Its a common question we get asked – what’s the cost of building a house in New Zealand? Most people say – how long’s a piece of string? But we’re not going to give some vague answer, we want to create clarity around the topic.
Budget on $2500 per square metre for starters to get your mind in the right place. No, you can’t build a 300m2 home for $450,000 like you can in Australia. Yes, 180m2 might be a more realistic size for that budget. Some group builders are not pricing anything under $2800 a square metre. Note: A Square metre (m2) is a 1m by 1m square box. The area should be measured from the exterior of the wall framing. Excludes eaves, decks, driveway etc. For two storey homes add the downstairs m2 to the upstairs m2.
Generally speaking they include everything from a bare section to the time its built, including things like plans, consents, kitchen, laundry, bathrooms, decks, but excluding landscaping, furniture, furnishings, concrete driveways and so forth. The above excluded items are things you need to have as additional items in your budget. So often we see homes that end up unfinished without the final touches as the budget has run dry with no allowance for landscaping and furnishing.
There’s a few immediate giveaways that you’re going to creep towards the $3000/m2 region:
Yes, the ‘home’ is extremely affordable. It arrives flat-packed on a truck, ready to be erected. But slow down a second, factor in earthworks (20k), service connections (8k), septic system (15k), decks, labour, appliances, fitout, bathroom fittings…the list goes on, and the cheap $120,000 home has suddenly become a $200,000 home, if not more. Any company that starts promising homes for unusually low prices you need to take a good hard look at what is and isn’t included, often they use the low prices to attract clients, sell and deliver the home then leave you floundering with extra costs.
Anyone associated with the building industry could challenge our above stated figures, for sure. It’s very easy to build a house at $5000/m2, depending on the size, location and specification. So use the above figures with caution, and remember they’re ballpark, approximate, and don’t budget for less than $2500/m2. Contact us to discuss your needs further.
