Tony's House

I find it very difficult to quote building costs -- I did so much labour myself and management and am very careful about spending on basics. Build was in 2009

I had a fund of £175k available and near the end had to pull in £20k more

Do I include infrastructure charges into the build cost? Or professional fees?

My total of £195 includes architects and professional fees of £6k, infrastructure £15k furniture £11k, flooring £10k, road worth £15k but it me cost £6k

My own labour for 163 days cost me nothing other than a few grey hairs. It could be added in at £40, £50 or £60k depending how you feel about my worth.

The build includes a basement, central vac, high tech lighting and computer monitoring and control, solar hot water , granite worktops, marble kitchen/diner floor, rainwater recycling, oak joinery, mega expensive windows, MHRV, very wide cavities, lots of insulation, the list goes on... All of which should push up the costs.

Still on a self build basis including everything worst case £815 per m2

Basic self build cost £700? depending what you include.

Add in my time and we get anywhere between £980 and £1050

Take your pick but all these figures are very low considering the standard of finish that I have

Reasons why my costs are low:-

Fitted kitchen quotes £25 to £35k and what I built looks like £30k

It cost carcases £1000, granite worktops £2300, frontals, £900, oak £250 appliances £3500 , labour other than mine £600, other stuff £250 So including the utility £8800.

Road Quote £15,000 my cost £6,000 (did it myself with a paving machine and drivers)

Patio and landscaping Quote £5500 and £4500 my cost less than £2000

Plumbing labour and bathroom fitting = zero ( did it all myself)

Basement total cost £35k to ground floor on stage.

Insulation materials £1200 above a normal build

Heating system = zero ( NB 200m of ufh pipe installed but not used )

Some materials came in from my left overs from being a builder for 30 years but their worth was only max £1000.