Is it possible to build an inexpensive, high-quality and comfortable country house?

When it comes to talking on our portal about how much it costs to build your own house, the topic becomes surrounded by a lot of rumors and speculation. Along with the mythical stories of “specialists” about the possibility of building a two-story stone cottage on a turnkey basis with an area of ​​200 sq. m, for only 1-1.5 million rubles, novice developers are “scared” with estimates where the above-mentioned amounts were spent on the foundation alone.

As a result, those who only dream of owning their own home cannot get answers to the questions: is it possible to build an inexpensive and comfortable cottage, and what material to build it from. And most importantly, what kind of house can be built for... Everyone puts down the amount themselves. To fill the gap, in this material we will turn to the practical experience of FORUMHOUSE users and tell you:

• Where should you start building an inexpensive house?
• What size should a cottage be that will fit into the “tight” budget.
• From what materials and what technologies do users of the portal build economical houses?
• How much does it cost to build your own house (frame, timber and aerated concrete for permanent residence).

Where to start building an inexpensive country house

The first thing you need to do is sit down at the table with your family and calculate how much money you are willing to spend on building a cottage immediately, in the near future and in the long term.

Only knowing exactly the real amount can you decide on the technology and material that you can handle.

This will help avoid a common situation: an inexperienced developer, believing that he knows everything, takes out unaffordable loans, intending to quickly build an inexpensive house in order to move his family into it.

The output, at best, is a “box” from a “company”, into which you still need to invest 2-3 times more money than has already been spent. Or, as sometimes happens, after selling the only home, the developer spends all the funds on building a “stone fortress” - a dream home with an area of ​​300-400 square meters. m and, without calculating the strength, ends up with an eternal unfinished project, which there is no money to complete.

Gricall FORUMHOUSE user

I know people who sold an apartment, poured the foundation for a large cottage and put a bathhouse on the site - a log house without a roof, measuring 6x9 m, which was not completed. That's it, the money is over. Now for several years they have been living in a cabin built on the site, because... There is simply no money even to finish the bathhouse.

Hence: rule one - having decided to build a house, and especially a budget one, where every extra expense threatens to break a hole and send the family ship to the bottom, first of all we get rid of illusions. We reduce all the “wants” in the form of unnecessary architectural delights - bay windows, a complex sloping roof, turrets, etc. The best option for a “budget” house is a structure of a simple geometric shape - a square or rectangle. The roof is gable.

Secondly , we will reduce the area of ​​the house to the maximum and will have to get rid of the second full or attic floor, because... This will immediately increase the cost of construction. A good option is Scandinavian designs of one-story houses with an area of ​​60 to 100 square meters. m. They are distinguished by rationality, well-thought-out interior spaces and aesthetics.

But this option is not for everyone who likes this type of architecture. Due to mentality, many believe that the building is less than 150 - 200 square meters. Well, that’s right - a dacha with no room to turn around. And in most cases, novice developers do not imagine how much the entire construction will immediately increase in cost by adding even 1-2 m to the total perimeter of the building.

For clarity, we present the results of voting on the portal on the question: “What should be the area of ​​an inexpensive country house.”

As you can see, the majority votes for a cottage with an area of ​​110 to 150 square meters. m. But a building of such an area does not always fit into a “budget” building.

You will have to make a compromise: either raise funds for the “dream project”, and this may drag on indefinitely, or, if you need housing here and now, choose the optimal one that is feasible for the family budget, and therefore an economical construction technology.

What materials and what technology to build a budget country house from?

If the family has consciously decided that it is necessary to build a house, and has decided on the amount that it can spend on construction, the next question is what to build. This includes everything from choosing the area of ​​the house to the material and construction technology.

Rule three - a novice developer in our construction realities should rely only on himself . Neither the foreman beating his chest with his fist that he has been building for 15-20 years and knows everything, nor the guys from the “company” making promises over the phone about what “damn” they will build you “candy” should influence your solutions.

Only after studying all the available information on construction, which is on our portal, thinking 100 times and recalculating everything 20 times, can you begin construction. And - we get rid of the misconception that to build an inexpensive house you need to buy the cheapest building materials . Savings should be reasonable, because... further alterations will cost several times more than doing everything right the first time.

Olgusha Member of FORUMHOUSE

The main principle of economical construction: “the miser pays twice.” This means that you don’t have to look for the cheapest building materials and hire the cheapest labor. Such an approach will lead to only one thing - even more spending.

