Been a while since i lurked/posted here - been busy in the garden most of the summer - anyway I now find myself coming back to you well informed people for some more of your helpful advice!
I'm considering/planning/ have started on the long and slippery slope of converting a large brick outbuilding we own into three holiday cottages. the existing brick structure is sound, but it does have a concrete corrugated asbestos style roof which will need replacing. The building itself is 36ft x 72ft, and is basically a large brick box.
We'll probably end up building a timber frame inside the existing brickwork, and may need to add about six courses of bricks to get the height we need.
Assuming that all i want is the equivalent of three, two or three bed two storey terraced houses, and i already own the land and the building, what would be a sensible figure to use to get an indication of costs? I've heard figures of 50-55 per sq ft and 1000 per sq m
I appreciate that it's a finger in the air job - but at this stage I just want to get some idea of a figure........
As this is not currently a dwelling, your BCO will insist you meet all the regs as for a new build. If there isn't an existing DPC, installing one can be expensive so make sure this is included in the cost. You will also need to fully insulate to the latest part L. Can't help on actual costs though I'm afraid.
With my finger in the air, a new build from scratch, (not including demolition), is around £75 per sq ft in Manchester/N. West, for a standard spec. new home.
Given that you are actually doing a refurbishment, (to a degree), I understand that the costs are generally higher than new.
This is an educated guess, based on a father who was MD of the N West division of a national outfit, and advising new builders in the area
50-55 per square is very do-able IF you don''t have to redo foundations etc. AND if you avoid the grosser errors of 'property ladder' type things.
I.e. a basic shell from scratch is around 50 per sq. ft.
BUT I have seen quotes for 'refurbishing' london flats of up to £200 per sq. ft, with not an ounce of structural change in them.
Pure interiors design ditz and ye jollye moderne gay kitchen designeres etc.
For example you have what - 36x72ft, so 2500 sq. ft per floor,(5000 sq. ft on two floors) so your 50 a square makes that a £250k conversion.
Now consider that people can and do spend up to 20k on a kitchen fit out, 20k on a bathroom, and up to to 100 a square meter putting down fancy flooring etc. etc.
Add that in and 3 baths and three kitchens just set you back £120k, and
250 sq. meters of nice flooring comes out at a further £25,000 ....
I am in the throes of finishing off my house - built from scratch, part thatched, part tiled, 4000 sq. ft with 3 bathrooms and nice floors and a lot of exterior paving - must have spent about 600k so far, and maybe another 15-20k to go. Ok it's to a high standard, but things like curtains and lighting and stoves all cost money.
I would say that you should be prepared to spend up to half a mill, and hope you can get it all done under 400k, but the basic shells could be done for about 200-250k.
Let me know if you want a project manager, or at least some in detail advice. I can already envisage ways in which you might e.g.. spread a single large capacity heating system among the three properties and thereby save money.
Worst thing you can do is to have to do it under time pressure, and on a budget that is not big enough. Snags always happen, you might find you need totally new sewage, drainage, electrical supplies etc. (I did) and also don't underestimate the cost of clearing up the mess and making nice drives and lawns out of builders rubble afterwards. Or the cost of employing and firing dross tradesmen, making good the mess they leave, and so on. The ability to simply shut the site dow until you can get the right trades in to do the critical bit before resuming once its done is key, but you lose time doing it. I could have saved a lot of pain if I had done that, and waited till the decent plasterers were available, rather than letting the crappo ones do their 'best' which was OK, but not really as good as it could have been...
If you have a couple of years to do it all in, at a measured pace as and when funds and trades are available, it will work out cheaper than trying to do it all in one long summer.
If its a purely commercial thing you are doing, then possibly doing the fit outs one at a time using income for the first to fund the second is indicated. You can save also by using second hand or refurbed kit - things like stoves and toilets can be found in perfect working order from skips and rubbish dumps. Simple decent carpeting throughout and vinyl in kitchens and bathrooms is the most cost effective flooring, and white plastic fittings and no fancy stuff in the way of curtains windows and lighting brings fit out costs way down. As does simple gravel drives, seeded lawns and shrubs versus gorgeous paviors, flower beds etc.
Pay great attention to sewage disposal, decent mains pressure showers, and so on,
I'll reiterate, quarter of a mill to get any possibility of commercial return, 400k should with good control and sensible interiors see it more or less complete, and half a mill should see it done fairly fast. But don't take it on if, worst case, 600k over two years was not somehow available. Or be prepared to reduce the project size halfway.
Oh, in general, the total cost is four times the materials costs, roughly. That is you have to pay someone 3 quid in general to erect a quids worth of material. You can see therefore that doubling material costs only adds perhaps 25% to the costs if labour to erect remains the same.
That should also indicate the way to do it cheaply: Not cheap materials but avoid complexity (I didn't) ...just square boxes, with plain windows in the sides, bog standard everything, single roof type on plain gable ends. No dormers or hips or valleys, etc.etc..
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