Building a house in Trinidad

[eurotuner]

A good rule of thumb is to expect to pay $400 to $600 per square foot. The price goes up from there depending on features and finish. For a moderately finished residential home $1000 per square foot is common and should be expected as more realistic.

With a design, a quantities surveyor will get you better numbers.

Guess i'm going to be homeless

[rspann]

Nah, you could build a good house for a lot less than that.

[dude2014]

How the A$k you get approval for 2m without a design?
I hope you 2 know to get this done before you build.
A relative and his wife spent over $50k before settling on a design.

The house ended up with a space in the center that you could fall to your demise.

A design will allow you to detail your costs and then you can decide what to add or chop and stay within budget.

[sleek78]

A good rule of thumb is to expect to pay $400 to $600 per square foot. The price goes up from there depending on features and finish. For a moderately finished residential home $1000 per square foot is common and should be expected as more realistic.

With a design, a quantities surveyor will get you better numbers.

[sleek78]

A good rule of thumb is to expect to pay $400 to $600 per square foot. The price goes up from there depending on features and finish. For a moderately finished residential home $1000 per square foot is common and should be expected as more realistic.

With a design, a quantities surveyor will get you better numbers.

Thanks for the reply.
We are currently in the process of getting our house plans done which is supposed to be a 5 bedroom room home with d master bedroom having a walk-in closet and 4 of the rooms en suite., a library, laundry room and pantry with a 2car garage on 8000sq ft of land.
I am wondering if that can be accomplished with 2 million dollars or that is not being realistic??

[V2NR 3.0]

How the A$k you get approval for 2m without a design?
I hope you 2 know to get this done before you build.
A relative and his wife spent over $50k before settling on a design.

The house ended up with a space in the center that you could fall to your demise.

A design will allow you to detail your costs and then you can decide what to add or chop and stay within budget.

I think he meant he was pre-approved.

[sleek78]

How the A$k you get approval for 2m without a design?
I hope you 2 know to get this done before you build.
A relative and his wife spent over $50k before settling on a design.

The house ended up with a space in the center that you could fall to your demise.

A design will allow you to detail your costs and then you can decide what to add or chop and stay within budget.

I think he meant he was pre-approved.

Sorry.. I mean pre-approved.
We were actually pre-approved for 2.5 million but we want to complete our dream home within budget. We were told to leave some money out for cost overruns and unexpected hiccups and bills.
That's y i asked if what kind of house i could get out of 2 million and if our specific desires is realistic with a million budget.. Thanks..

[carluva]

Thats a kinda vague question. Its impossible to say what kind of home you could get for 2MM. You could get a small 3 br flat, garishly appointed. You could get a home with all the specs you want, cheaply built and blandly finished. You could manage the project yourself to save some money or you can give it to a contractor to do it turnkey for you. Its up to you to decide your requirements as there are many factors which influence cost.

Take the advice of other ppl. Do up your plans, get a builders estimate. If you within your budget then whoopdeedoo. If not, well you have to compromise here and there, bearing in mind you dont need to do the whole house at once... You can leave room for growth and extension later on if you plan your project wisely.

Mind you, 2MM can go a long way, especially as you already have the land, if you plan your design and project properly. The reverse is also true. If you dont plan properly and hope that the advice on these forums will help you stretch the dollar, then 2MM will quickly burn out.

Good luck and happy building.

[carluva]

Thats a kinda vague question. Its impossible to say what kind of home you could get for 2MM. You could get a small 3 br flat, garishly appointed. You could get a home with all the specs you want, cheaply built and blandly finished. You could manage the project yourself to save some money or you can give it to a contractor to do it turnkey for you. Its up to you to decide your requirements as there are many factors which influence cost.

Take the advice of other ppl. Do up your plans, get a builders estimate. If you within your budget then whoopdeedoo. If not, well you have to compromise here and there, bearing in mind you dont need to do the whole house at once... You can leave room for growth and extension later on if you plan your project wisely.

Mind you, 2MM can go a long way, especially as you already have the land, if you plan your design and project properly. The reverse is also true. If you dont plan properly and hope that the advice on these forums will help you stretch the dollar, then 2MM will quickly burn out.

Good luck and happy building.

[adnj]

You're welcome.

If you build a one story bungalow (Trincity), the price may be closer to $300 per sq ft. For a five bedroom, you should expect to be from 2500 to 5000 sq ft. Expect to pay $750K (no appliances and basic fixtures) to $5M for the kind of home most people want to live in.

On an 8000 sq ft lot, you'll probably want a two story house so the minimum jumps to about $1M. You can choose not to fit out some rooms or not install a/c units to slow down on your spending. Some people build with draftsman's plans and some people build with no plans at all. You can manage the project yourself if you know what needs to be done and when. There are plenty of ways to save money.

