Building Cost Calculator

When it comes to purchasing a property or renovating it, price is a key factor. Whether you’re an investor, small developer, architect, or private client, you’re going to want a ballpark figure for your project before you move to the next stage.

As a builder and property developer, I receive a lot of enquiries every week asking me to provide building cost estimation for project costs. And some clients who are well prepared (i.e. have all necessary drawings and specifications ready) ask me to provide them with a detailed quotation straight away.

Estimate vs Quotation

Every experienced builder should be able to estimate how much a renovation project might cost by just looking at the size of the property, the scale of works required (or as requested by the customer) and the property location. This ballpark figure gives the client a basic idea of what they’re up for, without the builder wasting time and money on a detailed quotation.

To prepare a detailed quotation, a builder needs to spend a lot of time calculating the project using a house build cost calculator or spend money with an estimator company (or a freelancer) to calculate a project for him. Depending on the size of a project, this service of estimating building costs might cost between £100 to several hundred pounds. Because of the time and effort involved, detailed quotations are done when the client is serious about getting their project underway.

How Realistic will My Estimate Be?

If the customer has specs and drawings already available, the initial estimation figure is likely to be much closer to the real quotation because the builder can reference these as he calculates what’s involved.

However, in case where a customer hasn’t got any planning documents (or they just have some basic drawings without detailed specifications), the ballpark figure is likely to vary wildly between builders for the simple reason that it depends what the builder has allowed for: the quality of work, the scope of the work included in the project and/or how busy or desperate the builder to take on the project.

In short, ballpark figures are a grey area for both customers and builders.

Igor’s Solution

I’ve been managing renovation projects for many years now, and to avoid these discrepancies and grey areas around estimated costs, I’ve developed a building cost calculator to help my clients and me come up with a realistic ballpark figure. Firstly, it saves time while I calculate cost of building a house. And secondly, it helps my clients make decisions based on accurate estimations.

My building cost calculator in UK is based on the rates per square metre that I have carefully calculated, based on current costs and my experiences with completed projects.

Each project in my construction cost estimator has its separate rate/sqm of the floor area, which is based on the amount of works included in a typical project of that nature and includes current labour and materials cost.

Most importantly, the list of materials in my house build cost calculator is linked live to the major building merchants such as Selco, Builders Depot, Screwfix, TLC Electrical Supplies, Wickes and others. Any price increases or decreases are automatically reflected in my estimator program which calculates the rates for my building cost calculator. This means that the Calculator is accurate and reflects current prices.

The renovation cost calculator also has options to add to the basic works such as new kitchen, bathroom, windows, etc.

If the client needs help with planning stage, the calculator would provide with all necessary indications.

Check out my house build cost calculator and get a realistic cost for your project right now.