The Turkey Shed

Building a new home is an exciting yet challenging endeavour. As we embarked on this journey, we were aware of the various factors that could influence the overall cost. However, the dramatic increase in build costs since we started the process has been quite unexpected.

When we initially considered our new house build, our estimated costs were within the budget of an average family home in the village. We felt confident that we could manage the expenses without stretching our budget too thin. Unfortunately, the economic landscape has shifted significantly over the past few years, leading to a substantial rise in construction costs.

Several factors have contributed to this increase. The global pandemic disrupted supply chains, causing shortages in essential materials such as timber, steel, and concrete. Additionally, inflation has driven up the prices of these materials, making them more expensive than ever before. Labour costs have also risen, as the demand for skilled workers has outpaced supply.

The builders that we have been intending to use provided us with costings that were above what I had hoped, but, unfortunately it seems, in line with the current market. The average cost to build a house in 2020, when we started was £1,500 to £2,000 per square metre. Now, five years later, the average is between £1,750 and £3,200. Taking these stats into account and knowing our current estimate puts our build at around £2,250 per square metre and knowing that the quality of the build will be high, but not premium, it is safe to assume because of the change in the economy, the build is now estimated at around 25-35% more than it would have been 5 years ago!

Unfortunately with the new estimate for the build, the budget puts us quite a way over our initial project target of costing the same as buying a house in the village. The new estimate doesn’t give us much wiggle room, so keeping an eye on the costs throughout the build has become even more important.