As a Quantity Surveyor, this is without doubt the most frequent question I receive from someone looking to build their first home. And a question that has so much unknown factors and variables that it cannot be answered as simple as the question asks.
To make the client understand the variables, I pose a comparative question, “how much does a car cost?” It depends on the make, how big the engine is, how advanced the technology and extras are, how highly specified the finishes are for the interior, how big it is etc.
And this is quite similar to building your house or extension. How big is it? Where is the location? How accessible is the site? What specification and how highly finished will it be? Every variable item makes each and every house different. No matter how many times a builder will do a one off house, no two builds will ever be the same in one off houses.
The other great term we hear lots as well is the square foot cost. And the variables here are unending for all the reasons outlined above. A square foot cost will give you a very, very rough idea of the budget. But it is very much a guess. You will hear people tell you €100, €150 and €200 a square foot. And they can all be right, but you cannot just imprint a generic cost from one specific project to a very specific set of your own circumstances. The square foot cost is helpful to get an overall rough idea, but it is very unscientific and not at all reliable.
Some of the more variable costs within a one off build are in electrical and mechanical (plumbing) costs. Your electrical fit out can be highly specified, CAT6 cables throughout, hardwired for sound systems and entertainment, recessed LED spotlights etc. Or it could be a very basic functional completion. This variable is heightened greatly with your mechanical fitout. You can have underfloor heating throughout with a renewable heat source, heat recovery ventilation and all the high finishing touches that come with these. Or you could have a standard boiler with radiators and maybe a solar panel to help contribute to the sustainability. The prices of all these vary considerably, which renders budget square foot prices irrelevant to each builds specific needs.
Another factor to consider is the direct costs that you as a new builder will have to pay. You have all your professional fees, mainly Architect and solicitor and potentially Engineer, Quantity Surveyor or interior designer etc. You will also have your planning contributions, and again, these vary from county to county with no set overall figure nationwide. As an example, Wexford Co Co look for €11/m2, Cork Co Co look for €19.04 or 24.49/m2, Meath Co Co look for a flat fee of €6,000 up to €11,000 and Clare Co Co look for €3,500, €5,549 or €20/m2. So even within certain counties, these planning contributions fluctuate, so there is no set figure to work off when compiling a generic budget.
When compiling a budgetary figure, other factors to consider are furnishing the house (carpets, tiling finishes etc) and furniture costs. The landscaping is another area of work which often gets left out of budgets as this can be seen as something to put on the long finger and complete once the house is complete. People will often leave out landscaping to save some money. Another area where savings are sometimes met during projects is by not finishing out parts of the house, ie complete the ground floor but leave the upper floor unfinished to be done bit by bit after moving in.
So with all these factors and variables to consider, the question of “how much will my house cost?” is not an easy answer and whilst it can be figured out, it will not be done easily by throwing a generic ft2 rate against it. You will have a budget this way, but a more in depth measurement and application of rates specific to your project and location must be applied to get to a more accurate budget figure of the costs. In further blogs we will detail how your QS can do this for you and the value of getting this completed.