Building your own home has become a popular option in South Africa recently; most people find that building their own home gives them a sense of stability, and also the privacy to live as freely and happily, without the stress of living in crowded spaces, with noisy neighbors who may not have the same standards of decency or cleanliness.
However, many people have always been afraid of this option because of the cost they expect to incur while attempting to build their own homes. Yes, they want privacy, and all the other benefits of homeownership, but the mere thought of spending such huge amounts of money keeps them in the apartments they do not want to in. The question therefore arises; how much does it cost to build a house in South Africa?
The following paragraphs contain information about the cost of building a simple house, as well as the processes involved in building and how they may affect your pocket.
How Much Does It Cost To Build A House In South Africa
Average Cost Of Building A Three Bedroom House In South Africa
How much does it cost to build a 3 bedroom house? We choose this because three-bedroom houses are some of the bestselling houses in South Africa. It seems as though when a person thinks of building a house the first thing he imagines is a three-bedroom house. This will therefore serve as a good yardstick when doing any market analysis
Most Homeowners estimate that they have spent between $150,826 and $434,187 to put up spacious and comfortable three-bedroom buildings. As expected, the variation occurs due to the difference in your budget, chosen site of construction, and availability of materials. The availability of materials can be influenced by the location of the site, and also the owner’s tastes. Some homeowners want all the fanciful items they can get from abroad.
The prices can also be influenced by time; the average of new houses continues to rise yearly. Therefore, the price you could pay today would differ from the prices available by this time next year.
Some other important factors that come into play when building a house?
Preferred Quality and Design
House building expenses actually start from Quality and design.
Top-quality houses are usually expensive and always in demand. For a good-quality home, you should be willing to pay between R8,000 and R13,000 for every square meter. It is actually possible, however, to build at lower rates of about R5,000/m2, but for premium quality, some people in South Africa are willing to pay even higher than R20,000/m2. These costs either go up or down depending on the quality of work you want to be done, and the kind of design you have in mind. If the design is simple it may not cost too much, but if you want something more elaborate, it may cost more skill and time to construct, and this will be reflected in the bill.
Surveying the Land
Even after you have decided upon the type of house you want to build; the design type, and the quality, you have to spend money on preparing the land for construction. Registered quantity surveyors are a reliable source of estimating the building costs. Apart from calculating the size of your land, as well as the quality of soil to determine if it requires filling or any other type of preparation, they also have historical data taken from the construction of other homes in nearby areas that were done recently by other homeowners such as yourself.
Procurement of Materials / Construction costs
It is difficult to separate the money spent on buying building materials from that spent on paying for the actual building work as both take place almost simultaneously. These costs include purchasing materials such as bricks, cement, sand, plaster, roofing sheets, doors, windows, and paint among many others. These will be contracted to the company in charge of the building. If you visit the site from time to time you will actually enjoy seeing these items before they are installed.
Specialist items
Aside from the costs of erecting the actual structure, you will also pay for specialist items that are not handled by the contractor. Such may include customized items as per your particular tastes like tiles, cupboards, light fittings, kitchen, and bathroom fittings among other accessories. If you are just looking to have your house ready as soon as possible, and would not mind the generic versions of these items installed at the house, you can of course talk to the contractor to have him include it in the main price of the building.
Professional fees
Of course, many different professionals come together to make building your possible. From the Architects, Quantity Surveyors, Land Surveyors, Building Engineers, Electrical engineers, and so on. Even after you have the building standing, you may still need to hire an interior designer to help transform the empty house into a beautiful and comfortable home that will give you the peace of mind that you desire.
Approval Fees
Sometimes, you may have to go back and forth from the architect to the town planning office. This may involve some money in travel, multiple payments to the architect, and other such expenses. In order to prevent such a debacle, especially if you are on a tight budget, the best way to go is just to choose a simple building plan, one that is sure to be approved.
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Conclusion:
Of course, it goes without saying that one major factor that determines how much it costs to build a house in South Africa is the location you have chosen for the building. This is because the housing market in South Africa is growing at a very fast rate. South Africa has a healthy growing population, and that fuels the need for new houses, especially in the city centres. Many people are joining the housing market out of commercial interests, and even foreign real estate moguls from all corners of the world now see South Africa as a location of choice to expand their real estate empires.