Starting self Build in October?

L

lastbuilders

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Hi All, I wanted to get peoples opinion on starting a self - build now with the possibility of bad weather etc. The Site clearence and foundations are starting next week which should be complete within two weeks. The house will be timber frame which will be ready by the middle of November. I have the brickie, plumber, electrician etc lined up.

I would prefer to start now as I plan on having it complete by the middle of next year. Has anyone else started at this time of year or is it s crazy time to start??
 
Go ahead and start as soon as you can. You will indeed have weather delays but unless we have an unusually wet winter, these should not affect your timetable too much. (These will be largely a non-issue once your house is roofed). You are going to have delays anyhow with tradesmen inevitably breaking promises so you might as well get ahead when you can. Best of luck with it.
 
I started on 6th January last year - trust me weather delays are least of your troubles ! My advise is just get started.
 
I started in July 2004.

Only got the heat turned on this week. It's been a long and arduous process. Windows were 3 months late. Plasterer turned up 5 months late. Plumber still hasn't finished. At least the electrician has been reliable!

The project is 100% over budget. Some of that is self-inflicted (e.g. by upgrading specs and materials along the way) but a lot of it was due to poor planning and budgeting. Do your sums. Sit down with someone who really knows what's involved and add up EVERYTHING.

(Illustrative example - digging out a septic tank and percolation area and filling it with the correct type of stone/fill etc can take 3 days at €25 per hour for a digger and operator plus €500-600 for stone depending on your site - total cost additional to the cost of the tank and piping €1200).

I like to think I know my way around a construction site, and I've done extensive renovation/rebuilds before, but times have changed and labour is extremely scarce in the building industry.

If I was doing it again in the current economic climate I'd bite the bullet and wait the year or so (depending on what part of the country you're in) you may have to wait for the right contractor to be available.

Agree on a reasonable budget and completion date, hire an architect to supervise (it's amazing what people will try to get away with when you're not around) and have a contract and penalty clause to encourage the builder to complete on time.

And try not to change things too much along the way. It leads to delays, and the perception that the budget is going up can have a profound effect on subcontractors and how they deal with you.

If the job goes on too long everyone gets depressed and unmotivated so you'll have your work cut out to keep everyone on track. It's a vicious circle.

Getting started is important as long as your site isn't too wet. Try to keep it as dry as possible with plenty of stone/gravel etc around the site area. Nobody wants to work in a mudbath. Get your drain/foul sewer design right from the beginning, put down the drains and other service pipes (esb, gas etc) early in the site preparation process and/or make sure you leave openings in your founds or rising walls to get them into the house. I know this stuff sounds obvious but it's easy to overlook this kind of thing if you or someone else isn't on site looking ahead to the next stage. For instance I recently discovered no gas pipe into the house for the cooker. More digging required.

But best of luck with it!
 
When you say self build, do you mean by direct labour or by one main contractor?
 
>> I have the brickie, plumber, electrician etc lined up.

Sounds like he plans to manage the project himself.
 
I would start if I were you. We started last March and you can have bad weather at any time of the year.
It always seems to take longer than anticipated so start as soon as possible.
A lot of the work can be done in bad weather anyway.....or else no house would ever be finished on this fair isle.
Good luck with it, it isn't easy.
 
Frost is one of the chief difficulties in relation to foundations, so you should be safe enough for now. Allow at least 20% for overspend in my experience. My opinion based on experience- although with a main contractor, not direct labour.
 
Thanks for the advise. Was meant to start last week but put it off by a week on the advice of the contractor who said it would be wet (which turned out to be right). I am doing it direct labour. The fact that it will be timber frame should help me get it roofed b4 the frost and snow. The timber frame will not be ready for about 6 weeks so I am not losing any time by waiting a week. I am building down the country but working in Dublin which will be a challenge but I have a lot of family living close by the site and they have agreed to keep an eye on it. I am going by recommendations for contractors as much as price so hopefully they will be "relatively" reliable. Will keep ye informed on my progress. I am allowing 80 euro sq. foot so hopefully this will be sufficient.
 
LastBuilders,

Looking at this myself, but only preparing a planning application and house design at the minute !!

Where did you get the 80 euro per sq ft. basis ? Is that for complete finish or just to roof and walls.....?

BTW, how much did you pay for getting your plans drawn up?

D
 
I hope to have the house finished for the 80 euros sq. foot except for gardens and driveway. I heard that 60 to 70 euro a sq foot is what a contractor can typically get a house built for so I am allowing a bit extra for unforseen expenses. I worked out what I estimate it would cost to build it and leave about 10% extra in case of unforseen costs that are bound to happen. My architect is also dealing with stage payments, cert. of complience etc and cost me about 3000 euros which is a bit more than I have budgeted originally but we had to redo the plans due to planning issues which added a bit to it.
 
€80 /sqft for a finished house seems very cheap unless you are planning on doing alot of work yourself. Have you based this price on quotes? I'd have thought €100 /ft was more realisic for a direct labour build (though it depends a lot on quality of finish).

As someone else mentioned allow a contingancy of 15 - 20% I've built two houses by direct labour in the last 4 years and used every penny of my contingancy fund both times. (the misses has expensive tastes;) )

Good luck and above all enjoy it it can be very satisfing to build your own house.

Dusty​
 
Just finished my house build and job turned out great, considered at the start self build in the end went for one main contractor due to time constraints & stress it would bring, I think the best thing I did invest in was a good architect who took regular site visits and regular meetings with the contractor he let the builder away with nothing and any concerns, changes I had I could call him anytime, he was not cheap from start to finish but considering the overall investment he was worth every penny.I took over the self build when the builder had finished 2nd fix. and made good savings here.Do not to dates for things to be completed unnecessary pressure on yourself.Best of luck with it enjoy it!.
 
I would have thought that 80 euro per sq ft is a realistic estimate excluding landscaping.
I know we have come in under this for a 2250 square ft house which was block built.
 
Guys,

These estimates above .... do you include cost of site in your 80 / 100 eur per sq ft ?

Thanks,

D
 
Started digging yesterday and so far so good. I just have to do a "keep away rain dance" for the next few weeks until the foundations go in. The 80 euro a sq foot does not include the cost of the site as I was fortunate enough to be gifted it. If I had to buy the site it would be between 100 and 110 euros sq foot.
 
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