You can also hire a decent architect that can show you some of the houses that they've built and some construction options. If you are building with a bank loan, they may want architectural plans, services drawings and T&C approval before they give you final loan approval.

You can always build on the cheap but you may end up with a rectangular box that you may never be able to sell. Building a sh!++y house is never cheap.

A good rule of thumb is to expect to pay $400 to $600 per square foot. The price goes up from there depending on features and finish. For a moderately finished residential home $1000 per square foot is common and should be expected as more realistic.

With a design, a quantities surveyor will get you better numbers.

Thanks for the reply.
We are currently in the process of getting our house plans done which is supposed to be a 5 bedroom room home with d master bedroom having a walk-in closet and 4 of the rooms en suite., a library, laundry room and pantry with a 2car garage on 8000sq ft of land.
I am wondering if that can be accomplished with 2 million dollars or that is not being realistic??

[rspann]

Carluva and adnj on spot with their advice.

[dude2014]

I now understand the dilemma. The Bank, TTMF, Credit unions have similar and sometimes different requirements for a Loan or Mortgage. Approvals from Town and Country, Regional Corporation, Statutory Bodies like WASA, etc is needed.

They have Architects, Quantity Surveyors, even registered Builders to assist with the Plans, Costing and the building of the home. GET THIS DONE PRONTO AND THE COST WILL LAY ITSELF OUT. Starting a home also has to factor in the location of the site, access and egress, whether there is a developed road, etc. You will be charged more for any deviation from the norm. Materials in South for concrete, Bricks, etc may be a factor.

Little though is sometimes placed on whether it is in the dry season/wet season as these can cause cost to go up. For example during a rainy day even in the dry season you may have to pay for labour even though nothing is done. Sometimes work also has to be redone or touched up. Excavation works in different moon phases can see less or more dirt, rock or whatever material is in the foundation area.

Start a file and start collecting prices of materials, discuss with friends, associate where you are going to get quality materials at a best price. Just put the Whole Advert in the file as sometimes trying to cut out the info makes the file difficult to handle.

The internet can provide ideas. However the internet does not own the house nor will it pay the mortgage. It is okay to get ideas and not get carried away. An internet connection is OKAY.

Now do not laugh. My wife wanted a big kitchen in our small house. It is the biggest room and still it is small as it does not have a pantry. When designing, make sure the Garage is close to this room as the biggest amount of things that go into a house goes here. Sometimes a kitchen and dining room can make the whole project. A plain outside with an artistic inside with beautiful tiles, curtains, drapes, etc. No house now suppose to be plain as there are so many different mouldings, roof claddings, roman type columns, full spectrum of paint. Even a bright yellow or red house can wow us all.

[sleek78]

Wow. Thanks everyone for d immense advice. I now feel I av a monumental event in front of me. I really want to do it right d 1st time..
Dude 2014 I understand about d wife.. When we started this dream I had a simple 3bedroom flat house in mind.. Now we r at a 2 storey house with 5 rooms, a library,walk in closet and pantry..

[carluva]

LOL. Hear this. You really need to think smartly about design. A library. Is that necessary in this digital age? We did one in our house, shelving and all and it's a junk room. Granted I did that six yrs ago but hindsight is 20-20.

A properly designed house and that space under your steps is a great pantry.

And let me give you a fundamental piece of advice. Sqaureness and level. Make sure that is right from the line up. Get a man to use a proper surveyor's level to do that not a silly lil 3ft spirit level. Believe it or not, an out of square house tho not visible will cause real wasteage of material when the builders trying to compensate for out of squareness by packing mortar thick.

And second piece of advice... Ready-mix for all large pours. Foundation, floor slab, decking/steps, driveway etc. Factor that in your estimate as well.

When we built our house we knew from the get go that we wanted a large kitchen (18 x 14 ft) and a big master bedroom (22 x 16). We did that.

Forgot to consider sun set and sun rise. Put a porch on the west couldn't use it. Blocked it up 2 yes later and built a porch on the east.

I was greenish when I built. If I had to build again, I know what I wouldn't do. So I'm up to advising Ppl to get their investment right.

And make sure you use a good designer for your work. Someone who could do a 3 d rendering or isometric view of the outside at least. That would help visualise your dream.

[adnj]

Wow. Thanks everyone for d immense advice. I now feel I av a monumental event in front of me. I really want to do it right d 1st time..
Dude 2014 I understand about d wife.. When we started this dream I had a simple 3bedroom flat house in mind.. Now we r at a 2 storey house with 5 rooms, a library,walk in closet and pantry..

It is a monumental task and probably the largest expenditure that you'll make in your life. You can almost certainly bet that you will make mistakes and change your mind on things.

Any experienced architect can get you a budget and help you to understand the next steps. If you're ready to spend $2M, why not spend an extra $10k to $20k on an architect? They will be able to give you ideas that will help you save money over the long run.

