THE COST OF BUILDING A HOME IN SINGAPORE

It's all about the money

Building Costs (Buildings Cost!)

According to all the architects that we have spoken to, including our top 3, mentioned here, here and here, the costs for building a bespoke home average $320-400 per square foot. So a property that has 3,500 sq feet built in (325 sq m) would cost S$1.1 mil to $1.4 mil. Someone we know, is paying upwards of $500 per sq m for an extremely luxe build.

If you want gross construction figures and statistics, you may refer to Langdon & Seah's Construction Cost Handbook. For other countries in Asia, you may download other handbooks from here. The costs here, based on Construction Floor Area (CFA) put a 325 sq m semi-detached house at $877k to $1.02 mil.

CFA of course excludes all the bits and bobs outside of the actual house (eg. garden, car porch etc.)

Of particular interest, is the breakdown of costs. turns out the bulk of the costs are in architectural finishes. So ultimately, the cost of the home is tied to the quality of the finishes and fittings.

What I'm hearing more and more is that glass is expensive. the more light you want to let in, the more it's gonna cost.

Architectural & Other Professional Fees

According to the Singapore Institute of Architects, all members (read architects) are free to set their own fees.

So we've had quite a few interesting quotes ranging from fixed fees, to percentage of total estimated build.

A ballpark for a build of our scale, is $70k-$100k in architectural fees alone.

Then there is more.

A structural engineer will likely come in at $20k

A quantity surveyor will come in at $15k (but Architects may be willing to do this for a project of this scale)

Others, including your land surveyors, clerk-of-works & soil testing could likely set you back a further $15k

Of course, you need to set aside a budget of submissions to all the authorities, and that will likely cost you $15-20k

The BIG Total

Building costs: $1mil to $1.4 mil

Professional fees: $120k - $160k

Furniture: (oh gosh! we're going to be sleeping on straw mats at this rate!!!)

S$1.2mil - S$2 mil 

ok let's see what the banks come back with!!!