Re costs per Square metre for building

[PaulNicolaou]

Hello
Would be grateful for some advice. Am about to embark on building a house on some land that I own directly behind my own house. The contractor who has cleared the site and erected back boundary walls has quoted EUR 2000 per square metre. He says that this will be for a completely finished property but is very vague on what that includes. Does anybody have an idea of whether this build cost is right? Thank you

[Pantheman]

Your architect can answer this question. He will cost it out with the spec you tell him.

euros/m2 floor tiles, wall title, granite tops etc. 2000E/m2 is excessive, you ought to be looking at 1400-1500/m2 at todays prices.

Remembering that this is just the house not landscaping, kitting it out furnishings, appliances etc.

You should get 2 or 3 quotes using the plants your architect has prepared.

Good luck

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Paul

A contractor cannot design your home. The only person who can do that is a registered architect.

The costs can vary hugely depending on ground conditions and the amount of work needed to make the plot suitable for building, the design of the property, the size of the property, the quality of the fixtures and fittings, etc., etc., etc.

There is no way a contractor can do this. As Pan advised, your architect can answer the question - with your input.

We built our house and I've emailed you what we did. In summary:

- We completed and confirmed the design with our architect.

- A quantity surveyor prepared bills of quantities.

- Our architect sent invitations to tender to five building contractors (we added a sixth to the list to ensure there was no 'funny business'.

- From the list of six, we discounted the 2 most expensive and the least cost bids - shortlisting 3.

- We visited properties built by the 3 contractors on the shortlist to check them out and inspect them.

- We selected our preferred contractor.

- We haggled and agreed a fixed-price contract with the contractor.

- We signed the local equivalent of the UK JCC contract and also an umpteen page specification prepared by our architect, which was also signed by the contractor.

- The property was finished about 18 months later and we accepted delivery.

We also contracted a specialist company for the electromechanical work and bought virtually all the fixtures, fittings and floor finishes ourselves.

We've lived in the property for 19 years and have had zero problems.

Regards,

[Vendela]

They count about 2000/m2 as ballpark figure these days. But given the various "quality" in Cyprus, it is not as easy.

Get an architect and get quotes. Prices are very variable and it also depends on what you want. I would not use a contractor or developer without an architect and it is not legal, as mentioned before.

[PaulNicolaou]

Thank you to all for your helpful advice. The Contractor wants to use his own architect. We have a rough idea of how the property should be laid out and the intention was to pass these ideas onto the architect to draw up proper plans. This contractor is recommended by the Muktah in the village but 2000 EUR per squ m seemed excessive. Thank you again

[Nigel Howarth]

Hi Paul

I published an article a last year Average cost of building a house, which gave a figure of €1,059/sqm. for 2020.

Since then, the price of construction materials has escalated due to increased demand following COVID, Russia's war in Ukraine pushing up energy prices, etc.

Regards,

[J B]

Slightly off topic but I've just been talking to our business insurance broker in the UK.
The companies he deals with have added 18% to property rebuild costs this year.

[Nigel Howarth]

The companies he deals with have added 18% to property rebuild costs this year.

That's because construction material costs have rocketed.

Cheers,