Self build - experiences and knowledge please!

[socksinbed]

Good morning,

We think we have spotted a great deal to buy a plot. We'd like to build a 5 bedroom house (two storey / maybe into the loft) and around about 2350 sq metres. This would be the dream, anyway!

Does anyone have experience of this and importantly, ideas on how much it costs to build that size house in the South east (outer skirts of London)?!

That’s 25,000 sq ft. So a mansion! Vast amounts of money obviously! Several £million. Do you actually mean 2350 sq ft?

That's huge!!!

I work for a building company that builds small developments of luxury homes and also single builds for people, and the biggest house we'd build would be about 350 square metres and that's huge! Is there a typo in you post (or did you mean square feet)?

Assuming you meant to write sq ft, that's about 220 square metres. Up where we are (Scotland central belt area), you'd be looking at probably £2000 to £2600 per square metre depending on what sort of finish you're after, obviously it's going to cost more in south east England.

I'd be cautious about a plot that seems like it's a bargain, unless it already has planning. It's likely to be cheap for a reason.

Yep, I mean metres! Haaaaa! I make myself laugh sometimes. See, I DO need help!

I have looked online and found estimates of around £3000 per sq metre (of which, I expect around 230!), so was coming out with £650,000 sums. I'm wondering whether this sounds right.

I'd say it's a great deal (for us), I wouldn't go as far as to say a bargain.....

Does it have water and electricity all hooked up to the site? Good drainage? That's where all the money goes.

Already has a house there with subsidence, so it needs to be demolished. Houses next door etc just half a metre away on each side. Old and newer houses as neighbours and across the street....

I will of course have a survey to ensure subsidence is not related to trees or another reason that suggests it will repeat.

So interesting - yes, all there already.

If previous house has subsidence you need to ascertain the reason, as deep piling and concrete rafts and the like also costs megabucks

How much time do you have to give to this project? It will be a part time job for you for at least 18 months in terms of commitment. How good are you at making decisions? You will need to make about eleventy billion of them … hence the part time job aspect. If it takes you 3 weeks to decide what colour to paint the walls, this wont end well.

Hi,

I won't be doing this alone, so we should good on making decisions.

Cheers

@socksinbed With a history of subsidence on the plot you will need deeper foundations. They won’t come cheap. If in SE £3000 pm2 is rock bottom pricing. Everything required for building has sky rocketed in price. Everything. If Labour get round to building houses expect another massive price hike as raw materials become in short supply.

Top Tip for Self-Build - Don't invite Kevin round unless you're also TTC.

Please can I strongly suggest that you buy a copy of "The Housebuilder's Bible", the latest is the 15th Edition published last year. It's £22.50 on Amazon or cheaper direct from the publisher. Just search "Housebuilder's Bible 15"

This covers absolutely everything you need to know and think about if you are considering building a house - including costs.

It includes so much stuff that I had never even realised that we would have to make a decision on.

We built a house almost 20 years ago and used the then current edition of the book (6th Edition) back then. I really did learn so much from reading it that enabled me to understand and talk about things with architects and builders.

Also, don't forget that costs are going to vary widely depending on if you want a simple square box of a house or you want something more elaborate.

That is such great advice. Thank you so much.