How Much Does It Cost to Build a House

Many people prefer to purchase land and build a new house from scratch rather than buy an existing property with estate agents. There are two options. You can either build your dream house from the very beginning or make repairs to adjust the living space to your needs. How much does it cost to build a house? Let's try to get the answer!

Key topics

1. Cost of building a house
2. Costs of construction works
3. House building cost per m2
4. How to reduce construction costs

Cost to Build a House

In 2024, the cost of building a house in London from scratch is £3,500 per square metre. The price is measured in pounds per square metre of floor area. In London, it costs 1.5 times more than elsewhere in the UK.

On the other hand, most new self-built houses fall into the range of £1,750 to £2,750 per square metre.

Is It Cheaper to Build Your Own House from Scratch or Buy One

It's cheaper to build your own house from scratch than to buy one. If you choose to build a house from scratch, you'll get a custom-built home that you want. Such a house will fit your needs. You can pick cheaper building materials to reduce your construction costs. UK homeowners spend about £1,249 per year on gas and electricity bills, but the cost of running a house reduces significantly if you make it energy-efficient. Building your own home can be a cost-effective way to get your dream family house.

How Much Does It Cost to Build a House from Scratch

The average cost to build a house from scratch is £160 per square foot. Additionally, you have to purchase the land to build your house on and pay planning application fees as well as building regulations fees.

How Much Does It Cost to Buy a House

The average cost to buy a house in the UK is £275 per square foot. After you purchase a house, you may also need to make repairs to fit your space and suit your needs.

*Proficiency completed project at Queen's Park, North London.

Factors Affecting Total Build Cost

The land is one of the biggest factors that affect the costs of building a house. The land is a starting point for building houses. You have to buy land before starting construction.

The Price of Land Depends on the Main Three Factors

• location
• size of land
• condition of plots

After you purchase land, the construction work begins. Now, it's time to purchase construction materials and find a reliable team of house builders in London.

The price of building materials also has an impact on construction cost. Materials are widely available today. You constantly have to make decisions during the home building process. You should aim to select the right type of materials and make the best possible choice in terms of quality and price. For example, you can select either a timber frame or metal cladding materials. Build costs depend a lot on your choice. Explore all your options carefully and select the right type of materials.

You will find it easy to pick the right materials for a building project if you use architectural services. The main responsibility of an architect is to prepare drawings and help clients get planning permission. An architect also helps his or her clients pick building materials that meet their budget.

You need to select fixtures as well as fittings for a home. The price ranges from several hundred pounds to several thousand pounds. Some people prefer to use bespoke or refurbished fixtures. These options are more expensive.

Total build cost largely depends on building contractors in London and their professionalism. If you are going to deal with highly skilled builders, you must be prepared to pay a higher building cost.

Many construction companies in London operate on the market these days. Each company offers its build quality and build cost. Start planning a budget ahead of time.

Ask a builder to estimate a project or tell you a cost per square metre. It makes a lot of sense to get several quotes for a project. Builders provide their clients with advice and free quotes for construction. Analyse the company's portfolio carefully to find out how specialists build homes.

Costs of Construction Works

The construction works make up a sizable portion of the budget. When building a house from scratch, you need to get all the necessary construction works done. If you are interested in doing construction like a luxury kitchen extension or luxury loft conversions, you have to be ready to pay a higher price.

Building Design Fees

There is a direct link between the design of your home and build costs. It's recommended to start building a house with a design. The help of residential interior designers in London who have experience in doing similar projects is immeasurable. The designer's fees range from 7% to 15% of the budget.

Demolition Costs

Before starting a self-build project, it's necessary to prepare the site in London. You need to get demolition works done and remove waste from the site. This job will cost you £5,000-£10,000.

Cost of a Foundation

A foundation's cost mainly depends on three main factors: the size of a building, soil condition, and foundation type. The price to lay a foundation in London ranges from £100 to £120 per square metre. If there are slopes on plots of land, you will have to pay the higher price.