Relations with workers on a construction site and the organization of their life is a topic for a separate discussion. It’s enough to put yourself in the place of the “mercenaries” and think whether you would work efficiently for a month for the amount you want to pay them. Professionals value their work and will not build a house for pennies. We’ll talk about how building a cottage on your own and with the help of workers affects the estimate a little lower, but now the fourth rule .

You cannot build a house without a design , a study of the soil on the site and a carefully calculated estimate. Moreover, all these costs will pay off, and, no matter how strange it may sound, all this helps to save money.

antonpavlov FORUMHOUSE user

I, together with my family, built a house from aerated concrete. We developed the project ourselves. The only paid calculation is the reinforcement of the foundation. Having paid 3 thousand rubles for this, I saved 36 thousand rubles, because... I would use this amount to re-pledge “extra” reinforcement into the foundation.

Important point : to estimate how much it will cost to build your house, you do not need to resort to the services of a professional estimator (we do not consider complex projects of large cottages). It is necessary, starting from the project, to break down all construction stages into a number of consistent and simple steps. Zero cycle – walls – floors – roof, windows, doors, building finishing, engineering, etc.

Arjan FORUMHOUSE user

We start counting from the foundation, we need to dig so many cubes, at such and such a price. Next, we consider the formwork, the cubic capacity of concrete, the cubic capacity of wood (if framed), the cubic capacity of insulation, etc., right down to the roof and drywall with wallpaper. Then we add about 30% to the resulting amount. Here is the real estimate for materials.

Don’t forget about various “small things” - nails, screws, fasteners, consumables, etc., decent amounts of money can be spent on them unnoticed.

Thus, you can first estimate how much money you need to build your house and understand whether your budget is enough.

Fifth rule : a “box” is not a house yet, because it is impossible to live in it, and the costs of constructing the foundation, walls and roof (if taken on average) amount to approximately 30% of the total construction estimate.

The main expenses (regardless of the design of the house and the material from which it is built) go not on the “box”, but on utilities - water supply, sewerage, heating system and finishing .

Advantages

A wooden house will stand out among concrete ones.
In the modern era, not many buildings use wood materials. A cozy cottage made from natural materials always attracts attention, especially if it is built by the Rift House company, which offers exclusive designs, thoughtful projects at an affordable price. Wood material has a unique texture. This texture comes from the natural fibers present in the wood. No matter how hard you try to make an imitation, of course, the texture of real wood will be more beautiful than artificial materials. Wooden walls can give a home an artistic uniqueness. This is what drives a lot of people crazy about this stuff.

How much does it cost to build an inexpensive private house?

This is a question that new developers ask. Moreover, everyone puts their own meaning into the concept “inexpensive”. For some, a budget house costs 500 thousand rubles. Some people would like to spend 1-1.5 million, while others believe that 2-3 million is enough for everything. The results of the next vote are interesting.

And also a survey on the topic of what FORUMHOUSE users use to build houses.

As you can see, “frameworks” and buildings erected from large-format blocks are in the lead by a large margin. This can be gas concrete, foam concrete or expanded clay concrete blocks. The results of all the above surveys are average, but the trends are obvious. Most people, thinking about a “budget” house, would like to build a two-story cottage with an area of ​​up to 150 square meters using frame technology or from blocks (less often from brick or timber) and spend no more than 3 million rubles, but this is a lot - it’s better in two, maximum 1.5.

Now, based on the practical experience of the portal’s participants, let’s see whether reality meets expectations. We go from the most budget options in increasing order.

Stages of preparation for the start of construction work

Often, building a house involves the following stages:

1. December. Creating a project. You need to purchase a design that builders will stick to. You need to have a substantive conversation with the foreman. The cost per square meter is just a guideline, but you need to negotiate the price specifically for the house that will be built. Specific numbers can only be heard if there is a project. The design documentation should include not just drawings, but also all information about the house.
2. December - January. Discussion of all stages of future work with builders. Considering that discussing details in January will be problematic due to the holidays, then it is better to start this process in December. You need to discuss all the points before the start of construction in order to avoid unforeseen expenses in the future. Take into account every little detail, from renting special equipment to unloading materials. By agreeing with the builders 4-5 months before the start of construction, you can get good discounts. In addition, decent builders already have a lot of orders closer to summer, so it will be impossible to come to an agreement with them. Specialists initially send a commercial proposal to the client, then the price is discussed.
3. February. Purchase of construction materials. In winter, you can count on good discounts on the purchase of building materials. Free storage is also possible. It is only important to agree. In the summer, when buying popular shades of brick, you may not find them, which may cause the entire construction to stop.
4. March. Preparing the construction site. Entry to the site is carried out, cabins are installed, and a place is prepared for placing building materials.
5. April May. Start of construction.