Building a 5 bedroom house is not the same as building a tool shed. Keep in mind that you want a house that has resale value. You'll want to have features and room sizes that are what people will be buying in 20 years.

You can't cover up a poor design with paint and moldings.

[shake d livin wake d dead]

Ehhh spann...this new cement on the market...people using it? Or used it? How is it compared to the tcl product?

[pugboy]

it must be ok lol
as it giving tcl real beans and they trying all how to blacklist it

[adnj]

Ehhh spann...this new cement on the market...people using it? Or used it? How is it compared to the tcl product?

It's a different spec formulation that gives a smoother finish and uses less cement per unit volume. Other than that, it is the same.

If you're mixing on the ground, not measuring or not slump testing, you will probably not like it because you'll put too much cement in your mix.

[rspann]

Ehhh spann...this new cement on the market...people using it? Or used it? How is it compared to the tcl product?

I mostly use TCL ,but the hardware sent some rockhard for me last week and it worked real good. It was no surprise though, as pugboy said ,why TCL defending so? And they not criticizing the product,they talking about the shelf life. Insinuating that the time it takes from production until it hit the shelves could weaken it. When they were importing cement from Jamaica during the strike ,that argument never came up. At least we benefitting from the price drop.

[rspann]

Go to their website and read up on it, all the tests and everything.

[sMASH]

i tired tell people not to build porch/patio on the western side of the house... sure the place looks nice, but useless at the time u would want to use it.

[HSA]

Rock hard plastering real smooth...once u get good quality plastering sand of course...

I found some bags were getting hard lumps but was easily broken once wet..

Maybe that hardware had old stock i donno...but the price was lower than tcl

[dude2014]

Yeah 78. Digital or no digital, a library is a must. However you need to decide how you want it to operate. My own view is that it can double as a private office. Under the step is not for a pantry, probably a broom cupboard or toilet depending on the head room. A pantry ought to be well appointed with shelves, that extra freezer, ice maker and extra room so the kitchen does not become cluttered with pans, pots, and other essentials. You know where I am coming from because of my own experience. Besides you want some room to show you is man with a good king fish broth.

The house has to take into account public and private areas. Some house you have to go upstairs to use a toilet and a stranger trekking through the whole house? A definite NO NO.

Think down the road, kids, extra income as spaces can be converted into rentals, etc. The internet has suggestions as to real life issues people face.

So, best of luck ...........

[pugboy]

good advice,

also if you ever consider getting a robot vacuum cleaner down the road
they don't go down steps, so flooring where it operates has to be one level.

I have one 2 years now and it is well worth the cost
ppl will complain that they are expensive but when you see how well the clean a floor compared to a human
there is no comparison.

[York]

A good rule of thumb is to expect to pay $400 to $600 per square foot. The price goes up from there depending on features and finish. For a moderately finished residential home $1000 per square foot is common and should be expected as more realistic.

With a design, a quantities surveyor will get you better numbers.

Thanks for the reply.
We are currently in the process of getting our house plans done which is supposed to be a 5 bedroom room home with d master bedroom having a walk-in closet and 4 of the rooms en suite., a library, laundry room and pantry with a 2car garage on 8000sq ft of land.
I am wondering if that can be accomplished with 2 million dollars or that is not being realistic??

I built a similar sized house 4 years ago on 7500sqft land. The house was flat 2400sqft and garage 600sqft so it would accomodate an open but covered outside porch. The kitchen / living area is open concept 30ft x 26ft. The master has walk in closet and ensuite in all the 5 bedrooms. The rooms were on the small side and finishes were low end due to tight budget.

you should use a budget of $550/sqft plus or minus for better finishes and should cater for fencing/wall/driveway, etc. So 3300 sqft may be what you may be looking at to fit all comfortable in a flat. The house would be $1.8M with $0.2M for wall, gates. For split level / upstairs house you have to consider 20-30 yrs down the road and mobility, etc for whatever reason.

[York]

In 2017, what is the average cost to build per square feet. Thanks.

Also, if you havent started your house plan...think about sitting down with an architect or draughtsman to fit house on land due to available dimensions o.f land / building line. Process and plan can take a year easily to finalize and get Town & Country / Regional Corp approvals.

[sleek78]

What does an architect bring to the table that a draughtsman doesnt??
Met with both and the draughtsman is charging 5 dollars per square feet.. so if he draws a plan with 3000 feet of house he gets 15000.
The architect on d other hand says he's fee is 7% of d entire projected project cost.. Since our budget is 2mil, his bill is 140gees to come on board.. Isn't that too expensive?? He sent me this..

[sleek78]

Apparently building of a residential house is a class 5 category..

[allstarzcrew]

Good day anyone knows an estimate price to wire a whole house 3 bedroom flats ? Any electrician here please inbox me .

[sleek78]

I just find 15grand compared to a 140grand is a lot of money..