How to find out if we can build or not

hopeful25

Hi everyone.
I apologise in advance for my lack of knowledge on the following but I really hope someone can guide us in the right direction. My partner and I have decided to buy. We went to the bank and were approved for €260,000. I have been keeping track of houses in the area we want to live for the last 3 years and very few houses come up for sale. We have no experience at all of building but we were wondering if this could be a route for us to go down. I have been trying to read up on all the forums here but some of it is from boarders who have experience of building and know what steps to take. We are completely clueless and would be hiring someone to do all parts of the project. I am hoping someone could guide us and give us information on the following.
1. We don’t have a site yet. I am not from the area but I have been working there the last 6 years (permanent teacher in the local school) and renting the last 18 months. My partner is not from the area and does not work here either. There are no sites around and it was suggested that we ask farmers if they are willing to sell a site.
(a) I’m wondering how do I go about finding out if we would be accepted to build a house when we are not from the area? Is there someone we could ask first if we qualify before asking/looking for a site. I don’t want to waste their time or put up their hopes that we will buy their land only for it to fall through by not being allowed to build or
(b) do we need to look for a site, then hire an architect to draw up plans and then go to a pre planning meeting to find out if we eligible to build there? This seems it could be a waste of money paying to design plans if they won’t let us build because we haven’t been living in the area
2. Is it advisable to go down the building route if my partner and I have no experience of building and would be relying on the builder? I have looked for houses to buy in areas outside the area too but nothing out there either for the money we can afford. We are out in the countryside near a village and a big town.
3. We were hoping for around a 1800/2000sq ft house. I know it’s hard to say how much a house will cost to build as every house is different but would we have enough with €200,000
4. Last question would anyone have a ball park figure of how much an architect costs to draw up designs for a house, and how much other costs would be up to the start of the build e.g. planning costs, council costs. We just want to have a rough idea of other costs before we build to see if we can afford this.
Sorry for the complete beginner type of questions. I just want to make sure we make the best decision for us. If I haven’t asked or explained anything properly please ask me as I have not posted on here before. Thank you.

ustari

I've a limited understanding here so not best placed to say but I think you will find it very hard to get planning permission if you are not from the area.

I've neighbours building for around €105-110 sq ft for a builder's finish. I don't think you will have enough to build, fit out and pay rates etc with 200k tbh.

Sounds like buying would be your best bet to me.

hopeful25

Thank you Ustari for your fast reply. I feel out of my depth with all of this and love to get any help/feedback.
I know buying would be a lot easier unfortunately houses don't come up for sale in this area or surrounding areas just really old houses once a year that would need a lot of money to renovate hence why I was wondering about building. Thought it might be easier to start from scratch rather than trying to work around an old house that cost a lot to buy and having to change it completely to suit costing a lot more money.
A friend said to me I might have a good chance as I am permanent in the local school and that will show my connection/commitment to the area so just wanted to check if anyone knew about that. I really don't know anything about all of this. Thanks again.

ustari

Like I said, I've a limited knowledge on this and I'm sure it will depend on your circumstances. Wait around for someone more knowledgeable to post.

SarahS2013

Look up the local county council rules on planning permission. For example I know Wicklow are pretty strict on non-locals building. Call up the relevant county council and have a hypothetical chat about your situation and you should have a better idea of the planning laws.

In order to secure the planning permission yes, you would have to have architects drawings done up which cost an eye watering sum of money. Add that to the cost of a site, building costs, clearing a site, connecting up to the mains for sewerage (could be 5k alone), electricity and phone plus any county council charges, and I doubt very much you'd have enough in your 260k. I know when I looked at a site in North County Dublin a few years ago there was charge of about 20k alone just for the pleasure of building the house to be paid to the CC. Obviously every CC is different though.

Gumbo

Find a site.
Engage a local architect/profession with experience in the area.
Approach planning department and see if you meet the needs criteria.

Every council is different and every applicant is different. Everything posted here will be guesswork until you know if it's feesible or not.

Arrange a "Pre Planning" meeting with the relevant County Council and work from there.

MightyMunster

Architects fees are normally around 10% of total cost.
Finished house in the region of 1200-1500 per Sq m. Don't know about local needs criteria etc for planning.

hopeful25

Thank you to everyone for replying. I think I will definitely need to ring the county council to see if they would know if I have a chance or not to build in the area. We can go a little bit higher with mortgage but didn't want to be spending too much.
That's a lot of money for an architect. I would want to be sure we are going down the building route before I would hire an architect. Don't want to be spending that much on an architect in case we would be declined and we would be wasting money we could put into a house if ever one did come up for sale. Thanks again everyone.

Gumbo

hopeful25 wrote: »

Thank you to everyone for replying. I think I will definitely need to ring the county council to see if they would know if I have a chance or not to build in the area. We can go a little bit higher with mortgage but didn't want to be spending too much.
That's a lot of money for an architect. I would want to be sure we are going down the building route before I would hire an architect. Don't want to be spending that much on an architect in case we would be declined and we would be wasting money we could put into a house if ever one did come up for sale. Thanks again everyone.

They usually have set fees for initial consultation.
Pre-planning drawings.
Planning application.

So you can get a figure before starting.

SeanSouth

I think you need to do the following

1) Find someone who is willing to sell you a site subject to outline planning permission
2) Apply for outline planning permission. If approved, proceed with the purchase, otherwise desist

No need to have an architect or to design a house for outline planning permission.
Outline planning permission is just agreement in principle that you can proceed to build a house on that particular site. Detailed drawings / plans are submitted later at the Full Planning permission stage.

Planning permission is usually open to anybody within the boundaries of a village/town/city. Outside of the boundaries, it is more difficult. If you can show that you are attached to a near-by school and that there are very few houses for sale in the vacinity, you're in with a chance.

Check your budget before you start. If 260K is the maximum available and the site costs (say) 60,000, you are left with a building budget of 200K. For 200K you can probably afford to build a house of around 1400sq ft.

hopeful25

SeanSouth wrote: »

I think you need to do the following

1) Find someone who is willing to sell you a site subject to outline planning permission
2) Apply for outline planning permission. If approved, proceed with the purchase, otherwise desist

No need to have an architect or to design a house for outline planning permission.
Outline planning permission is just agreement in principle that you can proceed to build a house on that particular site. Detailed drawings / plans are submitted later at the Full Planning permission stage.

Planning permission is usually open to anybody within the boundaries of a village/town/city. Outside of the boundaries, it is more difficult. If you can show that you are attached to a near-by school and that there are very few houses for sale in the vacinity, you're in with a chance.

Check your budget before you start. If 260K is the maximum available and the site costs (say) 60,000, you are left with a building budget of 200K. For 200K you can probably afford to build a house of around 1400sq ft.

Hi Seansouth. I only just read your message. Thank you for the reply. It's very informative. Didn't know much about outline planning permission. I think I'll start looking around. It's interesting the size house too for 200k. We really need to look at our figures and see if possibility of site at good price too. Thank you again for your response.