wayner

Interesting statistic. So what you are saying is that there's a massive supply of sites with limited demand which should keep a lid on prices for the forseeable future? Where are you thinking of building close to the M2? BelfastVI - where do you live?

Hi, Thanks for the welcome! I've been a long term lurker but couldn't find any relevant discussion on the current viability of self-build ) >>1/ No real idea about Belfast sites as we are looking further afield in County Down. Would be interesting to gauge approximate prices for areas. We have seen a few sites that have been too expensive IMO and are wondering why? What kind of site prices are you finding in Co.Down and where exactly? For example I would imagine that around Newry sites are considerably cheaper than somewhere within spitting distance of Belfast. I'm looking at the Armagh/Tyrone area, somewhere up to an hour away from Belfast. Like you say there's a wide range of asking prices, but this is the case for the property market as a whole. I have a feeling that a realistic price in the Armagh/Tyrone region for a decent half acre site would be 50-60K, probably similiar to South Down. Around Belfast it seems to be 100-150K depending on the site. >>2/ Labour may be (very) slightly cheaper but material costs seem to have risen. I suppose this depends on how much work you will be doing your self if any - labour much cheaper than tradesmen. Yep, this is my feeling as well. Material costs are up but then if construction activity is low surely there must be a lot of contractors cutting each others throats to get self-build projects? >>The self build portal reports state that in NI you can buy a plot and build a generous 3/4 bedroom house for £108000. This is supposed to reflect a complete job. It does not take into account where in NI you want to build or the size of the plot or build. I find this very hard to believe. The house I built near Enniskillen in 2000 ended up costing me 150K totally finished. That was for a 4 bedroom bungalow on a 1 acre site with nicely landscaped grounds and a 30K site cost. There was a main contractor on the build and I did the landscaping work myself. Given a current site cost of 50-60K I find it hard to see how you would have much change out of 200K for a similiar house on a similiar site. At this figure you would end up with a better house than what you could buy for 200K, but not by much taking into account the amount of time and hassle involved (having done it once I know what's involved!) It would be interesting to hear from someone who has recently done a self-build to get an idea of costings.

I would like to start some discussion on the viability of self-build in the current depressed market. The questions which I have at the moment are (as a potential self-builder for the second time, first time pre-boom 2000) i) Are site prices now at a realistic level (seems like 50-60K is typical 25miles+ outside Belfast, in 2000 I paid 30K so seems realistic) ii) Have construction costs come down to reflect over supply of labour? iii) How does self-build cost compare with buying a similiar house - have prices now come down so far that you can buy cheaper than you can build and it's simply not worth the hassle?