Building a home - steps

j_OConnor

hi,

My husband and I are looking at building our own home in Galway (Barna/knocknacarra area)
We have a mortgage approved in principle and our eye set on a site (which we need to buy as we don't have land ourselves). The site is subject to planning permission, but before bidding o the site I would like to know the cost of building a house on it and also the cost of leveling the ground.

What would be the normal steps involved in this? Do you purchase the site first or is it common to contact a building company, an engineer, ...?

As you can see we are kind of clueless on what the next steps are after getting a mortgage.

Hoping to get some input from people that work in the business/went through the process themselves.

Stanford

You will have to build in accordance with the planning permission in place, best thing is to hire a local Quantity Surveyor to give you an idea of cost per sq.m for the building and all site prep work.

JoeA3

You'd typically buy the site - subject to planning permission. i.e. if you fail to obtain permission, then you can walk away with no obligation to complete the purchase. As part of that process you'd sign a contract which would probably have some time-frame stipulation - e.g. 6/9 months from that date where you'd commit to close the sale after planning is (hopefully) approved.

In that time period then you engage your engineer/architect to come up with a suitable design and you submit it to the local planning authority. From applying for planning to actually getting it will take a minimum of 8-10 weeks and often much longer (if the planners come back with issues/queries).

Sounds like from your description though that the site itself might be tricky, need a lots of ground work? It'd probably be wise to speak to an engineer first, before going down the planning application route, incase the site itself is a non runner. You can also find out if there was ever an application made on the site before, all that info will be online on the Galway planning website.

JimmyMW

j_OConnor wrote: »

hi,

My husband and I are looking at building our own home in Galway (Barna/knocknacarra area)
We have a mortgage approved in principle and our eye set on a site (which we need to buy as we don't have land ourselves). The site is subject to planning permission, but before bidding o the site I would like to know the cost of building a house on it and also the cost of leveling the ground.

What would be the normal steps involved in this? Do you purchase the site first or is it common to contact a building company, an engineer, ...?

As you can see we are kind of clueless on what the next steps are after getting a mortgage.

Hoping to get some input from people that work in the business/went through the process themselves.

Before spending any money, whats the total budget and how much is the site costing? What size house are you hoping to build?

j_OConnor

JimmyMW wrote: »

Before spending any money, whats the total budget and how much is the site costing? What size house are you hoping to build?

The site is 120k leaving us with 320k budget to build incl all fees. Hoping to build a 190/200m2 house...

This should be possible or am I dreaming?!

j_OConnor

JoeA3 wrote: »

You'd typically buy the site - subject to planning permission. i.e. if you fail to obtain permission, then you can walk away with no obligation to complete the purchase. As part of that process you'd sign a contract which would probably have some time-frame stipulation - e.g. 6/9 months from that date where you'd commit to close the sale after planning is (hopefully) approved.

In that time period then you engage your engineer/architect to come up with a suitable design and you submit it to the local planning authority. From applying for planning to actually getting it will take a minimum of 8-10 weeks and often much longer (if the planners come back with issues/queries).

Sounds like from your description though that the site itself might be tricky, need a lots of ground work? It'd probably be wise to speak to an engineer first, before going down the planning application route, incase the site itself is a non runner. You can also find out if there was ever an application made on the site before, all that info will be online on the Galway planning website.

Thank you for the detailed and helpful reply!

So guess next step is looking for either engineer or quantity surveyor with regards to ground work etc.
No previous applications found for the site.

Calahonda52

j_OConnor wrote: »

The site is 120k leaving us with 320k budget to build incl all fees. Hoping to build a 190/200m2 house...

This should be possible or am I dreaming?!

Don't think its doable
https://www.scsi.ie/advice/renewing_your_house_insurance_rebuild_calculator

depends on finish and costs applicable for services, planning levies etc:

sea12

I think it’s doable. Depends where in the country you are. Currently building a 2500 Sq ft house with high spec finish for 280k all in. outside Dublin.

There is plenty of nay sayers on this forum but if you go out and get some prices even with the current boom you can get allot for your 320k.

BryanF

sea12 wrote: »

I think it’s doable. Depends where in the country you are. Currently building a 2500 Sq ft house with high spec finish for 280k all in. outside Dublin.

There is plenty of nay sayers on this forum but if you go out and get some prices even with the current boom you can get allot for your 320k.

Please confirm when you’ve finished self-building and outline what’s included/excluded from the price. Thanks

2019

look into buying the homebond building manual. Really important book for anyone whos building. Its very difficult to get however i keep hearing the new edition is getting publicised and released soon. How true this is i dont know. Maybe someone else could enlighten us on this matter.

sea12

BryanF wrote: »

Please confirm when you’ve finished self-building and outline what’s included/excluded from the price. Thanks

It’s a contract price with a main builder

BryanF

sea12 wrote: »

It’s a contract price with a main builder

Hi that’s a great price - assume contract was signed in 2018, that’s ~1.1k /m2

When you say outside Dublin?
Is that builders finish or turn key?
Assume the following are outside of the 280k
Professional fees
Council fees
Site
Site connections esb


Etc

Is everything ‘turn key’ included in the contract?
Waste treatment
Landscaping
Entrance
What else is the excluded?

As above, comeback and tell us what the build cost when your finished

Best of luck

JimmyMW

j_OConnor wrote: »

The site is 120k leaving us with 320k budget to build incl all fees. Hoping to build a 190/200m2 house...

This should be possible or am I dreaming?!

I am afraid I think its unrealistic, given the information you have provided. In general for initial budgeting €1500/1600 per m2 would be allowed for building to a basic standard finish with only footpaths externally (obviously dependent on location prices may vary). On top of that you would need to allow for professional fees, services connections (ESB, Water, Waste Water Etc) and exterior finishes eg drives, landscaping, boundary walls etc. The above figures would be based on an easily workable site and also a simple enough design (no grand designs stuff at that price) I currently know of a house under construction with an awkward site which has cost €80k extra in ground works, the soil needed to be removed from the site as there was no place to put it on the site due to its size, that can be a costly process.

Sorry for all the negative feedback, however I think you have a healthy budget at your disposal and with the right site and design and maybe reduction in size slightly you can do it.

j_OConnor

Thank you all for the replies.

We have contacted a local quantity surveyor to give us a rough idea costs wise etc.

The site wouldn't need soil to be removed. It needs to be levelled and a minor amount of soil needs to be added to make it level with the road.

The 320k we have is excluding 15% I counted as a margin so in total we have around 360 to build, but that would be our max budget.

Will post an update once I have one