Cost of Drainage

It costs about £500-£1000 to install a drainage system in London. Sometimes, it's necessary to do additional work. In this case, you will have to pay extra costs.

Project Management Costs

A project manager has many important responsibilities and can help a client in many different ways. A project manager is responsible for employing professionals, buying building materials, and doing building control for projects, etc. The manager's fees are about 5% of the total building costs. The way you do project management impacts your expenses. Self-builders don't use the services of a project manager. Self-builders take the responsibilities of a manager and do building control themselves and don't pay fees. The self-build approach allows them to save some money.

Electrical Costs

You have to do wiring when building a house. The costs of electrical work range from £3,000 to £5,000 depending on the size of the works.

Plumbing and Heating Costs

The costs of plumbing and heating works depend on the type and size of a home. Doing plumbing in a bathroom costs about £1,675. Doing central heating installation costs about £3,750. The costs of plumbing a house depend on the number of bedrooms. Plumbing for a 2, 3, and 4-bedroom house costs £13,000, £15,000, and £17,000 respectively.

Roof Costs

Don't forget to estimate the roof costs when planning home building costs. The cost depends on the size of the roof, roof beams, and roofing material used. The more roofing your home has, the more you have to pay. The average cost of building a roof in London ranges between £5,000 and £6,000.

Chimney Costs

If you are building a house with a chimney, you have to prepare for additional costs. A chimney costs about £6,100. Chimney installation costs range between £1,650 and £2,500.

Costs of Flooring Materials

When calculating flooring costs, you have to consider two important aspects: flooring finish, floor structure, and the size of the floor area. There is a big variation of flooring.

The Most Common Types of Flooring

• ceramic tiles
• laminate
• vinyl tiles
• wood
• hardwood
• natural stone
• engineered flooring

The average flooring installation cost is between £4 and £20 per square foot.

Costs of Ceilings

The costs of ceilings covered with plasterboard and finished with gypsum plaster range between £17 and £20 per square metre.

Costs of Walls

The costs of walls depend on finish options. You can use either emulsion paint or tiling for walls in the kitchen and bathroom.

If you use more emulsion paint than tiling, the walls will cost £64m². If you use more tiling, the costs of wall construction will increase to £80/m².

Wallpaper is a popular choice for living rooms and bedrooms. The costs range between £80m² and £96/m².

Cavity Walls

Some people choose to build cavity walls for their houses. The walls of this type are more expensive. On the other hand, such walls provide insulation and allow homeowners to save £160 a year or even more money on heating.

Costs of Doors and Windows

You need to plan the budget for installing doors and windows in your house. The costs of doors and windows depend mainly on the specification.

External doors and windows of standard specification, good specification, and excellent specification cost £60–86/m², £81–£107/m², and £121–£146/m² respectively.

Cost of Building a Bathroom

When building a bathroom, you need to spend money on plumbing, tiling, walls, and bathroom facilities such as a bath, shower, heated towel rails, boiler, etc. Some people choose to have underfoot heating which increases the bathroom build cost.

The quality of bathroom facilities affects bathroom build costs. The average build costs of standard, good, and excellent bathrooms are £3,500, £5,400, and £8,700, respectively.

Cost of Building a Kitchen

The kitchen is a very important room in any house. That's why you have to get serious about building a kitchen.

The process of building a kitchen requires design and meticulous planning. It would be better to get a design for a kitchen developed by a professional.

Once the kitchen design is ready, get quotes and calculate kitchen build costs. It's possible to get a new kitchen for £3,700 - £13,700.

You may need to extend a kitchen in the future. In this case, you will have to deal with house extension builders, who have experience in doing kitchen extensions in London.

How much does it cost to build a house extension?

Decoration Costs

The amount you spend on painting and decorating a house affects the total house building cost. The costs of painting an entire house depending on its size and range between £1,550 and £4,250. Painting a room of average size in London costs £375 - £500.