Frame house

sergeikahost FORUMHOUSE user

My wife and I want to build a house for permanent residence. There are about 600 thousand rubles for this. I thought about what I could build with this money - a log house or a “frame”, + build it myself or find builders. I would like to visit in the fall, i.e. construction period is 2-4 months.

Note that, having such a modest budget, the user made approximate calculations, from which it turned out (according to the most optimistic scenario) that for a house measuring from 6x7 m to 10x10 it would cost:

• foundation – 100 thousand rubles;
• “box” made of timber – 300 thousand rubles;
• additional expenses - 50 thousand rubles;
• roof – 150 thousand rubles.

Note: prices are for 2015, city of residence Ufa.

According to sergeikahost, provided that he brings the water into the house himself and heats it with electricity, because... no gas, 600 thousand rubles + 100 for reserve, total 700 thousand rubles. should be enough.

The answers from users of our portal who have already built are interesting.

sipik FORUMHOUSE Member

Having calculated the amount that you think is enough to build a house, feel free to add another 30% to it. I was built in 2014. One-story house made of aerated concrete with an area of ​​120 sq. m. Spent 1.5 million rubles on construction. Of these, 400 thousand rubles. gave it to the builders for the work. I note that I calculated everything meticulously, but I still had to add another 30% to the amount that I calculated for the box of the house (foundation, walls, roof).

gna123 Member of FORUMHOUSE

For this money (700 thousand rubles) there is no need to even think about a 10x10 m house. The timber also disappears immediately. Shrinkage, caulking, standing, etc. All that remains is the frame, no more than 7x7 m in size, and this is provided that you do everything yourself.

According to YuriB1971, for 600 thousand rubles. you can build a small frame house of 1.5 floors, with insulation and budget finishing. Foundation of MZFL. If you hire a team, then only with a thorough understanding of the technology and with total control of each stage of construction. But this amount does not include “engineering” - electrical, heating, sewerage, ventilation, only a warm “box”!

Knowing the amount for the “box,” you can roughly estimate how much it will cost to bring the house to the point of “moving in and living.”

When calculating the price of materials or studying the construction estimates of portal users, we always pay attention to the region of residence. This is due to the fact that in different areas, depending on their prevalence, there are different prices for the same building materials. In one region, prices for timber are normal, but granite crushed stone is very expensive. In another region, it is cheaper to build (a box) from blocks, because... “You can’t find normal, high-quality wood in the wild,” or it’s very expensive.

Another common misconception is that a frame house is always a cheap house. A “correct” frame (we are only considering the “box”), assembled from dry wood well treated with antiseptic compounds, with strict adherence to technology, and using high-quality materials, can cost more than a stone house .

Alexey122 FORUMHOUSE Member

If you build a “frame house” not as is customary here: haphazardly, from raw wood, in violation of everything possible, then its price is comparable, or even more, than that of a stone house.

Slava111 Member FORUMHOUSE

I somehow estimated the cost of 1 sq. m of frame with material, work, engineering and septic tank for further finishing. It turned out to be about 20 thousand rubles.

Regardless of the design of the house, the price of finishing work and installation of utility networks (depending on the preferences of the developer) can significantly increase the final estimate.

When building a frame house, you should save not on materials, but on a significant expense item - wages. Therefore, if a developer is thinking about how to reduce costs, there is only one way out - to organize the independent construction of the house.

This is the main advantage of this technology and a real opportunity to save money.

You just need to calculate whether such construction will be delayed, whether there will be enough energy and time for the project, because... Unfinished construction leads to an increase in construction costs.

Construction of the foundation in the cold season. Is it possible?

This is a responsible matter. On the one hand, autumn and winter are not the best time for excavation work, especially during rainy and cold periods. But there are even special technological maps, such as: “A standard technological map (TTK) has been drawn up for heating monolithic reinforced concrete with heat guns when performing work in winter. Which is intended to familiarize workers and engineers with the rules of work, as well as for use in the development of work projects, construction organization projects, and other organizational and technological documentation.” Knowledge of such issues and the ability to apply them in practice using modern construction techniques allows you to build houses at any time of the year. Various antifreeze additives for “winter” concrete allow you to work with them at sub-zero temperatures.

If the foundation needs to be deepened, it will need good waterproofing. It takes one and a half to two months for the concrete to dry and harden. It is advisable that they still occur during a relatively dry time. That is, it is better to begin work on the construction of the foundation in early September, then it will be possible to finish it before November.

