This is my 51st Blog on this site !!!

In an effort to keep up with Ric (my fellow blogger in Switzerland, see link) , I have gathered together all the back of fag packets I've used to calculate how much this pad has cost me.

Unfortunately my laptop with the crucial excel sheet is in one of those 125 boxes down there in the garage...and I really can't face that.

These are rounded figures and are indicative of the numbers you will encounter on a similar build in the uk.

The house has a footprint of 109 sq.m over three floors and is finished with the normal HUF finishes, but with extra tiling, electrics,solar panel,fly screens (thanks Pam) but does NOT include any internal furniture like cupboards/wardrobes/lighting/kitchen/utility etc which are not in the HUF price.

Prices have been calculated as British Pounds

Land 0.1 hectares, purchased without planning 240,000

Purchase costs eg stamp duty /solicitors etc 6,000

Planning/surveys/soils investigation/ insurances 8,000

Preparation of site eg clearance/earthworks/

soil replacement 32,000

Services 4,000

Huf (basic price) 365,000

Huf additional to basic 30,000

Internal fit out by others

Kitchen (installation by me) 17,000

Wardrobes 3,000

Lighting 1,000

Stage II externals eg drive/drainage/walls (est) 15,000

Stage III externals (est) landscape with paving/

planting/lawn etc 15,000

So, there we are a little over £730,000 for a 327 sq m Huf, including the land. Not really that far away from the Ric's costs even though we are probably 1200 miles away, and he's halfway up a mountain and covered in snow half the year!!!

I still have the external work to complete (as my wife keeps on telling me) so these may creep a little. This all works out at around £1460/sq m for the build, excluding land, but everything else thrown in.......You could almost certainly build for less, (we could have done without the expensive LED lighting in the kitchen specified by my dear wife) but if you have the right site, the experience has to be worth it.....and we're only on this earth once...so why not???