs and wouldnt be able to secure much (have spoken to a broker)

There’s absolutely no way it could be done, even if you were both actual builders. In our last house we had a small kitchen extension built, only 2m x 2m. We bought a second hand kitchen and fitted it ourselves, did absolutely everything we possibly could ourselves, and it still cost ~19k. That was four years ago, materials costs are much higher now and you’re talking about a whole house from scratch.

@Irishstout as I have said getting services and planning would mean half of that budget is gone. So for 40k you will not build a watertight shell.

Weve got a separate pot for planning and as I said outline is already in. The plot has services and it would have to be a septic tank due to the area.

Happy to accept it's a no go and we'll need to go back to the broker. PIL seem to think we could do it for 20k and seem surprised why we're asking so many questions.

If you haven't had outline back and you need further reports and surveys it could start to really mount up. 20k haha maybe 50 years ago. Have a look on the extension thread on here plenty spending 100-200k just for extensions.

There may be other options like 3 shipping containers - look at container housing.

Wood, bricks and metal are all v expensive, as is concrete.

If you can source pre used bricks, or ones which aren’t perfect could be an option?

You’d need do do some serious castings ie foundations and how much concrete you’d need - 100 cubic meters etc, whether any services would need running to site, planning permission etc and work it from that.

You may be able to do something.

My friend just did a major build and renovation on an existing house. She’s an engineer and her husband is a foreman who project managed and worked on site for 3 months so they saved money compared to what it would have been if someone from outside the industry did it. It cost them just over £350k

Self build and design magazine and website Often so deals on subscription and they feature self build projects with budgets in all sorts of different styles. Might be worth taking a look on Instagram

Well you could do something for 80k but it will be fairly basic but steel is expensive, and it would be more cabin like I suppose.

We're about to spend £40k on a 7m² extension and that doesn't include kitchen units, bathroom suite etc...

The materials you will need for even a basic house will be so much more expensive than you realise. Prices just keep going up. I think 200k would be more realistic.

Sorry OP but my brother in law's extension cost £60k and he did the vast majority of it himself.