In Soviet times, it was believed that a house whose foundation was laid in the fall before the start of the rainy season would be strong and reliable, it would stand up, and after winter frosts and melting snow, it would be possible to easily correct possible errors during its construction.

If you are concerned about further construction in winter, then the foundation can be mothballed. Conservation is necessary for two types of foundations - strip and slab.

There are 3 stages of strip foundation conservation:

• Waterproofing
• Insulation
• Water drainage

For waterproofing, roofing material or reinforced film is used. The overlapping pieces are pressed down.

As insulation, you can use slabs of extruded polystyrene foam or polystyrene foam, which are laid to a depth corresponding to the level of soil freezing. A layer of reinforced film is placed on top of the insulation.

Five meters from the foundation, a pit with a diameter of about 2 meters is dug in order to drain the water. To drain water, drainage ditches are dripped along the entire perimeter of the structure, combined into a common system and directed to the pit. Now the foundation can safely winter and settle until spring.

For a foundation made of a monolithic slab, it is sufficient to insulate the sidewalls. Such a foundation is insulated from below, so the slab is covered with a film for waterproofing, and the sides are covered with expanded polystyrene or polystyrene foam, or covered with expanded clay or slag. The foundation is preserved until spring. And you can sleep peacefully.

Timber house

Having considered a frame house, we move on to a cottage made of timber, which many consider inexpensive. This is how much this construction will cost.

Koptsev, Member of FORUMHOUSE, Moscow.

In 2015, I built a house with an attic made of profiled timber, section 145x195 mm. The dimensions of the mansion are 8x9.5 m. The foundation is made of screw piles. I provide an estimate for construction, including work:

• pile-screw foundation (27 piles with a diameter of 108 mm) – 96 thousand rubles;
• “box” under the roof - 760 thousand rubles;
• roof covered with metal tiles - 123 thousand rubles;
• underground entry of electrical cable into the house and installation of an electrical panel - 32 thousand rubles;
• windows 13 pcs. — about 90 thousand rubles;
• two metal doors – 47 thousand rubles;
• material for the pigtail - about 20 thousand rubles;
• cost of work: 32 thousand rubles. for a joint, 19 thousand rubles. for inserting windows and 5 thousand rubles for doors;
• finishing the attic and insulating the roof, walls and floor - 252 thousand rubles.

The amount is already accumulating quite a lot. And this is not all the necessary expenses. Then came the work of sanding, painting, building stairs, finishing, bringing water into the house from a well, installing a water heater, a water supply system with distribution to consumers, installing electrics, and the inevitable minor work.

In total, from July 2015 to October 2021, almost 2.3 million rubles were spent on construction, and there are still expenses for the purchase of furniture and the installation of a kitchen, as well as the installation of an autonomous sewage system.

Koptsev

At first we thought it would be cheaper, but the amount is not much different from expectations. The money is running out, we were already thinking, maybe it was worth building a frame structure.

Stone house

It seems that the concept of a “budget” and “stone” house is approximately 110-150 sq. m. m - two incompatible things. Indeed, for 1-1.5 million rubles. It’s impossible to build such a brick house (we are not considering a “box”, but a house ready for living, albeit unfinished), but you can still count on something with a budget of 2-2.5 million rubles!

natassia Member of FORUMHOUSE

I want to build a house. Budget – 2.5 million rubles. I’m planning a two-story house, 10x10 m. I’m wondering if this money will be enough for a cottage made of blocks, and I’m already thinking about considering a frame structure.

According to experienced users of the portal, this amount of money is definitely not enough for such a house. The solution is to remove one floor, reduce the area to 80-100 square meters. m and erect a simple one-story or one-and-a-half-story (with attic) building of the European standard.

Any attempts to “maybe it will work out” will lead to unfinished construction. We focus (if you need a house in order to move in and live, even without complete readiness and finishing) on ​​the figure of 20 thousand rubles. for 1 sq. m. And this is a very rough calculation.

According to nir, if you reduce the area of ​​the building, but do not skimp on construction and materials, then you can build a cozy cottage on a USHP or MZFL foundation with an insulated floor on the ground.

The walls are made of “38” warm ceramics, the floors are hollow core slabs, and the exterior brick cladding. Or walls made of aerated concrete, without additional insulation for further plastering.

