Expert: Bruce E. Johnson - 2/27/2009

Question
Hi. Planning a selfbuild and wondered whether we are being overpriced at £900 per square metre. Have been on to a website which can give you a rough idea of what the cost would be to build and if I did my maths properly it was working out at about £650. The build is a 4 bedroomed bungalow, approx 130 square metres, costing aabout £115,000 to build. Thanx

Answer
Hi Roselyn, Either figure seems right.  A lot of it depends on who you use to sub-contract the work and what kind of finishes you add at the end.  You need to have your plans finished to the point that you can take competing bids from the various trade contractors, compare the bids, compare the gray areas of the bids (work excluded or included).  The lower bid may not always be the best or most complete one.  If you have a realistic budget then you need to stay within that budget when finalizing your contracts.  If your budget is 115,000 then try to make that number work.  This may mean using alternative materials and value engineering by the various trades.  You can use the higher number the 900 euros per sq. meter as high-end and the 650 as the low-end.  In the US you would be talking 120 US dollars a square foot for the high end price of 900 euros per sq. meter. which is relatively cheap nowadays.  Most new home construction here is closer to 150 US dollars per sq. foot. The company I work for is a design/build partner.  We have projects come at us that are designed to cost 20 million dollars and our client only has 16 million to spend and believe it or not we always find a way to make the budget fit the building. So I know it is possible. I hope this information helps feel free to write again regarding this or other matters, sincerely, bruce e johnson..bejohnsonconsulting.com