Building a house from scratch: is it worth it?
If you intend to buy a house, consider that there is a valid alternative to buying: building it. With the “do it yourself” you can also save a lot, but you have to carefully consider the costs to be incurred, starting with that of the land on which the property will be built.
A further advantage is that you can design it in a personalized way and suited to your needs, starting from the construction materials; as you will see, there are valid alternatives to the classic brick.
But building a house from scratch requires a more challenging path than buying a ready-made home. You will first have to worry about identifying the terrain and then choosing the type of construction to be built. It is necessary to devote time and attention to these activities to understand how much the costs really amount and to understand if there is convenience or not.
In this article we will explain what you need to know about it, so that you can better orient your choice.
Building a house: choosing the land:
Soil is the first variable to consider. Obviously it will have to be build able on the basis of the master plan and urban planning tools; once you have ascertained this basic requirement, you can identify it in the area that best suits your housing needs.
A recent research by Immobilize.it reveals that, following the Covid-19 pandemic, the search for independent solutions, which favors villas, has grown: their demand has increased by almost 10% compared to last year.
Independent homes represent a quarter of the sales market. It is precisely in this band that those who are not looking for a ready-made property, but for the land on which to build it, are placed.
The greatest demand is for building plots close to cities, but with large green spaces, with the possibility of creating a garden.
Building a house: the Price of the land:
The price of the land is the component that affects the overall cost the most. An investigation by the business newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore reveals that currently average prices vary between 100 and 800 dollars per square meter: the width of the gap is determined above all by the location but also by the building index, i.e. the volume that it can be built with respect to the surface of the lot.
Thus each geographical area has its own price range, which can fluctuate a lot even within a few kilometers: for example, in the region it ranges between 150 and 400 dollars per square meter on Lake Garda, but drops to a maximum of 250 dollars.
In the countryside around Florence, where the offer is scarce, however, prices start at 800 dollars and reach 2,500 dollars per square meter; much more than in the outskirts of CA, where they oscillate between 120 and 400 dollars / sqm.
If you do not already have your own land on which you can build, you will also need to add the cost of the deed of sale and registration fees to the purchase price.
Building a house: Project and Permits:
Once the land has been found, it is necessary to decide whether to build according to traditional construction or using the solutions of the so-called innovative construction, such as that of prefabricated wooden houses, which today represent a valid alternative.
First of all, you must know that even prefabricated houses of any material are subject to urban planning and building regulations and therefore require all the necessary authorizations.
You might be interested in Plumbing tips as Plumbing is the most important part of any building
Therefore, even for wooden houses it is necessary to issue the permit to build by the Municipality and it is necessary to respect any further constraints, such as the environmental and landscape ones that insist on the area.
Building a house: what materials:
The cost of construction will mainly depend on the type of materials chosen; in this area there are very varied offers for types and for all budgets, from the most luxurious to the cheapest.
Green building offers a wide range of quality solutions that also guarantee energy efficiency on a par with traditional buildings and sometimes even at a higher level.
One of the most famous manufacturers of prefabricated houses. It caters to a medium-high customer range, offers finished solutions with construction prices of around 1,700 dollars per square meter; the average of the builders of prefabricated houses is generally between 1,200 and 1,800 dollars per square meter.
Now Amazon also offers the kit to build prefabricated houses, especially in wood, at affordable prices: the project is already completed, it’s just a matter of choosing it, with some possibility of extension and modification of the finishes.
Building a house: the total cost:
To the price of the land (and the costs of its purchase) and the cost for the construction of the house it is still necessary to add the expense items for the connections (water, electricity and gas), for any finishing or accessories and finally for the furniture ; these components are similar for all types of residential property and therefore do not depend on the choice between traditional or innovative construction.
Instead, the design cost, as we have seen, is absorbed in the vast majority of “do-it-yourself” solutions as it is incorporated into the sale price of the prefabricated building, unless you want to request custom adaptations and “off-the-shelf” modifications to order. directly to the manufacturer. Here are some home decoration tips
One of the advantages of prefabricated buildings compared to traditional buildings is the delivery time of the finished house, which is measured in weeks rather than months or years.
Do it yourself home: what convenience?:
At this point, you will have understood that what affects prices the most are the area where the property will be located, the size of the house (construction prices are intended in gross square meters, not useful and walkable), the type of materials used and more or less valuable finishes.
Compared to traditional construction, the possibilities of “do it yourself” have expanded the products but not necessarily the convenience: in some cases, the cost of the finished construction is equivalent or may even be higher; in other cases, however, it is possible to save even half of the total costs.
Much depends on personal tastes which, depending on the case, can orient towards a type of innovative solution, such as green building, or towards the traditional construction in pillars and bricks.
As we have seen, the alternatives are numerous and there are several product offers on the market that allow you to save a lot by obtaining a product of equal reliability, quality, durability and resistance. It is therefore very important to devote time and attention to research, examining the various quotes and testing the quality of the builders. Read also how much it costs to build a house.