Updated
How long building a 500 m² house takes.
A house of roughly 500 m², built properly, normally takes about two years from breaking ground to moving in. Programmes that promise a year are usually counting to weathertight shell and leaving out what takes longest on a premium house: the finishes.
Stages and durations
| Stage | Duration | What stretches it |
|---|---|---|
| Groundworks and foundations | 1–2 months | a slope, a high water table, ground replacement, can double it |
| Structure, open shell | 3–5 months | architectural concrete: formwork and curing set the pace |
| Weathertight shell | 2–3 months | lead time on non-standard glazing: the most common hold-up |
| Services | 2–3 months | an order of trades that cannot be reversed |
| Finishes | 6–10 months | stone from one batch, bespoke joinery and fitted furniture |
| Landscaping | 1–3 months | the season: in winter it waits for spring |
About two years in total. The stages do not simply add up: some of the services run alongside the finishes, but on a house this size, finishing inside eighteen months is rare and usually paid for in quality.
What can run in parallel
The interior design is done during the shell stage, not after it, otherwise changes land in finished walls. Long-lead orders (external joinery, stone, bespoke elements) are placed before they are needed on site. Landscaping is designed together with the house, because ground levels and connections are settled at foundation stage.
What most often pushes the programme
Lead times. Non-standard joinery, stone from a single batch, bespoke elements, months of lead time that no surcharge shortens.
Changes mid-stage. Every change after a stage has started costs twice: the work itself and the idle time of the trades waiting for it.
Changing contractor mid-build. The most expensive scenario there is. A new crew starts by working out what the last one did, and rarely takes responsibility for it.
Winter. Wet trades have temperature limits. It is worth arranging the programme so the shell is weathertight before November, then winter goes into services and finishes rather than into standing still.
How we plan it
The programme is built together with the cost estimate and a list of long-lead orders, each marked with the latest date it can go out. At this size of house it is never one large thing that moves the date, it is five small ones nobody thought about in March.
The date is never moved by one big thing. It is moved by five small ones nobody thought about in March.
We will check what fits
on your plot.
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