“The longer I live, the more beautiful life becomes. If you foolishly ignore beauty, you will soon find yourself without it. Your life will be impoverished. But if you invest in beauty, it will remain with you all the days of your life.”
― Frank Lloyd Wright
Pricing
We offer fully bespoke and customised buildings. As each client and site is different, so too are the buildings we create to fit them. The specifications and requirements of each job are unique, so we always conduct our pricing on an individual project basis.
​
Our first consultation is free. Please contact us to arrange an initial conversation and/or site visit.
Price Principles
Tailored specifications & design:
We will do our best to find a solution where the design and specification meet the individual requirements and constraints of the project. Our promise is that we will always try to create the best and most sustainable building for the budget available. However, our motivation is to make buildings that are also consistent with our values and that we can feel proud of. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to do this to a price that is competitive with "off the shelf" options.
Open and transparent costing:
All our project costs are itemised, recorded & explained.
Our labour rates are declared and our hours are recorded, cross-checked & explained.
We are open and upfront about our fees, rates and mark-ups.
Fair Trade:
We are not driven by profit. We cost our jobs to allow our business to continue and for the families involved to make their livelihoods. We don't look to make extra profit by cutting corners. The cost of our projects are directly proportional to the material costs and the work put in. We are motivated to work hard and efficiently because we genuinely care about what we do and are invested in the outcomes.
​
Cost Plus
​Most of our projects operate on “Cost Reimbursable” or “Cost Plus” contracts. Due to the highly bespoke nature of the buildings we make and the small size of our business, this is often the only model that is consistent with our ethos of creating excellent & sustainable building in a way that is fair to the living world, the client & us as a business. This contract model allows for the highly individualised and often continually evolving client lead design approach that we offer.
In essence, a Cost Plus contract means we offer to undertake the project at cost price but with a declared profit and overhead. The books are open to inspection by the client and the project is undertaken in a spirit of openness and collaboration. This flexible and fair pricing format allows the client to choose many of the finishes, fixtures and fittings, and to make certain changes & choices as the build progresses. Labour is charged at a fixed daily or hourly rate and a work log maintained. In practice, we maintain a spreadsheet of all costs throughout the project and this is reviewed with the client as the building progresses.
​
Pricing Guide
The world of construction pricing is often nebulous and impenetrable.
Even packaged "off the shelf" project prices usually exclude very expensive but essential "extras" such as delivery, finishing joinery and a host of other costs that are ultimately necessary for the building to be completed. Even most "Turnkey" prices still exclude things that are essential to creating a functioning building. This can mean that when people talk about the cost of building and project costs there is no solid convention as to what is included, and what is left out of these figures. Unfortunately, this can lead to a lot of confusion about how much buildings really cost.​
​
To help with this, when we talk about costs, we try to refer to a "whole project" price per m². Our figures include estimates for all the costs that are likely to be incurred beyond the acquisition of the site, this includes many things such as site development and professional fees that are often excluded from other m² prices.
​
-
Our basic specification insulated sheds, studios & bothies generally start at around £1400/m²
-
Our bespoke cabins and tiny homes start at around £2150/m²
-
Our bespoke houses start at around £2850/m²
​
Prices in the construction industry are increasing rapidly and the Building Cost Information Survey by the RICS forecasts that average national tender prices will increase by 27% and the cost of building 20% between 2020 and 2025.
Further Reference
The Building Cost Information Surveys of Quarterly Review of Building Prices (BCIS guide published by the RICS) offers an idea of benchmark market costs. It provides the average cost in £/m² for different types of buildings. Some examples of building prices from the recent BCIS Guide are listed below.
​
Multiplying the floor area of the proposed building by the relevant £/m² factor will provide an idea of the actual average costs for standard, mainstream specification buildings that are of a significantly inferior specification and environmental credentials to those we offer.
​
-
‘One-off’ housing – detached houses (ground and upper floors) = £2147/m²
​
-
Extensions £1882/m²
​
-
Industrial – factories/offices/garages – mixed facilities = £1384/m²
​
-
Offices – generally – non air conditioned = £1810/m²
​
-
Conversion of Non-Dom building to Domestic use = £1923/m² to £2523/m²
​
-
‘One off’ domestic garages = £846/m² to £1396/m² eg (garages with WCs/stairs/floored etc)
​
​