Landscaping Costs

The cost of landscaping depends on your needs and preferences. Are you interested in creating a landscaped garden? If so, you'll have to pay £100 per square metre. You also need to pay for landscaping design work and architect fees. If you need only planting services, then you should plan the budget of £30 per square metre for landscaping. If you want to have a pond in your garden, then the expenses will increase.

Extra Costs

Building a dream home has extra costs. That's why you should include extra fees in your project's budget.

You have to get permission before starting to build a house. When applying for planning permission, you have to pay some fees. The planning permission fee is £462.

You may be required to pay for building regulation applications and inspections. The fees cost £1,000.

Don't forget about the site survey. Site surveys cost up to £500 and structural engineer's fees cost up to £500.

When you purchase a property that costs more than £125,000 you have to pay the stamp duty land tax. Use a stamp duty online calculator to figure out how much you have to pay in taxes. This amount depends on the value of the land. Take advantage of a calculator if you would like to learn more about SDLT rates that you have to pay after you get a site for building your dream home.

You should also add VAT percentage to expenses. There are many VAT online calculators available today. Use these online tools to calculate VAT rates in the UK.

Some people prefer to convert a basement into a functional space. Basement conversion in London will give you extra space. But your expenses will increase as well.

House Building Costs per m2

The price of building a standard home in the UK is about £2,500 per m². But if you are looking for more than a house of standard quality, then the works may cost you £2,500 - £3,000 per m².

There is no standard formula for calculating the building price per m². Many factors affect the price and that's why making calculations can be hard.

Among the factors that affect the price are construction site, materials as well as the quality of works. It's a good idea to get the advice of tradespeople, quantity surveyor or self-build homeowners beforehand.

How Much Does It Cost to Build a 2 Bedroom House UK

The average cost of building a 2-bedroom house in the UK is anywhere between £180,000.00 to £281,437.00.

How Much Does It Cost to Build a 3 Bedroom House UK

The average cost of building a 3-bedroom house is £213,000. The most common size of a three-bedroom home ranges from 90 square metres to 120 square metres, meaning the cost of building a three-bedroom house can range from around £126,000 to £350,000.

How Much Would It Cost to Build a 4 Bedroom House from Scratch

The average cost of building a 4-bedroom house from scratch in the UK is between £294,500.00 to £441,750.00.

How Much Does It Cost to Build a 5 Bedroom House UK

The average cost of building a 5-bedroom house in the UK is between £318,250.00 to £477,375.00. In London, to build a five-bedroom house from scratch will cost you more due to restrictions and easy access to the property.

How to Reduce Construction Costs

It all begins with buying land. Some sites are more expensive than others. You can choose a less expensive site for building a home.

It's possible to save on your house design. You will have to pay more if you choose to hire an interior designer. Expenses decrease dramatically when you plan everything by yourself and build a home without an interior designer.

Do you have some building knowledge and can do different types of work by yourself? Or, maybe, you can be your tradesperson? This will help you save some up to 30% to 40% of costs. The DIY project is less expensive.

Is It Worth It to Build Your Own House

Building a house has many incredible benefits. The most significant advantage of designing and building your home is that you can get exactly what you want. It's cheaper to build a house than buy a property from a developer. Building a house from scratch gives you a lot of flexibility.

Now, let's return to our main question: how much does it cost to build a house? It's difficult to give an exact answer. It all depends on your preferences. What is the size of your house? What materials are you going to use? What is the pricing policy of your building company? Each situation is unique.

It would be better to discuss your plans with building specialists and ask them to provide you with an estimate. Getting such an estimate will help you prepare for a project financially. Start a project if you feel that you are ready for it.

Here Is the Overview

House Type	Per Square metre	Professional Fees	Total Cost
2 bedroom	£1,750 to £3,000	£27,000 to £42,000	£281,437.00
3 bedroom	£1,750 to £3,000	£36,000 to £54,000	£350,000
4 bedroom	£1,750 to £3,000	£43,000 to £66,000	£441,750.00
5 bedroom	£1,750 to £3,000	£48,000 to £72,000	£477,375.00