Quote from: Erne Man on August 15, 2019, 03:41:05 PM
Clarshack - just going through this process at the minute. Bought a site last year, and plans passed back in March, and currently have plans with a number of builders for pricing.
Material prices have increased significantly (even in the last year) - insulation certainly impacted by raw material shortage. GBP rate not helping the material prices, as raw material souring from outside UK. Added to that is the demand for good tradespeople in Greater Dublin, leading to a relative shortage in NI.
Our design isnt the traditional square build (less than 2,500sq ft though), but the architect was estimating a "live-in" price of somewhere between £90 - £100 per sq ft for a good finish, albeit that rate is dependent on what you spend on kitchens, bathrooms, landscaping etc.
To be honest I'm expecting builders prices + a slight uplift on some of their PC sums, to come in around £110 per sq ft.
Architect and associated Fees, Electricity connection etc could easily add another £5 - £8 per sq ft to that, depending on how rural & complex the site is. We got an NIE quote of £10k for connection, but have spoken to people in more rural locations paying £15k - £18k.
I recently got my connection completed and as you have stated being in a rural area, my quote from NIE was actually over £10k. However I was able to go another company who carried out the majority of the work. They put up the poles and new transformer and laid the cable to my meter box. I don't think many people factor this cost in when budgeting for a new build, certainly I hadn't considered it would cost me as much.
I think this is a fairly new thing but they are definitely worth a call for a quote if nothing else. I saved about 20% on my NIE quote, and found them very helpful throughout.
Here is a link to their site.
https://www.electricityworx.com