Bobahina FORUMHOUSE Member

My house is made of aerated concrete. They built it themselves - with the help of the family. The dimensions of the house are 10x7.5 m, area 150 sq. m. The ceiling of the second floor is hollow slabs. Only the first floor has been finished and utilities have been installed; there is no external finishing, because... I needed to get there as quickly as possible. The initial budget was planned to be 1.5 million rubles, but more was spent. It was a miscalculation, like everyone else’s, although I made an estimate, when calculating everything needs to be rounded up, and I rounded down. Optimist. You need to add at least 20% to the amount. But the house is already standing, I live in it with my family, and we are very happy.

The total cost of building a house (which is not yet completed) is:

• “Box” (all expenses including excavation work, purchase of materials, installation of windows, delivery, purchase of tools, rental of a vibrating plate and vibrator, etc.) – about 1.5 million rubles.
• Finishing the first floor, installing heating and water supply + purchasing household appliances (refrigerator, stove, boiler) - about 500 thousand rubles.

In total, taking into account small things, a little more than 2 million rubles were spent on construction.

How does seasonality affect construction?

Many people believe that it is better to build a house in the warm season. The reason for this conclusion is quite simple. In summer, daylight hours are longer and the air temperature is higher. Construction workers can work until it gets dark. However, this time also has negative sides, ranging from high prices for building materials to the demand for construction services. During the season, finding professional builders is not an easy task, since many of them have orders many months in advance.

Cottage houses are often built in spring and summer. This is often a negative point for customers, since many teams take on 2 or 3 objects at once to increase their earnings. At the same time, it is important for the customer to meet deadlines. A team that works at two sites at once cannot do its job equally well. Thus, the customer can hardly count on the construction being completed within the agreed time frame. At the same time, the quality of construction will also not be the highest.

To prevent such a situation, it is recommended to contact trusted construction organizations that have an excellent reputation and can provide guarantees. Unlike private builders, when you turn to a specialized company, you pay a large amount, but at the same time, the result will be ideal. In such a situation, one team will be allocated one object and the builders will do everything to please the client and not miss the agreed deadlines. In such companies, the cost of construction does not depend on what time of year the work is carried out.

Summarizing

The main mistake of novice developers who dream of building an inexpensive house is haste and excessive self-confidence, when healthy skepticism and a thorough approach are needed. Without sufficient knowledge (at least a minimum amount) of the main construction stages, the features of construction technologies, the pros and cons of materials, an attempt to build such a house will lead to “perpetual unfinished construction.”

And at the end of the article, the sixth rule : any, the most carefully designed house project and the highest quality material can ruin the hands of “professionals” from construction. Before scolding this or that technology, it is worth considering whether it is so bad, and perhaps the “jumping” wooden floor or cracked stone walls is the fault of a team of workers or the developer himself, who grossly violated building codes and regulations.

Hence: you can build a relatively inexpensive, durable and high-quality house, the main thing is to know how it’s done.

We recommend that everyone interested in the idea of ​​budget construction study the topics of how to save money when building a house, what kind of house can be built for 2.5 million rubles. and how much it costs to build a house. How to build a proper Scandinavian frame house is described in detail in the topic: “Finnish Feng Shui near St. Petersburg.”

We also recommend articles on how to survive on a site while there is no house, how to survive while a house is being built, how to build a house in the minimum amount of time, is it worth building a house “to last forever.”

The video shows how to build a house from aerated concrete using “one helmet,” and this video is dedicated to a Scandinavian frame house based on a Finnish design.

When do you need to select a plot of land?

Before you understand what time of year a house is being built, you need to purchase a plot of land. The best time to buy a plot is March/April or October/November. At this time, nature is exposed - you will be able to appreciate all the shortcomings of the site. At the beginning of spring or at the end of autumn, you can assess the quality of the soil, how floodable the area is, and the quality of the access road. In summer, the site will look more attractive due to its beauty. In such a situation, you may not notice the shortcomings of the territory.

It is better to carry out foundation work when it gets warm. To begin earthworks, it is advisable that the earth warms up sufficiently. Thanks to modern technologies, it is possible to carry out similar work in winter, but in such a situation it is necessary to use special equipment to warm the soil. This affects the increase in construction time. If the ground is frozen, then work on laying communications becomes more complicated. It is better to build walls and roofs in dry weather. When building a wooden house in damp weather, mold may form on the surface of the materials. In addition, when exposed to moisture, wood changes color. Frame houses are also built when the weather is favorable. Houses made from gas, foam and ceramic blocks are the fastest to build. In summer and late spring, construction accelerates. At the same time, in order to work with solutions, it is important to maintain certain temperatures.